Since Albert and Whetten: the dissemination of Albert and Whetten’s conceptualization of organizational identity

Abstract

Since the seminal work of Albert and Whetten, the organizational identity concept has become ubiquitous and highly relevant in various fields. This study systematically reviews how Albert and Whetten’s concept of organizational identity has been disseminated in different research areas. It employs quantitative (topic modeling) and qualitative text analysis, as well as a network analysis to examine a sample of 1,041 papers published between 1985 and mid-2022 that cite Albert and Whetten’s seminal work. Using this method of systematic literature analysis, the current study investigates the criteria of the basic definition and hypotheses mentioned in their work that contribute to its increasing significance, and those with the potential to become substantial aspects of future organizational identity research. Accordingly, Albert and Whetten’s conceptualization of organizational identity is often partially adopted in the literature. Thus, this study contributes to organizational identity research by unveiling further research questions on the evolving character of organizational identity, research methodology, and quantitative operationalization, on the basis of Albert and Whetten’s organizational identity conceptualization.