‘Change is Our Continuity’: Chinese Managers’ Construction of Post-Merger Identification After an Acquisition in Europe

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article examines organizational identification construction in mergers and acquisitions (M&As). The majority of existing studies have focused on antecedents and outcomes of post-merger identification (PMI) in Western contexts. While more and more Chinese cross-border M&As are taking place, how Chinese employees construct PMI remains underexplored. We adopted a qualitative case study approach to investigate how Chinese managers construct PMI after acquiring a European company. As the main contribution, we introduce the concept of agile organizational identity (AOI), wherein agility is a central, enduring and distinctive characteristic of an organization, i.e. ‘who we are and who we want to be’. Our findings reveal that AOI is leveraged by Chinese managers to deal with their perceived inferior status, help them cope with the change and contribute to the construction of a strong PMI. We believe that our study provides a new perspective on how employees can effectively cope with organizational change while maintaining a sense of identity continuity. MAD statement This article examines organizational identification construction in mergers and acquisitions (M&As). We provide novel insights by introducing the agile organizational identity (AOI) concept, wherein the agility is a central, enduring and distinctive characteristic of an organization, i.e. ‘who we are and who we want to be’. To maintain such a pre-merger identity after M&As, people strive to continue changing as change is the continuity. Thus, psychological bonds between an employee and the employing organization do not become weaker. As agility is incorporated in the organizational identity, AOI helps employees to cope with the low status of their organization, accept organizational changes, and identify with the post-merger organization. Organizational leaders might want to foster AOI in order to successfully conduct strategic change initiatives.