Dynamic Identities: Situational Relevance and Fluctuations In Team and Organizational Identification Activation Across The Workday

Individuals have multiple identities at work, each with distinct values and behavioral expectations. Though the identification literature argues that the relative effect of different identities varies depending on the subjective importance and situational relevance of each separate identity, identification is still largely conceptualized as stable and static. This ignores how different identifications might be activated at different time points throughout the day. We extend the identification literature through development of a theoretical model of dynamic identification—demonstrating that workplace conflict is a primary mechanism through which identification fluctuates, as well as the simultaneous effects of different identifications (i.e., team and organization) on important workplace outcomes. In a multi-week ESM study, we demonstrate that increased conflict in a focal group reduced focal group identification activation, and that this effect was strengthened when non-focal group conflict was low, such that the non-focal identity represented a “greener pasture” compared to the focal group.