Beauty Is in the Eye of the Beholder: The Impact of Organizational Identification, Identity, and Image on the Cooperative Behaviors of Physicians

• Published in: Administrative science quarterly Vol. 47; no. 3; pp. 507 - 533
• Main Authors: Dukerich, Janet M., Golden, Brian R., Shortell, Stephen M.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Thousand Oaks Cornell University Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management 01.09.2002; SAGE Publications; Sage Publications, Inc; SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
• Subjects: Administrative science; Behavior; Business studies; Corporate image; Doctors; Factor analysis; Focus groups; Health care networks; Health care organizations; Identification; Identity; Mailing lists; Mailings; Managed care; Management; Management science; Medical care; Medical offices; Organizational behavior; Organizational identity; Organizations; Perceived organizational identity; Physicians; Studies; United States > US
• ISSN: 0001-8392; 1930-3815
• DOI: 10.2307/3094849

We use an established model of organizational identification to try to understand the voluntary cooperative behavior of professionals in organizations. We examined the relationships among physicians' assessments of the attractiveness of a health care system's perceived identity and construed external image, strength of system identification, and cooperative behaviors. We surveyed 1,504 physicians affiliated with three health care systems and collected follow-up data from 285 physicians a year later. Attractiveness of perceived identity and construed external image were positively related to physicians' identification with the system, which in turn was positively related to cooperative behavior. Extensions to the model of organizational identification are suggested.