| Using a case study design, this study explores the process of organizational identity claim selection in an animal welfare organization. Prior research on organizational identity demonstrated the importance of organizational identity, such as its positive relationship to organizational productivity, but it did not present an understanding of how an organization selects its identity claims. This omission is a critical one as the "how" behind organizational identity claim selection forms the basis for later phases of organizational identity research. Furthermore, this study expands the scope of research designs applicable to an organizational identity study by using an embedded narrative strategy, along with pattern coding, time-series analysis, and explanation building techniques. The data analysis strategy and techniques were used to analyze data from interviews, documents, and observation to understand the process of organizational identity claim selection.;The researcher used the primary theory base of organizational identity (Albert & Whetten, 1985), complemented by discourse in the form of social languages (Bakhtin, 1986). The study's findings demonstrate that the process for organizational identity claim selection involved an action and a discourse component. The process of identity claim selection is cyclical. It starts with the organization performing an action, such as deciding what organization type it would be at the founding. The claim is then expressed and recorded in discourse, either written or orally. Stories are then used as a specialized form of discourse to celebrate these identity claims. These three parts together represent the process, which is reconstituted each time organization members take action and use discourse in relationship to the process structure of the organizational identity claims. |
