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This version was published on June 1, 2008
Journal of Information Science, Vol. 34, No. 3, 370-386 (2008)
DOI: 10.1177/0165551507086259

Impact of coherent versus multiple identities on knowledge integration

Annick Willem

Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Ghent University, Belgium, annick.willem{at}ugent.be

Harry Scarbrough

Warwick Business School, University of Warwick, UK

Marc Buelens

Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Ghent University, and Vlerick Leuven Ghent Management School, Belgium

This paper addresses the influence of two competing views of social identity on knowledge integration. One view sees social identity primarily as a coherent characteristic of organizations, which can leverage knowledge integration by unconditional cooperative behaviour, shared values, mindsets, trust, and loyalty. The opposing view considers social identity as multiple and fragmented. This fragmented view emphasizes the problematic nature of social identity for knowledge integration and states that social identity is an additional barrier to knowledge integration in organizations. The aim of this paper is to examine these competing accounts and to develop insight into the underlying mechanisms that lead to the different effects of social identity on knowledge integration. Two polar case studies illustrate the different effects of a coherent versus multiple identity on knowledge integration and the need for a coherent company-wide social identity, instead of a multiple community or group based social identity, to leverage knowledge integration in organizations.

Key Words: case studies • knowledge integration • multiple social identities • organization theory • organization-wide social identity • social identity


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