Being the same or being different? A quantitative study on the effect of distinctiveness on the performance of hybrid organizations
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2023-06-28
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en
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The optimal distinctive literature highlights that organizations should be optimally distinct – an organization’s optimal balance between being the same as and being different from organizational peers - to yield the highest performance. In recent years, this research stream has shown that optimal distinct positioning differs across contexts. This study contributes to earlier studies that theorize about the contexts under which distinctiveness will be beneficial by studying the effect of distinctiveness on the performance of hybrid organizations. In this study, it is proposed that the relationship between distinctiveness and performance is inverted U-shaped in hybrid organizations. Additionally, it is theorized that identity claims shift the curve’s turning point to the right. The hypotheses were tested in an online experiment which was distributed via Prolific. In total 247 subjects participated in the experiment. The results show that both moderately different and completely different identities lead to higher performance outcomes. In addition, only if an organization has an identity claim that emphasizes one objective, completely different identities lead to higher performance. Taken together, this study offers a more comprehensive theory of optimal distinctiveness by examining optimal distinctiveness in hybrid organizations.
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Faculteit der Managementwetenschappen