Does Organizational Image Matter? Image, Identification, and Employee Behaviors in Public and Nonprofit Organizations

Abstract

Organizational image, identity, and identification are powerful concepts in terms of understanding members’ behaviors and beliefs. In particular, the term “image” has frequently been used to describe the overall impression of the organization, but most scholars have only focused on organizational image as it is perceived by external audiences. However, organizational image as perceived by members within an organization is critical for determining its impact on individual employees’ motivation, work behaviors, and further performance at work. This article explores the roles of organizational image and identification in explaining organizational behaviors—extra‐role behavior and absenteeism—in public and nonprofit organizations. A series of seemingly unrelated regressions were used to analyze survey data from 1,220 respondents. Results show that organizational image is positively related to employee identification, and identification has a significant influence on promoting extra‐role behavior and lowering employee absenteeism. Organizational image as perceived by members of an organization is an aggregate of individual employees’ perceptions of the organization based on their own experiences and judgments (perceived organizational identity) and outsiders’ judgments about the organization (construed external image). Both perceived organizational identity and construed external image influence the extent to which employees are likely to identify themselves as part of their organization. The higher an employee's level of identification, the more he or she is likely to engage in extra‐role behavior. Managing organizational image and identification in a positive way can significantly reduce costly voluntary employee absences, which are reasonably avoidable absences.

Imagen corporativa y satisfacción laboral en potenciales empleados del sector bancario

“…De acuerdo con Simoes, Dibb y Fisk (2005), la imagen corporativa es un componente estratégico en la organización porque le permite diferenciarse de sus competidores al mostrar un perfil público que ha sido desarrollado a lo largo del tiempo, generando capacidades para atraer y retener a los interesados internos y externos (Rho, Yun y Lee, 2015) y con ello mejorar la competitividad de la empresa. Desarrollar una imagen corporativa atractiva permite atraer talento valioso a la organización (Lievens et al, 2007), quienes al ser personas externas obtienen la información de diversas fuentes, como los mensajes que la propia empresa envía y los comentarios que se van transmitiendo boca a boca, permitiendo así la observación y comprensión de lo que sucede al interior (Rho et al, 2015) para caracterizarse como un lugar atractivo para trabajar (Dutton y Dukerich, 1991).…”

“…De acuerdo con la literatura, la imagen corporativa también ha sido abordada como reputación corporativa (Alniacik et al, 2011;Kang y Yang, 2010;Keh y Xie, 2009;Riordan et al, 1997), identidad corporativa (Bravo et al, 2016), imagen organizacional (Rho et al, 2015) y reputación percibida de la empresa (Helm, 2013); sin embargo, es un tema que al relacionarse con la satisfacción laboral, normalmente se centra en un enfoque donde el empleado evalúa la imagen a partir de su experiencia laboral, y poco se aborda desde su función como atractivo para futuros colaboradores. Desde la perspectiva de los integrantes de la organización, las aportaciones de Helm (2013) consideran que la percepción de los empleados acerca de las opiniones de personas externas a la organización está asociada con la satisfacción laboral; siendo resultado de una investigación aplicada a una muestra de 439 empleados de Estados Unidos de América al analizar cómo la reputación externa percibida por los empleados y el orgullo por pertenecer a una compañía influyen en la satisfacción laboral y las intenciones de cambiar de empleo.…”

Organizational and Corporate Identity on Social Media: A Literature Review

“…Nonetheless, most scholars agree that organizational identity has an internal organizational focus and influences the way employees feel about the organizations for which they work (Zollo, Laudano, Boccardi, & Ciappei, 2019). Employees have a crucial role in organizational processes, as they can project an organizational image (Rho, Yun, & Lee, 2015) that can affect the perceptions of external stakeholders. In this context, the organizational image that an organization wants to communicate to constituents is often seen as a corporate identity (Cornelissen et al, 2007).…”

Unveiling Research Trends for Organizational Reputation in the Nonprofit Sector

“…Important determinants of organizational image are the performance of employees responsible for client contact (Nguyen 2006) and the type of information displayed on nonprofits' websites (Huang and Ku 2016). In addition, image has been explored as a factor explaining organizational behaviors, including lower employee absenteeism (Rho et al 2015).…”