Too Much of a Good Thing: the Role of Organizational Identification on organizational performance

Abstract

The literature on organizational identification has overwhelmingly focused on the benefits of identification with a given entity. This study provides a nuanced understanding about the role of organizational identification in knowledge creation and firm performance. We propose a curvilinear relationship between top management team (TMT) organizational identification and international joint venture (IJV) performance. TMT organizational identification is beneficial to IJV performance till certain point. When TMT members are over-identified with the focal organization, its effect on IJV performance becomes negative. This study has important implications for organizational identification theory and joint venture studies.