| The origin and delineation of organizational identity (OI) as a construct has been well studied and documented by researchers. This research has suggested that insufficient study has been conducted on how organizational identity formation takes place from organizational inception, which factors influence this formation (Gioia, Price, Hamilton, & Thomas, 2010), and that there is a limited understanding of how organizational identity forms. More specifically, there is limited knowledge of how organizational members perceptions of leadership, and of professional identity, impact organizational identity formation. This descriptive, single case study grounded in the interpretive qualitative paradigm and featuring a sample of thirty-five organizational members of a virtual education organization, examines organizational identity formation in a virtual education organization, and advances rich data regarding such an organization's identity formation. Data were collected using interviews and through the examination of organizational documents. Analysis of the data used case study procedures and the constant comparative method borrowed from grounded theory. Findings indicated that organizational identity formation is impacted by the members' perceptions of formal and informal leaders and their leadership style, but that organizational identity resides in an amalgam of referents that are difficult to isolate as a function of a single impactful influence such as organizational leaders/leadership. The perceived ability to establish a professional identity also influenced organizational identity formation. Organizational complexity negatively impacted the members' abilities to develop professional identities, and influenced their perceptions of the organization's culture and influenced the organizational identity formation. |
