The Construction of Organizational Identity: Key Contributing External and Intra-Organizational Factors
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Volume 10 Number 4
The Construction of Organizational Identity: Key Contributing External and Intra-Organizational Factors Rumina Dhalla Schulich School of Business, York University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
ABSTRACT
This paper proposes a preliminary framework outlining external and intra-organizational factors that contribute to the construction of organizational identity. Organizational identity is a critical organizational perception that guides organizational members’ interpretation of the issues facing the organization. Although much is written about organizational identity and its effects on organizations and organizational members, little is known about how organizational identity is formed. Previous literature suggests that organizational identity, while being durable, is also dynamic and flexible, which indicates the opportunity for organizations to construct a strong organizational identity, which will likely lead to competitive advantage. Corporate Reputation Review (2007) 10, 245–260. doi:10.1057/palgrave.crr.1550058 KEYWORDS: organizational identity; organi-
zational image; identity change INTRODUCTION
Organizational identity has been defined as the enduring characteristics of an organization that contribute to the distinctiveness and uniqueness of an organization (Albert and Whetten, 1985). Albert and Whetten’s (1985) definition of organizational identity has prevailed over two decades and much literature in this field is based on this original definition (Ravasi and van Rekom, 2003).
In academic literature, organizational identity has prevalently been considered to be enduring and stable (Albert and Whetten, 1985) and changeable only over long periods of time. Previous studies have generally assumed that the core and distinctive characteristics of an organization were already formed and extant in the organization and were generally immutable and unchangeable except over long periods of time. Although this continues to form the basis of the core definition of organizational identity, more recent theory and research has begun to suggest that organizational identity is enduring yet flexible and can be changed and strengthened (Gioia and Thomas, 1996; Ravasi and Schultz, 2006; Corley and Gioia, 2004). Scholars offer empirical evidence that identity has a dynamic and flexible component, so that organizations can strategically change their identity (Gioia and Thomas, 1996). Furthermore, threats to organizational identity will change the identity claims (Ravasi and Schultz, 2006) and organizational identity can change during and after corporate spin-offs (Corley and Gioia, 2004). If organizational identity is dynamic and flexible, then this suggests the possibility that organizations could construct an organizational identity that provides them with the greatest strategic advantage. Although much is written about organizational identity (Albert et al., 2000; Albert and Whetten,
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Corporate Reputation Review, Vol. 10, No. 4, pp. 245–260 © 2007 Palgrave Macmillan Ltd, 1363-
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