Agency power, peer satisfaction, and organizational identification among Korean government employees

ABSTRACT

While the effect of organizational prestige on members’ organizational identification has been overestimated, the potential role of individual experience stimulating positive affect has not been well-explored. The present study examines the effect of perceived satisfaction with interpersonal relationships as an individual-level affective antecedent on organizational identification among government employees. We also investigate the agency power of organizations as an organizational-level determinant of members’ identification with the organization. A multilevel modelling analysis using government employee data from forty-one departments in the South Korean national government demonstrates a significant association between an affective antecedent (i.e., peer satisfaction) and organizational identification. However, using an exogenous measure of organizational power (i.e., agency power), the well-known association between organizational power and members’ organizational identification appeared to be insignificant; only moderating effect was significant with a small effect size. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of the findings.

KEYWORDS:

• Agency power
• organizational identification
• peer satisfaction

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

ByeongJo Kim

ByeongJo Kim is an Assistant Professor at the Graduate School of Public Administration, Seoul National University, South Korea. His research interests include evidence-based decision-making, proactivity in the public sector, and North Korean refugees and immigration policy. His paper examining the role of proactivity in advice networks won the Douglas McGregor Award for the best paper in 2019.

Jonghwan Eun

Jonghwan Eun is an Assistant Professor at at the Department of Public Administration, Sangji University, Wonju, South Korea. His research focuses on organizational identification, corruption, evidence-based public policy, and Q methodology.