Cognitive and Affective Identification in Organizational Settings

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Cognitive and Affective Identification in
Organizational Settings

• Michael D. Johnson
• Frederick P. Morgeson
• Michigan State University
• Slides and paper available online at
  www.msu.edu/john1781

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Social IdentificationDevelopment of the Construct

• Tajfel (1972)
• Both cognitive and affective dimensions
• that part of an individuals self-concept which
  derives from his knowledge of his membership of a
  social group (or groups) together with the value
  and emotional significance attached to that
  membership
• Turner (1982)
• Social identities are an integral part of the
  cognitive structure of the self-concept
• Ashforth Mael (1989)

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Social IdentificationDimensions

• Cognitive
• When a persons self-concept contains the same
  attributes as those in the perceived
  organizational identity, we define this cognitive
  connection as organizational identification
  (Dutton, Dukerich, Harquail, 1994)
• Our definition The thoughts or beliefs regarding
  the extent to which individuals define themselves
  on the basis of a social referent
• Affective
• Positive feelings about ones membership,
  including pride, enthusiasm, and a sense of
  affiliation or belongingness with others
  (Albert et al., 1998)
• Our definition the feelings individuals
  experience about themselves in relation to the
  social referent and the value they place on that
  social identity

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Social IdentificationMeasurement

• Most existing measures are cognitive in nature
• I am very interested in what others think about
  my organization (Mael Ashforth, 1992)
• Some include affective items (e.g., I am glad to
  be a member of this company, Abrams, Ando,
  Hinkle, 1998)
• Many existing measures are target-specific
• If a story in the media criticized the
  organization, I would feel embarrassed (Mael
  Ashforth, 1992)
• In my work group, there is a lot of team spirit
  among the members (Riordan Weatherly, 1999)

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Study 1Measure Development
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Study 2Antecedents, Attitudes, Outcomes
Antecedents
Attitudes
Behavioral Outcomes
Situational Determinants Target image Tenure with
target
Commitment
Organizational citizenship behavior
Cognitive and affective identification
Individual Differences Extraversion Neuroticism Co
gnitive ability
Involvement
Satisfaction
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Study 2Hypotheses

• H1 Perceptions of organizational prestige are
  positively related to both cognitive and
  affective identification
• H2 Extraversion is positively related to both
  cognitive and affective identification
• H3 Agreeableness is (a) positively related to
  affective identification, but (b) unrelated to
  cognitive identification
• H4 Neuroticism is (a) positively related to
  cognitive identification, but (b) negatively
  related to affective identification
• H5 Cognitive ability is (a) negatively related
  to cognitive identification, but (b) unrelated to
  affective identification

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Study 2Hypotheses

• H6 Cognitive and affective identification are
  positively related to, and independently predict,
  organizational commitment
• H7 Cognitive and affective identification are
  positively related to, and independently predict,
  organizational satisfaction
• H8 Cognitive and affective identification are
  positively related to, and independently predict,
  organizational citizenship behaviors and
  organizational involvement behaviors
• Research Question To what extent do the new
  cognitive and affective identification measures
  predict related attitudes and behavioral outcomes
  as well as the Mael measure?

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Study 2Results Antecedents
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Study 2Results Attitudes and Outcomes
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Study 3Field Validation

• Identification dimensions correlated .44 with the
  university as target, but only .24 with
  department as target
• Neuroticism again showed a positive relationship
  with cognitive identification, but also the
  expected negative relationship with affective
  identification
• Satisfaction was again predicted only by
  affective identification (both with the
  department and with the university)

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Discussion

• Contributions
• Empirical separation of social identification
  into cognitive and affective dimensions
• Nomological network
• Limitations
• Common method variance
• University samples
• Cross-sectional data
• Future research
• Differential effects on the two dimensions
• Multiple social identities (Johnson et al., in
  press)
• Non-attitudinal outcomes
• Longitudinal research