Scandinavian Working Papers in Business Administration

Working Paper Series,
Lund University, Institute of Economic Research

No 2006/3: The Construction of Organizational Identity. Comparative Case Studies of Consulting Firms

Mats Alvesson () and Laura Empson ()
Additional contact information
Mats Alvesson: Department of Business Administration, School of Economics and Management, Lund University, Postal: Box 7080, SE-220 07 Lund, Sweden
Laura Empson: Saïd Business School, Postal: University of Oxford

Abstract: Despite the great interest in organizational identity, empirical studies are relatively rare. As yet, there have been no major comparative case studies of this phenomenon. Single case studies have yielded in-depth understanding of the process of identity construction in specific organizations, but very little is known about how organizational identity is constructed more generally. This paper explores how organizational identity is constructed in four very different firms within the consulting industry. The study suggests four broad dimensions that organizational members refer to in constructing their organizational identity: knowledge work, management and membership, personal orientation, and external interface. We identify multiple themes within these broad dimensions of identity construction and highlight several broader identity-related issues, specifically: the extent to which shared ideas of a distinct organizational identity are present or absent in organizations, the relationship between organizational identity and the individual, and the balance of reality and fantasy in identity construction.

Keywords: Organizational identity; Consulting; Professional service firms

26 pages, March 23, 2006

Full text files

2006-3.pdf PDF-file 

Download statistics

Questions (including download problems) about the papers in this series should be directed to Elsbeth Andersson ()
Report other problems with accessing this service to Sune Karlsson ().

This page generated on 2024-02-05 17:10:08.