Organizational Identity and Trust

Abstract

This paper focuses on organizational identity and trust. The paper is being created from a theoretical point of view. Exploring concept and their interrelation is important and valuable scientific work with the purpose of better understanding their meaning and interrelation. This kind of conceptual and theoretical examination has an important task as a basis for theorizing and theory creation. Both identity and trust are multilevel notions. Both concepts describe an abstract phenomenon that is of growing interest in organization field of study. Despite of the conceptual ambiguity both identity and trust can be argued to be relative and qualitative by nature. In addition, they both are commonly seen as the property of a collective at the organizational level analysis. They both can be understood being affected by meanings, understanding and interpretation. They can also be understood being created and maintained in social interaction. There are several concepts that are related to the concept of organizational identity. In this paper we create a link between organizational identity and trust. The link can be understood by exploring organizational identity’s related concepts self-identity and identification. Both concepts are also crucial in understanding trust. In addition, in order to understand organizational identity’s and trust’s interrelation one must also explore the concept of commitment. Identity in an individual level, self-identity, can be characterized as individual’s theory of oneself. Identification in turn, has been defined as an individual’s sense of oneness or belongingness with an organization. Organizational identity can be understood as if a part of an answer relating to identification: To what is someone identifying themselves with? Commitment has commonly been characterized as the psychological strength of an individual’s attachment to the organization or as the relative strength of an individual’s identification with the organization and involvement in a particular organization. Trust in return is the key in creating greater commitment to an organization. Trust however, does not create identification. Instead we believe organizational identity affects the level of identification of individuals within organization which in return creates trust. In general the approach presented here encourages an enhanced awareness of interdependence and embeddedness of the concepts organizational identity, membership identification, commitment and trust.