Linking Organizational Identification With Employee Outcomes

Abstract. Despite the unique value of organizational identification (OID) for work-related attitudes and organizational behavior, little research has directly examined the mechanisms that may link these. Drawing on social identity theory and cognitive dissonance theory, we develop and test a model that specifies how OID relates to work outcomes. Employing a two-wave design with 338 employees and their supervisors working in 83 groups in China, we found that (a) OID influences work engagement, which in turn promotes employee outcomes (i.e., job performance, creativity, and intention to stay), and (b) the indirect relationship between OID and employee outcomes via work engagement is moderated by abusive supervision such that the indirect positive relationship is weakened when abusive supervision is high rather than low.