•If strategic orientation exists, so could strategic disorientation.•Complexity theory is useful to explore the relationship between orientation and disorientation.•The notion of corporate identity ...disorientation is introduced.•Corporate identity disorientation may not be wholly negative, possible benefits are discussed.•Negatives of corporate identity orientation are also discussed.
The importance of corporate identity to organizations is increasing, which has led to the conceptualisation of corporate identity orientation. This paper challenges existing thinking by suggesting that if corporate identity orientation exists, so could corporate identity disorientation. Using a complexity theory perspective this conceptual paper explores how orientation/disorientation could emerge, and how the two could be related. The paper concludes that a combination of orientation and disorientation could be beneficial for corporate identity development, and that disorientation need not be wholly negative. This is relevant because the environment organizations find themselves in increasingly causes identity disorientation, so exploring this further helps address this crucial issue. As such, this paper opens new directions for researchers to look at corporate identity development, and also for practitioners to embrace elements of disorientation and how it may help unlock new opportunities.
This paper examines the corporate identity concept and presents an empirical test of a corporate identity model in the context of the higher education sector. The various components of corporate ...identity are investigated and the results are presented in diagrammatic form in the proposed and updated corporate identity taxonomy. A qualitative exploratory approach was taken, comprising in-depth interviews with key informants involved in the implementation of corporate identity at a major UK university. The taxonomy illustrates communication, design, culture, behaviour, structure, industry and strategy as the main components of corporate identity. The study also demonstrates how and where issues of corporate identity are discussed within an organisation and how the results of these discussions are fed into management structure. As with any such exploratory case study, there are limits to the generalisability of the findings. Further research is required to ascertain whether the findings of this study also apply in other settings. The results will be helpful to communication professionals who deal with an organisation's corporate identity, branding and communication and who aim to enhance the consistency of messages both written and visual within their organisation.
This study investigates the relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR) motives and customer extra-role behavior in an emerging market context. It examines the moderating role of ...ethical corporate identity on this relationship in two replicated scenario-based experiments in two different contexts (i.e. high CSR fit vs. low CSR fit). Both studies assess whether the attributions of consumers about a firm's CSR motivation (i.e. firm-serving vs. public serving) change their extra-role behavior (e.g. making suggestions related to product or service improvement, taking part in company surveys and activities, defending companies against negative reactions, making recommendations to others) toward that company if it expresses its ethical identity. Study I takes place in a company-locus/CSR initiative high-fit context; and Study II replicates it in a company-locus/CSR initiative low-fit context. The results demonstrate that regardless of the CSR fit contexts, CSR activities improve customer extra-role behavior with-in the firm-serving motivation condition when a company is known for its ethical stance before CSR activities. However, they are ineffective when a company's ethical visibility is implicit even in the public-serving motivation situation. These outcomes indicate that expressing a company's ethical standing prior to CSR activities would be a beneficial strategy for companies in emerging markets.
This lively and engaging new book addresses a topical and important area of study. Helping readers not only to understand, but also to apply, the most important theoretical notions on identity, ...identification, reputation, and corporate branding, it illustrates how communicating with a company's key audience depends upon all of the company's internal and external communication.
The authors, leading experts in this field, provide students of corporate communication with a research-based toolbox to be used for effective corporate communications and creating a positive reputation.
Essentials of Corporate Communication features original examples and vignettes, drawn from a variety of US, European, and Asian companies with a proven record of successful corporate communication, thus offering readers best practice examples. Illustrations are drawn from such global companies as Shell, Microsoft, Altria, and Johnson & Johnson. Presenting the most up-to-date content available it is a must-read for all those studying and working in this field.
To acquire resources, new ventures need to be perceived as legitimate. For this to occur, a venture must meet the expectations of various audiences with differing norms, standards, and values as the ...venture evolves and grows. We investigate how the organizational identity of a technology venture must adapt to meet the expectations of critical resource providers at each stage of its organizational life cycle. In so doing, we provide a temporal perspective on the interactions among identity, organizational legitimacy, institutional environments, and entrepreneurial resource acquisition for technology ventures. The core assertion from this conceptual analysis is that entrepreneurial ventures confront multiple legitimacy thresholds as they evolve and grow. We identify and discuss three key insights related to entrepreneurs' efforts to cross those thresholds at different organizational life cycle stages: institutional pluralism, venture-identity embeddedness, and legitimacy buffering.
Interest in individual‐level outcomes of corporate social responsibility (CSR) is gaining momentum in academic and managerial circles. This study investigated whether employees attributed different ...motives to CSR efforts and if these motives influenced employee's extra‐role behaviors (proactivity, knowledge sharing, creativity, and adaptivity). We also tested the moderating role of interpersonal trust and ethical corporate identity on the link between CSR attributions and employee's extra‐role behaviors. Data were collected from 360 employees and 117 supervisors from the hotel industry of Pakistan. Using hierarchical regression analyses, results show that CSR attributions affected employee's extra‐role behaviors. Moreover, interpersonal trust and ethical corporate identity were found to moderate the relationship between CSR attributions and extra‐role behaviors. Directions for future research and implications for practice are discussed.
Purpose
The main purpose of this paper is to explore, define, reconcile and depict corporate identity (CI), corporate brand (CB) and corporate reputation (CR) in a framework that reflects the ...dimensions of these constructs, discriminates between them and represents their inter‐relatedness.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper draws on key literature relating to CI, CB and CR.
Findings
The paper develops a framework that explains and aligns the drivers of CB and CR.
Practical implications
Managers will be able to use the framework to help them align and optimise brand and reputation building efforts of their organisation. Academics will be able to use the framework as a basis for empirical research.
Originality/value
The article reconciles disparate views from a number of theoretical streams that have investigated CI, CB and CR and develops a comprehensive framework that shows that although the management and measurement of the constructs may overlap, the constructs themselves are not interchangeable.
A growing body of research on how organizations engage with their histories has shown that organizational members revisit history in the light of present-day concerns to inspire or legitimize future ...courses of action. Studies of the processes through which organizational history is brought to bear on the present and future, however, remain rare. To uncover the processes and practices through which organizational members systematically engage with history, we investigate uses of material memory in four corporate museums. Our analysis uncovers three distinct modes of engagement, reflecting different temporal perspectives on organizational identity, involving different cross-temporal interpretative processes, and influencing action in different ways. Our theoretical insights have significant implications not only for understanding the use of history in organizations, but also for research on organizational identity and organizational memory.
The purpose of this study is to investigate the mediating role of structural empowerment in the positive relationship between transformational leadership and work engagement. Based on self-reported ...questionnaires from 240 employees working in the tourism sector in Galicia (northwest of Spain), the findings reveal that the linkage between transformational leadership and work engagement is partially mediated by structural empowerment. These results imply that transformational leaders foster work engagement by enabling access to information, opportunities, support and adequate resources. This empirical study is one of the first to examine the role of structural empowerment as a mediator between transformational leadership and work engagement and may serve as a reference for promoting work engagement in service organizations. A number of contributions and practical implications are discussed.
This article advances the theoretical and instrumental understanding of corporate heritage identities. This exploratory, empirical study focuses on both the nature and the relevance of corporate ...heritage identity as employed by managers for corporate identity management purposes. The research is undertaken within Britain's oldest brewery – one of the oldest corporate entities in Great Britain with a provenance spanning many centuries – and utilizes a qualitative and theory building case study. The research reveals two classes of management responsibilities vis-à-vis corporate heritage identity management, namely corporate heritage management activities and corporate heritage implementation strategies, which follow a particular corporate heritage identity implementation pattern identified. A normative framework synthesizes and marshals the findings. The empirical study provides insight into corporate heritage identity management and is potentially useful to both scholars and practitioners. This study advances the nascent area of corporate heritage identity management by providing empirical and theoretical insight into the salience and strategic relevance of corporate heritage identity as a resource for corporate marketing. The article provides a normative framework of actionable categories of activities related to the management and implementation of substantive corporate heritage identity dimensions.
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