THE IMPACT OF EMPLOYEE COMMUNICATION AND PERCEIVED EXTERNAL PRESTIGE ON ORGANIZATIONAL IDENTIFICATION.

Employees' organizational identification was measured in three organizations. Results show that employee communication augments perceived external prestige and helps explain organizational identification. Communication climate plays a central role, mediating the impact on organizational identification of the content of communication. The relative impacts of employee communication and perceived external prestige on organizational identification differ between organizations; this was attributed to differences in reputation of the companies. Consequences of the results for the management of organizational identification are discussed.