Exploring the Antecedents of Organizational Identification: the Role of Job Dimensions, Individual Characteristics and Job Involvement

Abstract

Aim This study aims to identify the antecedents of organizational identification such as job involvement and job dimensions in a health care setting. Background Organizational identification is an important work attitude that affects nurses' performance and job satisfaction. Hence, exploring antecedents of organizational identification in a health care setting is vital in understanding the role of organizational identification in nurse-and patient-related outcomes. Method A research model, which incorporates job design, individual characteristics, job involvement and organizational identification, was developed and tested. The research was conducted via a survey in a hospital setting in Turkey (n = 148). Results The results revealed that job involvement, which is the degree of importance of one's job to one's self-image, is related to organizational identification. Among job dimensions, task identity and autonomy explained a significant proportion of variance in job involvement. Conclusion Although job dimensions are not directly related to organizational identification, they have effects on job involvement, which is also an important construct. Implications for nursing management The results suggest that nurses' jobs should be designed with higher levels of task autonomy and task identity to increase their job involvement and in turn their organizational identification.