Organizational identification

Organizational identification (OI) is a term used in management studies and organizational psychology, to refer to the propensity of a member of an organization to identify with that organization. OI (relating more to personal identity) has been distinguished from "affective organizational commitment" (relating more to an attitude toward an organization seen as located outside of oneself). Measures of an individual's OI have been developed, based on questionnaires.

OI has been associated with a number of important organizational outcomes, including job satisfaction, work performance, and employee retention; those with strong OI may set aside their own moral standards for the sake of the organization. Aware of the benefits to themselves, some organizations intentionally foster OI among their staff by "identity regulation". OI may depend upon how individuals perceive the organization - its prestige, the degree of communication and support it offers them, and how it presents its corporate identity - as well as on the individual's self-perception and his/her own goals and values.

Cheney and Tompkins (1987) state that identification is "the appropriation of identity, either (1) by the individual or collective in question or (2) by others. Identification includes "the development and maintenance of an individual's or group's 'sameness' or 'substance' against a backdrop of change and 'outside' elements." Salient symbolic linkages (through communication) are important to identification, identification is a process, and the nature of a particular individual's or group's identification with something is continually changing (1987). Identification, to organizations or anything else, is "an active process by which individuals link themselves to elements in a social scene" and identifications help us make sense of our world and thoughts and help us to make decisions (Cheney, 1983). The process of identification occurs largely through language as one expresses similarities or affiliations with particular groups, including organizations (Cheney and Tompkins 1987, Cheney 1983).

Phillip Tompkins was one of the first to use the phrase 'organizational identification' and is a pioneer in the study of organizational communication (Tompkins, 2005). Simon (1947) has also been given credit for establishing organizational identification in theory and scholarship. Notions of organizational identity started with broader thinking about self-identity and identification in general. After a number of years of research into identity and identification in organizations, Cheney and Tompkins (1987) clarified the application of these concepts in organizations.

...
Wikipedia