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Ashforth SocialIdentityTheory 1989
Ashforth SocialIdentityTheory 1989
REFERENCES
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The Academy of Management Review
Organizational identification has long been view of the literature on SIT, the antecedents
recognized as a critical construct in the literature
and consequences of social identification in or-
on organizational behavior, affecting both the ganizations are discussed. This perspective is
satisfaction of the individual and the effective- then applied to three domains of organizational
ness of the organization (Brown, 1969; Hall, behavior: socialization, role conflict, and inter-
Schneider, & Nygren, 1970; Lee, 1971; O'Reilly group
& relations.
Chatman, 1986; Patchen, 1970; Rotondi, 1975).
However, as discussed below, theoretical and
empirical work has often confused organiza- Social Identity Theory
tional identification with related constructs such
as organizational commitment and internaliza- According to SIT, people tend to classify them-
tion and with affect and behaviors, which are selves and others into various social categories,
more appropriately seen as antecedents and/or such as organizational membership, religious
consequences of identification. affiliation, gender, and age cohort (Tajfel &
Social identity theory (SIT) can restore some Turner, 1985). As these examples suggest, peo-
coherence to organizational identification, and ple may be classified in various categories, and
it can suggest fruitful applications to organiza- different individuals may utilize different catego-
tional behavior. SIT offers a social-psychological rization schemas. Categories are defined by
perspective, developed principally by Henri prototypical characteristics abstracted from the
Tajfel (1978, 1981; Tajfel & Turner, 1985) andmembers
John (Turner, 1985). Social classification
Turner (1975, 1982, 1984, 1985). Following a re- serves two functions. First, it cognitively seg-
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