Dynamic Identification: Situational Relevance and Fluctuations in Team and Organizational Identification Salience Across the Workday

Abstract

Employees identify with multiple groups at work, each with distinct values and behavioral expectations. Though the identification literature argues that the relative effects of different identification groups vary depending on their subjective importance and situational relevance, identification is still largely conceptualized as stable, independent, and static. This ignores how different identifications might fluctuate in salience throughout the day and how they might influence each other. We extend the identification literature through the development of a theoretical model of dynamic identification—demonstrating that workplace conflict is a primary mechanism through which identification fluctuates, as well as the simultaneous effects of different identifications (i.e., team and organization) on important workplace outcomes. In a multistudy approach including two ESM studies and supplemental experiments, we demonstrate that increased conflict in a focal group reduced focal group identification salience and that this effect was strengthened when nonfocal group conflict was low, such that the nonfocal identification represented a “greener pasture” compared to the focal group.