Alumni and their alma mater: A partial test of the reformulated model of organizational identification

TLDR

Organizational identification refers to a perceived oneness with an organization and the experience of its successes and failures as one’s own, yet it has not been clearly operationalized despite its importance. The study tests a proposed model of organizational identification. Among 297 alumni of an all‑male religious college, identification with the alma mater correlated with hypothesized antecedents—organizational distinctiveness, prestige, lack of intra‑organizational competition, satisfaction, tenure, and sentimentality—but not with inter‑organizational competition, recency, number of schools, or mentorship, and it predicted outcomes such as financial contributions, willingness to advise others, and participation in school functions, offering guidance for academic administrators and corporate managers.

Abstract

Abstract Organizational identification is defined as a perceived oneness with an organization and the experience of the organization's successes and failures as one's own. While identification is considered important to the organization, it has not been clearly operationalized. The current study tests a proposed model of organizational identification. Self‐report data from 297 alumni of an all‐male religious college indicate that identification with the alma mater was associated with: (1) the hypothesized organizational antecedents of organizational distinctiveness, organizational prestige, and (absence of) intraorganizational competition, but not with interorganizational competition, (2) the hypothesized individual antecedents of satisfaction with the organization, tenure as students, and sentimentality, but not with recency of attendance, number of schools attended, or the existence of a mentor, and (3) the hypothesized outcomes of making financial contributions, willingness to advise one's offspring and others to attend the college, and participating in various school functions. The findings provide direction for academic administrators seeking to increase alumni support, as well as for corporate managers concerned about the loyalty of workers in an era of mergers and takeovers.