Identity and Identification: An Organizational Perspective

1. Identity and Identification: An Organizational Perspective Konstantin Korotov INSEAD

2. Identity • An answer to the “Who Am I?” question • Various meanings attached to a person by self and others (Gecas, 1982) that are based on people’s social roles and membership in various groups (social identities) and personal characteristics and traits (personal identities) (Asforth & Mael, 1989; Gecas, 1982; Ibarra, 1999)

3. Social Identity • An individual’s self-concept stemming from membership in a social group (Tajfel & Turner, 1986; Turner, 1985) • Membership in various groups leads to a variety of social identities linked to various memberships (Dutton, Dukerich, and Harquail, 1994)

4. Organizational Identification • One of the forms of an individual’s attachment to an organization (Bamber & Iyer, 2002) As a specific form of social identification, it refers to seeing oneself as a part of an organization, conceptualizing oneself in terms of membership in this organization

5. Organizational Identification • Enacting self-perceptions related to the organization as a whole and to oneself as a member of that organization (Bartel 2003) • A relatively enduring state that reflects an individual’s willingness to define him- or herself as a member of a particular organization (Haslam, 2001)

6. Organizational Identification • “[T]he degree to which a member defines him- or herself by the same attributes that he or she believes define the organization” (Dutton, Dukerich, & Harquail (1994: 239) • “[T]he process whereby an individual’s beliefs about an organization become self-referential or self-defining” (Pratt, 1998: 175)

7. Organizational Identification • The strength of an individual’ identification with an organization is compared with the degree of this individual’s cognitive, emotional, and behavioral investment in his or her organization (Chreim, 2001) • “[T]o the extent that individuals identify with a group, they experience the successes and failures of the group as their own and incorporate the dominant attitudes and values of the group as their own.” (Feldman, 1995: 223)

8. Foundation of Identification with an Organization • Knowing that one is a member (Bartel & Dutton, 2001) • Perceived belongingness to an organization (Reade, 2001) • However, to identify with an organization, one doesn’t need to belong to it formally (Jenkins, 1996; Pratt, 1998) • Identification may be about realizing the degree to which one is a member, i. e, perceived membership (Bartel & Dutton, 2001; Tyler, 1999; Rafaeli,1997; Bartel, 2003)

9. Multiple Identifications • Identifications are extensions of identities that a person is composed of (Mael and Ashforth, 1995) • Multiple identifications stem from a variety of identities that an individual is composed of e.g., Kuhn and Nelson, 2002).

10. Competing Identities and Identifications • Identities and identifications of boundary-spanners • Identities and identifications of temporary members • Identities and identifications overlapping in tenure (c.f.,Scott, 1997; Korotov, 2003) • “Provisional selves” (Ibarra, 1999) and “identities in play” or liminal identities (Ibarra, 2003) • Ambiguous organizational membership and self-categorization (Bartel and Dutton, 2001; Korotov, 2003)

11. Research Agenda • Compatibility of identities and identifications • Management of competing identities • Organizational identification maintenance efforts and identification development efforts • Identity: defining myself by who I am not (Dukerich, 2002) • Liminal (limen – (lat.) threshold) states and liminal identities