Explaining Variation in Organizational Identity Categorization

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Hsu, Greta; Elsbach, Kimberly D.
• 署名单位: University of California System; University of California Davis
• 刊物名称: ORGANIZATION SCIENCE
• ISSN/ISSBN: 1047-7039
• DOI: 10.1287/orsc.1120.0779
• 发表日期: 2013
• 页码: 996-1013
• 关键词: organizational identity and identification; organization and management theory; qualitative analysis

摘要

In explaining why constituent groups often vary in their perceptions of the most salient aspects of an organization's identity, existing research has drawn, almost exclusively, on social identity research and self-enhancement motives. This research suggests that when different organizational identity categorizations are enhancing to some groups but not others, variation in organizational identity perceptions arises. In this paper, by contrast, we explore the role that unmotivated or spontaneous cognitions may play in influencing variation in constituents' organizational identity categorizations. Based on data from a study of U.S. business school constituents, we develop a dual-path model through which both motivated and spontaneous processes influence the different organizational identity categorizations constituent groups find to be most salient. We discuss both the theoretical and practical implications of these findings.