Identity ambiguity and change in the wake of a corporate spin-off

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Corley, KG; Gioia, DA
• 署名单位: University of Illinois System; University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign; Pennsylvania Commonwealth System of Higher Education (PCSHE); Pennsylvania State University; Pennsylvania State University - University Park
• 刊物名称: ADMINISTRATIVE SCIENCE QUARTERLY
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0001-8392
• 发表日期: 2004
• 页码: 173-208
• 关键词: ORGANIZATIONAL IDENTITY; STRATEGIC CHANGE; self-esteem; DYNAMICS; image; SENSEMAKING; responses; Clarity

摘要

We report on the findings of an inductive, interpretive case study of organizational identity change in the spinoff of a Fortune 100 company's top-performing organizational unit into an independent organization. We examined the processes by which the labels and meanings associated with the organization's identity underwent changes during and after the spin-off, as well as how the organization responded to these changes. The emergent model of identity change revolved around a collective state of identity ambiguity, the details of which provide insight into processes whereby organizational identity change can occur. Additionally, our findings revealed previously unreported aspects of organizational change, including organization members' collective experience of change overload and the presence of temporal identity discrepancies in the emergence of the identity ambiguity.