Oliver Christ

The utility of a broader conceptualization of organizational identification: Which aspects really matter?

Predictions of social identity and self-categorization theories about the relevance of social identification in organizational contexts are presented. We propose that different foci of identification (e.g. with own career, team, organization, occupation) as well as different dimensions of organizational identification (cognitive, affective, evaluative, and behavioural) can be separated. Furthermore, these different aspects of organizational identification are assumed to be differentially associated with work-related attitudes and behaviours. Predictions are first tested in a questionnaire study of 515 German school teachers. Confirmatory factor analyses demonstrated that dimensions and foci can indeed be differentiated. In addition, results indicate that different aspects correlate differentially with different criteria. The results are cross-validated in two samples of 233 German school teachers and 358 bank accountants, respectively.

Ethnic Prejudice in East and West Germany: The Explanatory Power of Intergroup Contact:

Surveys show that respondents from East Germany consistently show higher levels of ethnic prejudice than respondents from West Germany. Comparable differences can be found in statistics on crimes and violence against ethnic minority members. On the basis of three surveys (ALLBUS, 1996, N = 2893; Shell Youth Study (Deutsche Shell), 2000, N = 3560; and our own survey of school students, N = 769), the hypothesis that this difference can be largely explained by contrasting interethnic contact opportunities and experiences is tested and supported. Demographic data show that living in the Eastern or Western part of Germany offers differential opportunities for contact with foreigners. Structural equation analyses reveal that this difference, in turn, influences the number of foreigners in the neighborhood or classroom. As a consequence of these varying opportunities for contact, respondents report marked differences in more intimate and personal contact—such as having foreign friends or experiencing contact of personal importance. Foreign friends and importance of contact proved to be the relevant proximal contact variables that reduce ethnic prejudice. Beyond the German context, these results point to a more inclusive model of intergroup relations.

Reducing prejudice via direct and extended cross-group friendship

One of the most exciting developments in intergroup contact theory is the idea that a certain type of contact, cross-group friendship, might be particularly effective at reducing prejudice. In this chapter we review research on two types of cross-group friendship. Direct cross-group friendship refers to friendships that develop between members of different groups. Extended cross-group friendship, on the other hand, refers to vicarious experience of cross-group friendship, the mere knowledge that other ingroup members have cross-group friends. We consider the relationship between both types of cross-group friendship and prejudice and the processes that mediate and moderate these relationships. The research highlights the respective strengths and weaknesses of direct and extended cross-group friendship and illustrates how they might be practically combined in efforts to improve intergroup relations.

Affective mediators of intergroup contact: a three-wave longitudinal study in South Africa.

Intergroup contact (especially cross-group friendship) is firmly established as a powerful strategy for combating group-based prejudice (Pettigrew & Tropp, 2006). Great advances have been made in understanding how contact reduces prejudice (Brown & Hewstone, 2005), highlighting the importance of affective mediators (Pettigrew & Tropp, 2008). The present study, a 3-wave longitudinal study undertaken among minority-status Colored high school children in South Africa (N = 465), explored the full mediation of the effects of cross-group friendships on positive outgroup attitudes, perceived outgroup variability, and negative action tendencies via positive (affective empathy) and negative (intergroup anxiety) affective mediators simultaneously. The target group was the majority-status White South African outgroup. As predicted, a bidirectional model described the relationship between contact, mediators, and prejudice significantly better over time than either autoregressive or unidirectional longitudinal models. However, full longitudinal mediation was only found in the direction from Time 1 contact to Time 3 prejudice (via Time 2 mediators), supporting the underlying tenet of the contact hypothesis. Specifically, cross-group friendships were positively associated with positive outgroup attitudes (via affective empathy) and perceived outgroup variability (via intergroup anxiety and affective empathy) and were negatively associated with negative action tendencies (via affective empathy). Following Pettigrew and Tropp (2008), we compared two alternative hypotheses regarding the relationship between intergroup anxiety and affective empathy over time. Time 1 intergroup anxiety was indirectly negatively associated with Time 3 affective empathy, via Time 2 cross-group friendships. We discuss the theoretical and empirical contributions of this study and make suggestions for future research.

Role of Perceived Importance in Intergroup Contact

Furthering G. W. Allports contentions for optimal contact, the authors introduce a new construct: the perceived importance of contact. They propose that perceived importance is the best proximal predictor of contacts reduction of prejudice. If individuals have opportunities for contact at work or in the neighborhood, their chances to have intergroup acquaintances and friends increase. Intergroup contact among acquaintances and friends can be perceived as more or less important, which in turn determines intergroup evaluations. A 1st study shows that the new measure of perceived importance is indeed distinct from established quantity and quality indicators. The results are cross-validated in a 2nd study that also sheds light on the meaning of importance. In 3rd and 4th studies, structural equation analyses and a meta-analysis support the hypotheses.

Category salience and organizational identification

The aim of this study was to examine (1) the effects of increased salience on three work-related identities (i.e. career, school and occupation), (2) whether these effects had an impact on extra-role behaviours, and (3) whether identification mediated these effects. Standardized questionnaires were completed by 464 schoolteachers concerning identification with the focuses career, school, and occupation as well as scales measuring work extra-role behaviours. The questionnaire was administered under four experimental conditions. As expected, teachers identified more strongly with their schools when their school-type was made salient; they identified more strongly with their occupation when they were told that they were compared with other professional groups. Higher salience of the school membership identity was associated with higher levels of self-reported extra-role behaviours on behalf of the school. This effect was mediated by school identification.

Direct Contact as a Moderator of Extended Contact Effects: Cross-Sectional and Longitudinal Impact on Outgroup Attitudes, Behavioral Intentions, and Attitude Certainty

Cross-group friendships (the most effective form of direct contact) and extended contact (i.e., knowing ingroup members who have outgroup friends) constitute two of the most important means of improving outgroup attitudes. Using cross-sectional and longitudinal samples from different intergroup contexts, this research demonstrates that extended contact is most effective when individuals live in segregated neighborhoods having only few, or no, direct friendships with outgroup members. Moreover, by including measures of attitudes and behavioral intentions the authors showed the broader impact of these forms of contact, and, by assessing attitude certainty as one dimension of attitude strength, they tested whether extended contact can lead not only to more positive but also to stronger outgroup orientations. Cross-sectional data showed that direct contact was more strongly related to attitude certainty than was extended contact, but longitudinal data showed both forms of contact affected attitude certainty in the long run.

Contextual effect of positive intergroup contact on outgroup prejudice

Significance Although mixed social environments can provoke conflict, where this diversity promotes positive intergroup contact, prejudice is reduced. Seven multilevel studies demonstrate that the benefits of intergroup contact are broader than previously thought. Contact not only changes attitudes for individuals experiencing direct positive intergroup contact, their attitudes are also influenced by the behavior (and norms) of fellow ingroup members in their social context. Even individuals experiencing no direct, face-to-face intergroup contact can benefit from living in mixed settings where fellow ingroup members do engage in such contact. Two longitudinal studies rule out selection bias as an explanation for these findings on the contextual level. Prejudice is a function not only of whom you interact with, but also of where you live. We assessed evidence for a contextual effect of positive intergroup contact, whereby the effect of intergroup contact between social contexts (the between-level effect) on outgroup prejudice is greater than the effect of individual-level contact within contexts (the within-level effect). Across seven large-scale surveys (five cross-sectional and two longitudinal), using multilevel analyses, we found a reliable contextual effect. This effect was found in multiple countries, operationalizing context at multiple levels (regions, districts, and neighborhoods), and with and without controlling for a range of demographic and context variables. In four studies (three cross-sectional and one longitudinal) we showed that the association between context-level contact and prejudice was largely mediated by more tolerant norms. In social contexts where positive contact with outgroups was more commonplace, norms supported such positive interactions between members of different groups. Thus, positive contact reduces prejudice on a macrolevel, whereby people are influenced by the behavior of others in their social context, not merely on a microscale, via individuals’ direct experience of positive contact with outgroup members. These findings reinforce the view that contact has a significant role to play in prejudice reduction, and has great policy potential as a means to improve intergroup relations, because it can simultaneously impact large numbers of people.

Population Ratios and Prejudice: Modelling Both Contact and Threat Effects

Are small or large outgroup populations more closely related to an ingroups prejudice? This paper addresses this question with national probability survey data from Germany focused on resident foreigners. Two interlocking processes underlie the complex relationship between population proportions and prejudice. Typically, larger outgroup population proportions simultaneously increase both threat and intergroup contact. The first process increases prejudice, the second decreases it. Using structural equation modelling, our analysis reveals that these two processes can be effectively combined into one complex model. Threat is perceptual; it involves what people think is the outgroup proportion and thus can be easily manipulated by political leaders and the mass media. Contact is experiential; it can reduce individual and collective threat as well as prejudice. The intricate relationship between threat and contact can be substantially altered by numerous moderators. Hence, rigid group segregation can limit contact, while unemployment can amplify threat. The paper provides evidence that reductions in prejudice have important consequences for intergroup relations.

The Identity-Matching Principle: Corporate and Organizational Identification in a Franchising System

This paper examines corporate and organizational identification in franchisee organizations from the perspective of the social identity approach. We propose the identity-matching principle (IMP) as a heuristic for understanding and predicting the different effects of nested identifications. According to the IMP, when identifications and relevant behavioural or attitudinal outcomes address the same level of categorization, their relationship will be stronger. A study is presented with employees (n=281) matched to managers (n=101). Supporting the IMP, organizational identification (but not corporate identification) predicted customer-oriented behaviour on the level of the local organization, whereas corporate identification (but not organizational identification) predicted attitude toward corporate citizenship behaviour. Furthermore, multilevel analyses showed that these relationships were enhanced in organizations where managers displayed the respective behaviours themselves to a greater extent. Implications for theorizing about leadership and organizational attachments are discussed alongside recommendations for organizational practitioners.