BUILDING CHARACTER: THE FORMATION OF A HYBRID ORGANIZATIONAL IDENTITY IN A SOCIAL ENTERPRISE
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Date
2020-09
Authors
Cornelissen, Joep P.
Akemu, Ona
Jonkman, Jeroen G. F.
Werner, Mirjam D.
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Wiley
Abstract
The formation of a hybrid organizational identity is a significant challenge for many
social enterprises. Drawing on in-depth longitudinal data from the first three years of a successful social enterprise – Fairphone, founded in Amsterdam – we induce an empirically grounded
theoretical model of how a hybrid organizational identity is formed. We identify a general
process of organizational identity formation, with founders, leaders and members experimenting with different organizational characters describing ‘who they are’ as well as with alternative social impact strategies defining ‘what they do’. As part of this experimental process, we
elaborate the role of a key leadership process – ‘rekeying’, which involves leaders re-figuring
prior understandings into more dual readings – which we found facilitates ongoing adaptation
and helps members of the organization to become progressively better able at combining multiple objectives and values as part of a shared hybrid identity. Our theoretical model of hybrid
organizational identity formation has a number of direct implications for ongoing research on
organizational identity formation and hybrid organizations.
Description
Keywords
hybrid organizations, leadership re-keying, organizational identity formation, sensemaking, social entrepreneurship
Citation
Cornelissen, J. P., Akemu, O., Jonkman, J. G. F., & Werner, M. D. (2020). Building Character: The Formation of a Hybrid Organizational Identity in a Social Enterprise. Journal of Management Studies. https://doi.org/10.1111/joms.12640