Organizational identification

Organizational Identification (OID) is the sense of oneness individuals have with an organization and the degree to which individuals define themselves as organization members.

Differentiation from Commitment
Organizational identification and organizational commitment are a types of employee attachment. Identification is the degree to which individuals believe they and the organization are one entity, whereas commitment is the degree to which individuals think they have a strong relationship with the organization. For example, identification involves "possessing" or "sharing" the organization's values, whereas commitment involves "accepting" the organization's values. Customers, owners and employees can identify with organizations, although most researchers examine employee organizational identification.

Sources of Organizational Identification
Because individuals tend to identify with organizations that share similar characteristics to themselves and that they admire, organizations can increase employee organizational identification by emphasizing similarities between the organization and employees, and enhancing the organization's reputation. Another way to increase organizational identification is to emphasize threats from an outgroup (i.e. a competing organization).

Recent Research
David R. Hekman and colleagues recently found that organizational identification improves professional employees' (e.g. physicians) performance quality and reduces professional employees' resistance to information technology. Hekman et al., (2009) also found that organizational identification makes employees more responsive to favorable organizational treatment and more forgiving of unfavorable organizational treatment. For professional employees (e.g. doctors, lawyers) professional identification is also important to such workers' behavior.

Measurement Items
Mael & Ashforth's (1989) scale is one of the most commonly used measures of organizational identification.

1. When someone praises my organization, it feels like a personal compliment 2. When someone criticizes my organization, it feels like a personal insult 3. I am very interested in what others think about my organization 4. When I talk about my organization, I usually say “we” rather than “they” 5. My organization’s successes are my successes 6. If a story in the media criticized my organization, I would feel embarrassed