TY - JOUR

T1 - Identity without Membership?

T2 - Anonymous and the Communicative Formation of Organizational Identity

AU - Dobusch, Leonhard

AU - Schoeneborn, Dennis

PY - 2014/1

Y1 - 2014/1

N2 - Most research on organizational identity tends to adopt an essentialist perspective, usually differentiating between an organization’s identity, which is constructed internally by the organization’s members, and image, which is constructed by external actors. However, an essentialist view on identity does not capture adequately more fluid organizational arrangements, where it is difficult to establish a clear distinction between members and non-members. Therefore, building upon processual views, in this paper we propose to adopt a communication-centered perspective that allows us to examine the formation of organizational identity in more fluid organizational settings. Drawing on an empirical study of the hacker collective Anonymous, we show that organizational identity is formed through public communicative events that are subject to meaning negotiation whether or not actions can be attributed to Anonymous as a collective actor.

AB - Most research on organizational identity tends to adopt an essentialist perspective, usually differentiating between an organization’s identity, which is constructed internally by the organization’s members, and image, which is constructed by external actors. However, an essentialist view on identity does not capture adequately more fluid organizational arrangements, where it is difficult to establish a clear distinction between members and non-members. Therefore, building upon processual views, in this paper we propose to adopt a communication-centered perspective that allows us to examine the formation of organizational identity in more fluid organizational settings. Drawing on an empirical study of the hacker collective Anonymous, we show that organizational identity is formed through public communicative events that are subject to meaning negotiation whether or not actions can be attributed to Anonymous as a collective actor.

KW - Management studies

KW - Anonymous

KW - communication as constitutive of organizations

KW - Organizational identity

U2 - 10.5465/AMBPP.2014.11142abstract

DO - 10.5465/AMBPP.2014.11142abstract

M3 - Conference abstract in journal

JO - Academy of Management Proceedings

JF - Academy of Management Proceedings

SN - 0065-0668

IS - Januar 2014

M1 - 11142

ER -