Organizational Identity Theory Research Articles

Foreign identity and organizational crises: Evidence in the U.S. automobile industry

Multinational corporations (MNCs) adeptly manage Liabilities of Foreignness (LOF) and Assets of Foreignness (AOF) to their advantage, and central to this endeavor is the strategic management of their foreign identity. Our research identifies a critical context where foreign identity remains a liability: organizational crises. Drawing on organizational identity and legitimation process theories, we contend that foreign firms face greater legitimacy losses compared to domestic firms during crises due to magnified foreign identity and differences in legitimacy standards. Furthermore, a crisis in one foreign firm can trigger stronger negative spillover effects on other foreign firms than on domestic firms. We test our theory through an analysis of US automobile recall events, demonstrating significant legitimacy impacts for foreign firms. Our findings illuminate the complex dynamics of foreign identity management, offering new insights into the persistent challenges of LOF during times of crisis.

Examining Factors Impacting Generation-Z Perception of Red Culture Organization Identity in Xi’an China: The Moderating Effect of Personal and Organizational Value Congruence

This study explores the variable factors that affect the identity management identity of the Generation-Z in Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, and provides solutions for improving the youth's identity, inheritance and further improving the efficiency of organizational management of red cultural organizations. This study uses quantitative investigation and qualitative analysis methods, and derives three independent variables, an intermediary variable and a dependent variable. A total of hypotheses and a conceptual model were proposed. Pilot study was used for data collection and analysis, factor analysis, path analysis, and regression analysis to verify the research hypothesis. This study will take the organizational identity theory as the theoretical basis, provide a new research perspective for the Xi'an Municipal Government and relevant red culture functional management departments to improve management effectiveness, and provide reference ideas for the identification and inheritance of red culture among adolescents in the Generation-Z in Xi'an.

Organizations with True Heart: The Role of Organizational Identity in Shaping Consumer Attributions of Corporate Responsibility to Race (CRR) Motives

ABSTRACT Guided by literature in the theory of corporate responsibility to race, organizational identity theory, and attribution theory, this study investigates the role of preexisting organizational identity in shaping consumer attributions of its CRR motives. The findings from a survey of 610 participants suggested that consumers believe that an organization has public-serving motives to join the fight against racial injustice when they observe the organization’s commitment to social justice, especially if the organization behaved morally before instituting CRR practices.

Cooperative organizational identity: the declaration in the perspective of organizational identity theory

There are specific organizations such as cooperative societies whose particular characteristics mean they need to be studied closely. This study focuses on determining which characteristics of cooperatives societies can be considered part of their identity based on the organizational identity theory. The unit of analysis is the Statement on Cooperative Identity, and the categories which were applied emerged from the Organizational Identity Theory. The main finding is the concept of a specific organizational identity. Theoretically, this study contributes in elaborating a new construct for cooperative theory. On the practical side, cooperative organizations may have a better understanding of the values they need to maintain in order to be considered cooperatives. Therefore, this model can be used by other specific organizations. In the second phase of the study, a survey was issued to 344 employees, and an interview was conducted with 3 managers of three distinct cooperatives in the southern region of Brazil, so as to investigate their perception of the cooperative identity. Data analysis identified that the responses gathered from managers were well aligned with the responses of the employees.

Who we are and what we do: The relevance of green organizational identity in understanding environmental performance

Based on organizational identity theory and the resource-based perspective, this research examines the relationships between green organizational identity (GOI), green service innovation (GSI), and hotel environmental performance (HEP). Additionally, the role of resource commitment (RC) as a quasi-moderator is further investigated. Data was collected from 440 green hotel employees in Thailand using a three-wave approach. The statistical analysis revealed that GOI has a positive influence on GSI and HEP. GSI mediated the relationship between GOI and HEP. RC as a quasi-moderator simultaneously moderated the GOI-GSI link and the GSI and HEP link, in addition to directly influencing GSI and HEP. The theoretical and practical implications for both hospitality practitioners and policymakers are discussed.

The myth that military culture could not drive environmental sustainability? Cross-level influence of military culture on pro-environmental behavior

The promotion of sustainable development goals (SDGs) is a crucial government policy, and military units are government departments responsible for constructive affairs. However, few studies have explored the effects of perceived military social responsibility on environmental attitude and green organizational citizenship behavior. The present study addresses this research gap by developing a research framework regarding sustainability by applying organizational identity theory to the military. The results indicate that perceived military social responsibility is crucial in improving environmental attitude and green organizational citizenship behavior and promoting sustainable development. These results can be used as a reference by military units to achieve sustainable development goals and provide practical implications for sustainable management.

Exploring Generation Y's perception of family-run hotels: The perceived family firm image

Given the great potential of Generation Y for the tourism industry, their perceptions, and opinions of family-run hotels, which dominate tourism, were explored through 20 semi-structured interviews. The study shows that Generation Y perceives the image of family-run hotels positively and emphasizes traditions, small-scale structures, authenticity, and trust while highlighting their hospitableness. Our results underline the assumption of responsibility to family firms, including the importance of word-of-mouth, in the communication between Generation Y and family firms. Based on organizational identity theory, family-run hotels can build on their core values to build family firm images, contributing to differentiation, and establishing customer relationships. This study relates Generation Y to the tourism industry context, which family firms mainly run. The findings suggest that Generation Y should be targeted as a segment for the family-run tourism industry and that research should be expanded.

Management’s Reporting Motives and the Leniency of Auditors’ Internal Control Evaluations: The Role of Organizational Identification and Auditor-Type

ABSTRACT In a quasi-experiment with external (EA), in-house internal (IIA), and outsourced internal auditors (OIA) as participants in their natural roles, we compare auditors’ internal control evaluations in the presence of differing management reporting motives. Grounded in Organizational Identity (OID) Theory, we find EAs’ evaluations are more (less) lenient when management’s motive is less (more) self-serving. We provide evidence that management’s motives affect EAs’ evaluations because management is a conduit for EAs’ OID and because EAs adopt an affiliative protective orientation. In contrast, we find no evidence management’s motives affect IIAs’ evaluations or that management is an OID conduit for IIAs. Finally, we find that although OIAs and IIAs exhibit similar OID levels, on average, OIAs’ evaluations are more lenient than IIAs’. Our results clarify how auditors form OID, how it manifests into protective behaviors, and suggest EAs’ preference to rely on OIAs’ work over IIAs’ may inadvertently diminish audit quality.

Local Plant and Insect Conservation Evaluated with Organizational Identity Theory

With a range of programs focused on local plant and insect conservation, the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden works with partners and our communities to restore landscapes and thriving ecosystems for wildlife and people. We used organizational identity theory (OIT) to evaluate the current strategies and practices of five programs and determine opportunities for adaptation to better achieve our organizational conservation goals. Case studies ranged from habitat restoration of wetlands and gardens to community engagement to encourage individual gardeners and the reintroduction of endangered plants and insects. We present program characteristics and how collaborative partnerships facilitate opportunities for zoos to lead the conservation of local flora and fauna. The OIT framework reveals components critical to strategy implementation and best practices relevant to other zoos, aquariums, and botanical gardens when evaluating their collaborative conservation initiatives.

Effects of Performance Pressure of Junior Faculty in Universities on Organizational Socialization: The Moderating Role of Organizational Support and Job Autonomy.

Identification and recruitment of excellent junior faculty, and improving their organizational recognition and sense of belonging are the basis for sustainable development of high-quality colleges and universities. During the pre-employment period, the management of junior faculty in the by various colleges and universities focuses on screening, while organizational socialization tends to be ignored. Based on the organizational identification theory, 438 new faculty members of colleges and universities were enrolled to investigate the effects of performance pressure on junior faculty by colleges and universities on their organizational socialization, as well as the dual regulation roles of perceived organizational support and job autonomy. Empirical analysis reveals that performance pressure has an inverted-U-shaped effect on organizational socialization of junior faculty members; the perceived organizational support negatively regulates the effects of performance pressure on organizational socialization; job autonomy regulates the effects of performance pressure on organizational socialization of junior faculty members by influencing organizational support of junior faculty members, indicating that job autonomy has secondary regulating effects on correlation of performance pressure with organizational socialization of junior faculty members. This study elucidates the regulating effect of performance pressure on organizational socialization and explains the phenomenon that many junior faculty members in colleges and universities tend to avoid public affairs, do not integrate into the community and actively take responsibility for their work, which is of theoretical and practical value in the management of performance pressure among junior faculty members in colleges and universities.

Impact of authentic leadership on employee turnover intention: Perceived supervisor support as mediator and organizational identification as moderator.

Authentic leadership is considered a critical factor for retaining talented employees. However, despite fruitful findings, researchers have paid little attention to how authentic leadership is associated with employee turnover intention. Drawing on organizational support theory, justice literature, and social identity theory, we examine the effects of supervisors' authentic leadership on employee turnover intention to better understand how authentic leaders reduce employees' turnover intention in Asian context. In this study, we focus on the mediating role of perceived supervisor support (PSS) and the moderating role of organizational identification in the relationship between supervisors' authentic leadership and employee turnover intention. To test our hypothesized research model, we adopted a cross-sectional design with a convenience data sampling. We also used a self-report research design in the current study. We collected data from 433 employees from several organizations in Korea. Our respondents rated their immediate supervisors' authentic leadership and their PSS, turnover intention and organizational identification. Confirmatory factor analysis, regression analysis, and moderated mediation analysis revealed that: authentic leadership negatively predicted employee turnover intention. In addition, PSS completely mediates the relationship between authentic leadership and employee turnover intention. Furthermore, organizational identification moderates the relationship between PSS and turnover intention. Lastly, organizational identification moderates the mediating effect of PSS on the relationships between perceptions of authentic leadership and employee turnover intention. Herein, we discuss the managerial implications and future research directions arising from our study.

Enhancing Relationships Through Online Brand Communities: Comparing Posters and Lurkers

ABSTRACT This study establishes the importance of considering both posters (interactive members) and lurkers (non-interactive members) for a clearer understanding of online brand communities. Based on organizational support theory and social identity theory, this study proposes a model a model that illustrates the impacts of perceived brand support in brands’ online communities upon members’ community identity and brand trust, leading to their positive behaviors toward the brand (i.e., purchase intention, resistance to negative information, and positive word of mouth) and how these effects differ between posters and lurkers. Using structural equation modeling, results reveal that in firm-hosted online brand communities, perceived brand support (i.e., recognizing contributions, encouraging interactions, and providing quality information) relates to members’ satisfaction by fulfilling their socioemotional needs (community identity) and increases their brand trust. Furthermore, multigroup analyses indicate significant differences in the paths to brand trust between posters and lurkers. Brand knowledge, providing quality information, and encouraging members to interact drive brand trust for lurkers. For posters, trust is driven by their sense of community identity and encouraging members to interact. This research advances the literature on online brand communities by shedding light on the scant knowledge of lurkers in online communities. It demonstrates how perceived support from brands can improve both posters’ and lurkers’ relationships with the community and the brand itself. The findings provide actionable managerial recommendations regarding how brands can manage their relationships with all members (both posters and lurkers) in their online communities.

High performance work systems and employee mental health: The roles of psychological empowerment, work role overload, and organizational identification

AbstractEmployee mental health is a central issue in today's global workplace. This paper analyzes the effect of high performance work systems (HPWSs) on employee mental health. We integrate HPWS concepts with job demands‐resources (JD‐R) theory to examine competing theoretical perspectives—a positive HPWS influence and a negative HPWS influence on employee mental health. We examine employees' perceptions of psychological empowerment as an indicator of the motivational pathway of the JD‐R and work‐role overload as an indicator of the strain pathway to explain the differential effect of HPWSs on mental health. We also incorporate organizational identification theory to demonstrate how one's identification with the organization can either accentuate or attenuate feelings of both psychological empowerment and work‐role overload. Findings from a study of 999 employees in 174 South Korean organizations indicate that HPWSs are positively associated with employee mental health via employee perceptions of empowerment and that HPWSs are negatively associated with employee mental health through perceptions of work‐role overload. Furthermore, the study finds that organizational identification attenuates the relationship between HPWS and both empowerment and overload. Practice‐level post hoc analyses also reveal that the job design characteristics, pay level, and participative decision‐making are linked to empowerment. In addition, participative decision‐making is most strongly associated with work overload.

How do US universities want to be perceived? Factors affecting the (inter)national identity claims in mission statements

ABSTRACT Higher education institutions (HEIs) often function in an environment where various institutional pressures force them to position themselves on a national-international orientation scale in order to gain legitimacy in the eyes of different constituents with different expectations. Empirical insights, however, on how HEIs respond to these forces and position themselves within this debate are largely lacking. Hence, this study builds on organizational identity theory and institutional theory to assess the national and international identity claims expressed by the mission statements, a dominant organizational identity narrative, of HEIs as well as institutional factors affecting the selected position. A mixed methods analysis of the mission statements of 120 US universities indicates that universities’ identity claims can be classified in five categories of national claims and five of international claims. The findings suggest that institutional forces affect the position of universities on the national/international continuum but that universities’ attempts to reconcile these pressures are much more refined than expected as universities try to strike a subtle balance between being similar and different.

How organizational trust impacts organizational citizenship behavior: Organizational identification and employee loyalty as mediators.

Research on the influence of organizational trust (OT) on organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) of employees has been conducted for years, but the influence of internal mechanism for OT on OCB is not well studied. Based on social exchange theory and organizational identity theory, this paper explored the OT on the OCB and revealed the chain-mediating role of organizational identification (OI) and employee loyalty (EL) from both employees' cognitive and psychological perspectives. The research employed a two-wave and multi-source strategy to conduct hypothesis validation with 305 validated questionnaires of Chinese enterprises. The results of the empirical analysis show that: (1) OT has a significant effect on OCB; (2) OI plays a mediating role between OT and OCB; (3) EL plays a mediating role between OT and OCB; and (4) OI and EL have a significant chain-mediating role between OT and OCB. The results of this study have deepened the understanding of organizational trust and have important practical implications for improving organizational citizenship behavior, organizational identification, and employee loyalty.

Managing non-family employees’ emotional connection with the family firms via shifting, compensating, and leveraging approaches

Many family firms deploy strategies and practices to satisfy the needs of family employees. When non-family employees perceive a relational disadvantage compared to family employees, they may lower their evaluation of organizational identity (OI) and, in turn, identify less strongly with the family firm. Because family firms can ill afford to have non-family employees who lack a strong emotional connection with and commitment to the family firm, we explore approaches to foster non-family employees' evaluations of OI. Drawing on organizational identity theory, we find support for three approaches: (1) shifting non-family employees' evaluation of OI by enacting a proactive Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) strategy, (2) compensating non-family employees for a perceived relational disadvantage by involving them in CSR decision-making, and (3) leveraging non-family employees' context, by drawing on those who share the values of the controlling family. Our theory and results suggest that family firms can deploy different approaches to manage the emotional connection with their non-family employees, which can help explain the observed variation in non-family employees’ organizational identification across family firms.

How Multiple Identities Can Impact the Legitimacy of an Organization

ABSTRACT Organizations realize that their license to operate and the supportive behavior of their stakeholders relate to how they come across. If the identity of an organization is not a single, but multiple it may face unique challenges in strategic communication. The purpose of this study is to identify how the reputation and legitimacy of such a multiple identity organization (MIO) are affected by its performance and communications. Building on organizational identity theory, insights from corporate communication, and stakeholder theory, the potential vulnerabilities are listed through theoretical deduction and are illustrated by the case of Sanquin, the Dutch blood supply foundation. The case assessment relies on interviews with stakeholders and journalists, complemented with an analysis of newspaper headlines. The mismatch between the identities endangers legitimacy because legitimacy is based on the conformity to norms and values, the area where the identities clash. The inherent tension between the ideological and utilitarian identity cannot be avoided completely, but a strategic communication policy that manages the balance between the identities in organizational communication could help a better understanding of MIOs. The case offers insights into how creating this balance might be considered in the development of strategic communication of MIOs.

Authentic leadership and Turnover Intention: The Role of PSS and Organizational Identification

Drawing on organizational support theory and social identity theory, we examine the effects of authentic leadership on employee turnover intention. Especially, we focus on the mediating role of perceived supervisor support (PSS) and the moderating role of organizational identification. Using data from 433 respondents in several business organizations in South Korea, we found that PSS completely mediated the relationship between authentic leadership and employee turnover intention. Moreover, organizational identification moderated the relationship between PSS and turnover intention, such that the relationship between PSS and turnover intention is stronger for employees with high organizational identification. Herein, we discuss the managerial implications and future research directions arising from our study.

Authentic Leadership and Employee Resilience: A Moderated Mediation Analysis.

Authentic leadership is essential for predicting employee resilience. However, despite fruitful findings, more adapted models of authentic leadership – employee resilience based on empirical findings can serve as a guide to understand the complex mediators and moderators in different industries such as in construction engineering project organizations during the turbulent pandemic. This study, therefore, based on the organizational identification theory and flow theory through the lens of positive organizational psychology, aims to disentangle the authentic leadership—employee resilience association by investigating their underlying mechanism and their boundary condition. To test our hypothetical model, we applied a cross-sectional design with data collected from a large sample of 884 employees from a big enterprise in China. Findings from confirmatory factor analysis, structural equation modeling analysis, and Hayes’s conditional process model indicated that: authentic leadership positively predicted employee resilience through the partial mediation effect of organizational identification, and such a mediation model was moderated by the experience of flow. In other words, flow moderated the relationships between authentic leadership, organizational identification, and employee resilience. Findings provide evidence for cultivating leaders’ authenticity in promoting their subordinates’ resilience; findings also highlight the significance of organizational identification in bridging authentic leadership and employee resilience and the essential role of flow experience in supporting the relationships mentioned above.

The Impact of Green Organizational Identity on Green Competitive Advantage: The Role of Green Ambidexterity Innovation and Organizational Flexibility

There is no consistent result on the relationship between green organizational identity (GOI) and corporate green competitive advantage (GCA) in the existing literature. The omission of crucial mediating variables may be one of the important reasons. Based on the organizational identity theory and exploration-exploitation paradigm, this article studies the relationship between GOI and GCA in a model that includes mediating variables composed of green exploitative innovation (GEI) and green exploratory innovation (GER), and organizational flexibility (OF) as a moderating variable. The empirical test of survey data from polluting enterprises in China shows that GOI has a positive effect on green ambidexterity innovation and GCA. Both GEI and GER have a positive impact on GCA. Moreover, green ambidexterity innovation has a partial mediating effect between GOI and GCA, but the moderating effect of OF between green ambidexterity innovation (GAI) and GCA is different, and OF only negatively moderates the relationship between GER and GCA. These findings suggest that GOI can influence firms to choose different innovative ways between GEI and GER to obtain GCA, which counts on different levels of OF.