Identification in Organizations: An Examination of Four Fundamental Questions
2008/03/07 by Blake E. Ashforth, Spencer Harrison, Kevin G. Corley · 2,803 citations
Business, Management and Accounting · Social Sciences · Psychology · #Management and Organizational Studies #Job Satisfaction and Organizational Behavior #Gender Diversity and Inequality #Workgroup #Identification (biology) #Sensemaking #Organizational identification #Mainstream #Identity (music) #Organizational identity #Narrative #Epistemology #Psychology #Sociology #Knowledge management #Social psychology #Political science #Organizational commitment #Computer science #Linguistics
paper · doi:10.1177/0149206308316059
published in Journal of Management 34(3), 325-374 (SAGE Publishing)
openalex publication_date 2008/03/07 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/08
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.
Citations
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