Developing multiple identifications through different social interactions at work |
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Authors: | Christiane A. L. Horstmeier Astrid C. Homan Doris Rosenauer Sven C. Voelpel |
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Affiliation: | 1. Jacobs University Bremen, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Campus Ring 1, 28759 Bremen, Germany;2. Department of Work and Organizational Psychology, University of Amsterdam, Weesperplein 4, 1018 XA Amsterdam, The Netherlands |
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Abstract: | The question of how employees’ identifications with various foci at work (e.g., team, supervisor, or profession) develop and how they can be managed actively still remains largely unanswered. This is surprising, given the previously demonstrated benefits of employees’ identifications for organizational outcomes. Building on the social validation framework, we propose that changes in different social interactions (social support and effective feedback from supervisors and co-workers) over time are apt to socially validate different provisional selves and thereby differentially foster identification with the supervisor, the team, and the profession. In a longitudinal study of 212 apprentices, who are newcomers to both the organization and the profession, we test this idea using latent change scores in a structural equation modelling approach. Supporting our hypotheses, we show that changes in social support from supervisors and co-workers are related to changes in supervisor and team identification. Increased feedback from co-workers, but not from supervisors, predicted increased professional identification. |
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Keywords: | social identification identity development social information social validation structural equation modelling (SEM) |
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