The Effect of Status on the Similarity of Organisational Identities
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2023-06-27
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en
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Although the similarity of organisational identities is an important topic in organisation and management theory, one factor that could affect the similarities of organisational identities remains underexplored, that is the organisation’s status. This thesis investigates the relationship between an organisation’s status and the similarity of organisational identities. A distinction is made between an organisation’s similarity to its peers, organisations with similar status, and similarity to the field’s prototype, an abstract representation containing the most salient features of the field. A content analysis of the logos of 96 football clubs performing in the UEFA Leagues 2022-2023 is performed. Based on the analysis, this paper argues that status influences both the similarity of the organisational identity to peers as well as to the field’s prototype. More specifically the results show that middle-status organisations are most likely to show similarity to their peers compared to high- and low-status organisations, and low-status organisations show more similarity to the field’s prototype compared to high-status organisations. The influence status has on the similarity of an organisational identity thus differs for the distinctive benchmarks. This paper contributes to the literature on organisational similarity and status by making a distinction between the similarity of an organisational identity to its peers and to the field’s prototype and therefore it sets the stage for rethinking similarity beyond one benchmark.
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Faculteit der Managementwetenschappen