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The Travails of Identity Change: Competitor Claims and Distinctiveness of British Political Parties, 1970–1992

Author

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  • Soorjith Illickal Karthikeyan

    (Organizational Behavior and Human Resources Management Area, Indian Institute of Management Udaipur (IIMU), Udaipur 313001, Rajasthan, India)

  • Stefan Jonsson

    (Department of Business Studies, Uppsala University, 751 20 Uppsala, Sweden)

  • Filippo Carlo Wezel

    (Universita’ della Svizzera italiana, CH-6904 Lugano, Switzerland; and Strategy and Organization Department, EMLYON Business School, 69130 Ecully, France)

Abstract

How does an organization change its identity, yet maintain distinctiveness? This question is especially interesting when we consider the fact that identity repositioning often takes place among several organizations at the same time—giving rise to interrelated identity change and distinctiveness concerns. We investigate this question in the setting of British political parties, during a period when questions of identity change and distinctiveness were heightened, following a decline of political ideologies. Parties, we argue, sought to handle this situation through two broad strategies that we call identity affirmation and reformation. Identity distinctiveness was affirmed by identity claims that sought to counter and neutralize competing claims on aspects that were thought central to the identity of the party. To alter the identity, parties also sought to reform it by expanding identity claims to elements that were considered to be popular. Reformation efforts are however not unchecked expansion, but tempered by concerns of identity consistency and distance from other parties. We discuss contributions to theories of organizational identities and competitive rivalry.

Suggested Citation

  • Soorjith Illickal Karthikeyan & Stefan Jonsson & Filippo Carlo Wezel, 2016. "The Travails of Identity Change: Competitor Claims and Distinctiveness of British Political Parties, 1970–1992," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 27(1), pages 106-122, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:ororsc:v:27:y:2016:i:1:p:106-122
    DOI: 10.1287/orsc.2015.1013
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    References listed on IDEAS

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