Job Resources to Promote Feelings of Pride in the Organization: The Role of Social Identification

Employees are assumed to obtain job resources from and identify with the organization they work for. Previously, the concepts of job resources and social identification have mostly been studied holistically, that is, on one general organizational level. This study aims to contribute to the understanding of how job resources, operationalized at two different levels (workgroup and organizational) in two organizations, could have an influence on group-based pride that employees feel for their workgroups and for their organizations. Social identification is purported to intervene in this relationship on respective level, and its inclusion is expected to contribute to different forms of pride. Regression analyses of questionnaire data gathered from 436 employees in two middle-sized municipalities in Sweden revealed that: (1) a workgroup’s resources explained additional variance in workgroup pride beyond the effects of resources at the organizational level, (2) organizational resources explained additional variance in organizational pride beyond that of workgroup resources, and (3) social identification in both these areas was a potential partial mediator in these relationships. These findings highlight the need to distinguish between workgroup and organizational levels regarding both independent and dependent variables. Such clarification of the multiple identifications and group-based pride dynamics could have practical implications for Human Resource (HR) managers in particular.