On the various and changing meanings of organizational membership: A field study of organizational identification

Abstract

The primary aim of this study was to analyze and interpret some aspects of the process of organizational identification in a corporate field setting. Specifically, the study focused on how an individual's identification (or identifying) with an employing organization influences on‐the‐job decision making. Past research efforts have been limited by their treatment of organizational identification as a product or state, rather than as a process. The wider perspective on identification is well represented by Herbert A. Simon and Kenneth Burke, whose writings were integrated to provide a theoretical framework for this study. While this study neither examined the phenomenon of identification over time nor placed it in a clearly‐defined causal chain, it explicitly recognized identification as a continuing development involving many changes. The study employed two methodologies for the examination of identification in a corporate field setting: moderately‐scheduled interviews that produced largely qualitative data and a questionnaire instrument that yielded quantitative data. The methods were “triangulated” so as to provide a more detailed “snapshot” of the identification process than either would offer alone; moreover, the “accounts” elicited in employee interviews yielded retrospectives on individual‐organization relationships. The results suggest the soundness of the theoretical framework advanced at the outset. Most employees who were interviewed saw organizational interests as directly relevant to work‐related decisions. Their comments as well as their questionnaire responses indicated that they also identified with the organization, thus offering support for the link between organizational identification and decision making.