The Social/Personal Identity Dichotomy Revisited: A Critical Conceptual Review

Abstract

Scholars have classified the multiple identities individuals hold in a variety of ways (e.g., positive/negative, work/non-work, visible/invisible). One especially common and enduring approach to classifying identities within (and beyond) the field of organizational behavior is the social/personal identity dichotomy, which distinguishes between social identities on the one hand, and personal identities on the other. While there has been much discussion about the conceptual basis of this dichotomy in social psychology, understandings of it in organizational behavior have yet to be substantively shifted by this dialogue. This article aims to rectify this state of affairs, and thereby deepen understanding of the social/personal identity dichotomy and its conceptual strengths and limitations amongst organizational behavior scholars, in three ways. First, by outlining the view of the social/personal dichotomy that currently predominates in organizational behavior, and tracing the origins of this particular version of the dichotomy in early work within the social identity approach. Second, by critically evaluating two extant conceptual approaches (content-based and function-based) to the social/personal identity dichotomy in social psychology, and finally, by drawing on this critical evaluation to comment on the role of the social/personal identity dichotomy in future research on work-related identities.