Social Identity Change During an Intergroup Merger: The Role of Status, Similarity, and Identity Threat

Conducted during the merger between two hospitals, this longitudinal study (N = 149) revealed that at both Time 1 (i.e., questionnaire completed 12 months prior to the merger) and Time 2 (completed 1 year after the merger had been implemented), employees from the low-status premerger organization ge...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Amiot, C., Terry, Deborah, McKimme, B.
Format: Journal Article
Published: Psychology Press 2012
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/37450
Description
Summary:Conducted during the merger between two hospitals, this longitudinal study (N = 149) revealed that at both Time 1 (i.e., questionnaire completed 12 months prior to the merger) and Time 2 (completed 1 year after the merger had been implemented), employees from the low-status premerger organization generally reported lower adjustment to the merger. Whereas Time 2 identity threat predicted lower and decreased identification with the new merged organization and perceptions of a common in group identity, perceived similarities between the merging organizations at Time 2 predicted higher identification with the new merged organization and higher perceptions of a common in group identity.