Power to the people: A social identity perspective on organizational decentralization and employee well‐being

Abstract

Organizational identification underpins a range of important outcomes in the workplace, including workers' well‐being. Drawing on the social identity approach to health (SIAH), here we explore whether certain organizational forms—specifically, organizational decentralization—can boost organizational identification and, in this way, employee well‐being. We test this possibility in four high‐powered samples of workers in the UK, US and Italy (N total = 1960). Results confirm that workers are more likely to identify with an organization when they perceive power to be decentralized. Importantly, we find the expected indirect effects between increased decentralization perceptions and ratings of improved well‐being (including job satisfaction, work engagement and reduced burnout) through organizational identification. These results were consistent across samples, proving the generality of the findings across different cultural contexts. Empirical and practical implications of shared decision‐making power to increase workers' well‐being are discussed. Please refer to the Supplementary Material section to find this article's Community and Social Impact Statement.

Articles from and inspired by the fifth International Conference on Social Identity and Health

“…As noted above, Byrne et al's (2023) theoretically guided metareview highlights how the structure and organisation of prison life serves to inhibit help‐seeking for mental health problems, while Wakefield et al's (2024) study of veterans' experiences notes how the ethos and policies of the military can inhibit or even undermine the efforts of retiring service personnel to socially reintegrate. Likewise, both Harkin et al (2023) and Gray et al's (2023) papers on the effects of COVID‐19 on local communities point to the importance of the local community infrastructure in facilitating or inhibiting active involvement, while Filippi, Peters, and Suitner's (2023) paper documents the relationships between organisational decision‐making ethos and the well‐being of employees in the United States, United Kingdom and Italy. By engaging with structural factors which provide opportunities or barriers to social connectedness, these studies enable a fuller appreciation of the many social and environmental ‘determinants of health’ impacting on Social Cure processes.…”