We are what we do (and how we do it): Organizational technologies and the construction of organizational identity

Past research has highlighted multiple interrelations between technology and social cognition. In this chapter, building on past studies, as well as on our own research, we advance propositions about the conditions under which technological features are likely to serve as cues for the construction of organizational identity and about the consequences of this fact for the enduringness of these features. In doing so, our emerging framework may contribute to increase more general understanding of how organizational features come to be perceived as part of organizational identity.

[1]  C. Fombrun,et al.  Opportunity Platforms and Safety Nets: Corporate Citizenship and Reputational Risk , 2024, SSRN Electronic Journal.

[2]  Van Riel,et al.  Principles of Corporate Communication , 1995 .

[3]  Karen Golden-Biddle,et al.  Breaches in the Boardroom: Organizational Identity and Conflicts of Commitment in a Nonprofit Organization , 1997 .

[4]  John W. Meyer,et al.  Institutionalized Organizations: Formal Structure as Myth and Ceremony , 1977, American Journal of Sociology.

[5]  Margaret A. Peteraf,et al.  GETTING TO KNOW YOU: A THEORY OF STRATEGIC GROUP IDENTITY , 1997, Strategic Management Journal.

[6]  Rhonda K. Reger,et al.  REFRAMING THE ORGANIZATION: WHY IMPLEMENTING TOTAL QUALITY IS EASIER SAID THAN DONE , 1994 .

[7]  Anat Rafaeli,et al.  Organizational Dress as a Symbol of Multilayered Social Identities , 1997 .

[8]  G. Susman,et al.  Advanced Manufacturing Technology and Organization Structure: Empowerment or Subordination? , 1992 .

[9]  D. Leonard-Barton,et al.  Implementation as mutual adaptation of technology and organization , 1988 .

[10]  J. Dutton,et al.  Keeping An Eye on the Mirror: Image and Identity In Organizational Adaptation , 1991 .

[11]  Alison Mackey,et al.  A Social Actor Conception of Organizational Identity and Its Implications for the Study of Organizational Reputation , 2002 .

[12]  Constance E. Helfat,et al.  The birth of capabilities: market entry and the importance of pre-history , 2002 .

[13]  David M. Boje,et al.  STORIES OF THE STORYTELLING ORGANIZATION: A POSTMODERN ANALYSIS OF DISNEY AS "TAMARA-LAND" , 1995 .

[14]  José Antonio Domínguez Machuca,et al.  Rapid-Fire Fulfillment , 2004 .

[15]  Gerardine DeSanctis,et al.  Capturing the Complexity in Advanced Technology Use: Adaptive Structuration Theory , 1994 .

[16]  Peter A. Dacin,et al.  Identity, intended image, construed image, and gnreputation: An interdisciplinary framework and suggested terminology , 2006 .

[17]  M. Porter.  What is strategy , 2000 .

[18]  Majken Schultz,et al.  The Dynamics of Organizational Identity , 2002 .

[19]  Kevin G. Corley,et al.  Guiding Organizational Identity Through Aged Adolescence , 2006 .

[20]  Dennis A. Gioia,et al.  Symbolism and Strategic Change in Academia: The Dynamics of Sensemaking and Influence , 1994 .

[21]  Mary Tripsas,et al.  Thinking About Technology: Applying a Cognitive Lens to Technical Change , 2008 .

[22]  W. Orlikowski.  Sociomaterial Practices: Exploring Technology at Work , 2007 .

[23]  Giovanni Gavetti,et al.  Capabilities, cognition, and inertia: evidence from digital imaging , 2000 .

[24]  Violina P. Rindova,et al.  Symbolic value creation , 2008 .

[25]  M. Schultz,et al.  Responding to Organizational Identity Threats: Exploring the Role of Organizational Culture , 2006 .

[26]  H. Rao.  The Social Construction of Reputation: Certification Contests, Legitimation, and the Survival of Organizations in the American Automobile Industry: 1895–1912 , 1994 .

[27]  Luciana D'Adderio,et al.  Configuring software, reconfiguring memories: the influence of integrated systems on the reproduction of knowledge and routines , 2003 .

[28]  Henry Mintzberg.  Musings on management. Ten ideas designed to rile everyone who cares about management. , 1996, Harvard business review.

[29]  Kevin G. Corley,et al.  The Intersection of Organizational Identity, Knowledge, and Practice: Attempting Strategic Change Via Knowledge Grafting , 2007 .

[30]  Terri L. Griffith.  Technology Features as Triggers for Sensemaking , 1999 .

[31]  Dennis A. Gioia,et al.  Sensemaking and sensegiving in strategic change initiation , 1991 .

[32]  C. Marlene Fiol,et al.  Managing Culture as a Competitive Resource: An Identity-Based View of Sustainable Competitive Advantage , 1991 .

[33]  Vicki R. Lane,et al.  A Stakeholder Approach to Organizational Identity , 2000 .

[34]  Kevin G. Corley,et al.  Identity Ambiguity and Change in the Wake of a Corporate Spin-off , 2004 .

[35]  Joel Podolny,et al.  Status, Quality, and Social Order in the California Wine Industry , 1999 .

[36]  M. Lounsbury.  Cultural Entrepreneurship: Stories, Legitimacy and the Acquisition of Resources , 2001 .

[37]  Andrew D. Brown,et al.  Narratives of Organizational Identity and Identification: A Case Study of Hegemony and Resistance , 2002 .

[38]  S. Barley.  The alignment of technology and structure through roles and networks. , 1990, Administrative science quarterly.

[39]  G. Dosi.  Technological Paradigms and Technological Trajectories: A Suggested Interpretation of the Determinants and Directions of Technical Change , 1982 .

[40]  Davide Ravasi,et al.  Organizational Identity in Practice , 2007 .

[41]  H. Rao,et al.  Institutional Change in Toque Ville: Nouvelle Cuisine as an Identity Movement in French Gastronomy1 , 2003, American Journal of Sociology.

[42]  M. Hatch,et al.  Relations between organizational culture, identity and image , 1997 .

[43]  T. P. Hughes,et al.  The Social Construction of Technological Systems: New Directions in the Sociology and History of Technology , 1989 .

[44]  D. Leonard-Barton.  CORE CAPABILITIES AND CORE RIGIDITIES: A PARADOX IN MANAGING NEW PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT , 1992 .

[45]  T. Rickards.  Sense making in organizations , 1997 .

[46]  J OrlikowskiWanda.  Using Technology and Constituting Structures , 2000 .

[47]  Pietro Romano,et al.  Back to the Future: Benetton Transforms Its Global Network , 2001 .

[48]  Dennis A. Gioia,et al.  Identity, Image, and Issue Interpretation: Sensemaking during Strategic Change in Academia. , 1996 .

[49]  Mary Tripsas,et al.  Technology, Identity, and Inertia through the Lens of 'The Digital Photography Company' , 2008, Organ. Sci..

[50]  JoAnne Yates,et al.  Shaping Electronic Communication: The Metastructuring of Technology in the Context of Use , 1995 .

[51]  M. Glynn.  When Cymbals Become Symbols: Conflict Over Organizational Identity Within a Symphony Orchestra , 2000 .

[52]  Roderick M. Kramer,et al.  Members' Responses to Organizational Identity Threats: Encountering and Countering the Business Week Rankings , 1996 .

[53]  C. Marlene Fiol,et al.  Capitalizing on Paradox: The Role of Language in Transforming Organizational Identities , 2002, Organ. Sci..

[54]  R. Henderson,et al.  Discontinuities and senior management: assessing the role of recognition in pharmaceutical firm response to biotechnology , 2003 .

[55]  Kevin G. Corley,et al.  Organizational Identity, Image, and Adaptive Instability , 2000 .

[56]  Dennis A. Gioia,et al.  From individual to organizational identity. , 1998 .

[57]  W. Orlikowski.  Using Technology and Constituting Structures: A Practice Lens for Studying Technology in Organizations , 2000 .

[58]  David A. Whetten,et al.  Albert and Whetten Revisited: Strengthening the Concept of Organizational Identity , 2006 .