Organisational Identification. An organisation provides members with an identity once people identify with the organisation (Xxx Xxxxxxxxxxx and Xxx Xxxxx, 2000). Organisational identification is embodied in social identity theory (Xxxxxxx et al., 2006) and it is a special type of social identification (Xxxxxxxx and Xxxx, 1989; Xxx Xxxxxxxxxxx and Xxx Xxxxx, 2000; Xxxx and Xxxxxxxx, 1995), in which social identification is “the perception of oneness with or belongingness to some human aggregate” (Xxxxxxxx and Xxxx, 1989, p. 21). Researchers define organisational identification in different ways. Most of them define organisational identification as a cognitive construct. For example, the most widely used definition is defined by Xxxx and Xxxxxxxx (1992), who referred to organisational identification as “the perception of oneness with or belongingness to an organization, where the individual defines him or herself in terms of the organization(s) in which he or she is a member” (Xxxx and Xxxxxxxx, 1992, p. 104). There are three features for organisational identification: what employees see as the essence of the organisation; what employees perceive as distinctiveness of the organisation and; what employees perceive as continuity of the organisation (i.e. linking the organisation’s past to present) (Xxxxxx and Xxxxxxx, 1985). Organisational identification influences members’ behaviour as it provides group members with a sense of satisfaction regarding their self-concept (Xxx Xxxx et al., 2004a), which is the same as the influence of social identity (Xxx Xxxxxxxxxxx and Xxx Xxxxx, 2000). It provides people with a distinctiveness for defining in an organisation and provides members with an image of ‘who they are’ (Xxx Xxxxxxx and Xxx Xxxxxxxxxxx, 2003; see also Xxxxxxxx and Mael, 1989). Because of this self-defining and self-enhancement, high organisational identification leads to low employee turnover (Xxx Xxxx et al., 2006; Xxxxxxxxxx and Xxxxxxxxxx, 2006; Xxx Xxxxxxxxxxx et al., 2002) because the more a person identifies with an organisation, the more an organisational perspective he or she takes (Xxx Xxxxxxxxxxx and Xxx Xxxxx, 2000; Xxx Xxxxxxxxxxx et al., 2002), the more organisational values, norms, attitudes and beliefs he or she adheres to (Xxxxxxxx and Xxxx, 1989; Xxx Xxxxxxxxxxx, 2000) and the more organisational interest he or she acts (Xxx Xxxxxxxxxxx, 2000; Xxx Xxxxxxxxxxx and Xxx Xxxxx, 2000; Xxx Xxxxxxxxxxx et al., 2002) so that he/she is less likely to move to other organisati...
