The Double-Edged Sword of Post-Merger Organizational Identification: How Social Ties Influence Employee Initiative Taking

Abstract

Even though prior research on mergers and acquisitions (M&As) suggests that a stronger identification with the new organization positively influences the post-merger integration process, an emerging line of research points out that organizational identification can lead to complacency and impassiveness. Integrating the social networks with the organizational identification perspective on M&As, we show that the relationship between organizational identification and taking charge behavior in M&A settings is contingent on the direct and indirect social ties between the employees of the merging organizations. Our analysis of the informal social network a professional service firm one year after a merger reveals that organizational identification can be a blessing or burden in disguise. By identifying an important boundary condition of the relationship between organizational identification and post-merger taking charge behavior, our study challenges the overly optimistic perspective on organizational identification and explains when and why it leads to positive or negative consequences in M&A settings.