The Cognitive and Affective Components of Organizational Identification

Extant literature has linked organizational identification (OID) to many vital organizational constructs and outcomes, such as job satisfaction, job involvement, work engagement, organizational affective commitment, organizational-based self-esteem, cooperation, creativity, extra-role and organizational citizenship behavior, work effort, intention to stay, decreased turnover intentions, and job performance. However, despite the identified benefits of organizational identification, a growing body of research has noted its dark side. For example, OID has been linked to identity lies, negative emotions, and unethical proorganizational behavior. At the same time, there is limited research examining the separate influences of the cognitive and affective components of organizational identification on these various phenomena. This paper addresses concerns about the definition and measurement of organizational identification, a valuable endeavor given current understandings of OID relationships, and suggests the cognitive and affective components of OID be measured in future research.