Operational Measures of Organizational Identity: A Review of Existing Methods

This article reviews empirical studies of organizational identity. It examines how the construct has been operationalized and measured. Most studies rely on Albert and Whetten’s (1985) definition of organizational identity, but differ in their interpretations of key dimensions, particularly in whether they rely on direct perceptions of organization members or more indirect measures to capture features of organizational identity. We suggest that the difference between main approaches can be bridged by further exploring the link between what organization members do, and how they perceive the identity of their organization.