The Cultural Underpinnings of Organizational Identity Shaped by External Identity Referents

Abstract

In this qualitative study, we examine how an organization that permanently sits between two or more other organizations - salient identity referents - constructs its own identity. Drawing on a processual lens on identity, we find that the organization 'caught in the middle' constructs its identity by drawing on various forms of identity work: identity borrowing, identity referencing and identity affirmation. We find that these processes of identity work are underpinned by cultural mechanisms in that the enactment of cultural practices feeds into organization members' understandings of and claims about their organization's identity. Our work thus contributes to our understanding of the links between organizational culture and identity. We also shed light on how an organization positioned 'between' salient identity referents constructs its own identity through continually enacted processes. Further, we find that central cultural practices may be customized, adding to organizational differentiation.