Multiple Identity Configurations: The Benefits of Focused Enhancement for Prosocial Behavior
研究在组织情境中，亲社会身份如何与集体主义和个人主义身份组合，发现聚焦增强（亲社会与集体身份相互增强）比全面增强更能促进亲社会行为，并揭示了自我服务导向的中介作用。
This paper introduces a configurational approach to the study of multiple identities. Specifically, it examines how prosocial identity combines with collective and individualistic identities in conflicting and enhancing ways to affect prosocial behavior in organizational settings. We examine an unexplored intuition in the multiple identities literature that when all identities are enhancing (a mutual enhancement configuration), it will be best for prosocial outcomes. Our results show, however—across two field studies and two experiments—that enhancement between prosocial and collective identities (a focused enhancement configuration) results in the highest levels of prosocial behavior. Furthermore, we trace this result to the greater self-serving orientation activated in a mutual enhancement configuration, where one’s individualistic identity enhances one’s other identities. Our work demonstrates the value of a configurational approach to the study of multiple identities, and it challenges the assumption that a mutual enhancement configuration is always desirable. The online appendix is available at https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.2017.1129 .