Identification in Organizations: An Examination of Four Fundamental Questions

TLDR

The literature on identification in organizations is surprisingly diverse and large. This article reviews the literature on identification in organizations through four fundamental questions. The review outlines identification as a continuum, links its importance to individual and organizational outcomes, presents a process model of sensebreaking and sensegiving, and discusses multiple, potentially conflicting identifications across organizational levels.

Abstract

The literature on identification in organizations is surprisingly diverse and large. This article reviews the literature in terms of four fundamental questions. First, under “What is identification?,” it outlines a continuum from narrow to broad formulations and differentiates situated identification from deep identification and organizational identification from organizational commitment. Second, in answer to “Why does identification matter?,” it discusses individual and organizational outcomes as well as several links to mainstream organizational behavior topics. Third, regarding “How does identification occur?,” it describes a process model that involves cycles of sensebreaking and sensegiving, enacting identity and sensemaking, and constructing identity narratives. Finally, under “One or many?,” it discusses team, workgroup, and subunit; relational; occupational and career identifications; and how multiple identifications may conflict, converge, and combine.