The Company You Keep: How an Organization’s Horizontal Partnerships Affect Employee Organizational Identification
研究雇主与体育队或慈善机构等横向合作伙伴关系如何影响员工的组织认同，发现低一致性伙伴关系可能带来积极认同转变，而看似正面的伙伴关系反而可能导致负面认同转变。
Despite scholars’ recognition of the importance of external dynamics to employee organizational identification, this factor remains underexplored in today’s evermore interdependent organizations. We theorize about how organizational identification can be influenced by an employer’s horizontal partnerships with entities such as sports teams or charities. Drawing on insights from the organizational identification literature and marketing literature, we explore how events concerning an organization’s horizontal partner become salient to employees, how employees evaluate the implications of the partnership, and how their identification may shift as a result. Surprisingly, our model reveals that partnerships having low congruence may lead to significant positive identification shifts for some individuals, whereas partnerships that are seemingly positive for an organization may result in negative identification shifts. Our theorizing makes two important contributions. First, it introduces the potential of horizontal relationships with other organizations to shape the important work relationship of identification with the focal employing organization. Second, it outlines the processes through which horizontal partners can make a difference in work relationships and sets the stage to better understand how they can strengthen and hinder these relationships, as well as encroach on nonwork life.