The importance of the psychological bond between employees and organization has been underlined by many researchers (Haslam, 2004). This bond has been frequently called organizational identification and it has been defined as the “perception of oneness with or belongingness to the organization” (Ashforth & Mael, 1989, p. 34). However, organizations are not single and indivisible entities, but networks of groups that may elicit feelings of identification in themselves (van Knippenberg & van Schie, 2000). That means that employees may become identified not only with the whole organization but also frequently with smaller units (such as division, department or work-group) closer to their everyday labour life. The aims of this research are: 1) To examine the relationship between Work-Group Identification (WID) and whole Organizational Identification (OID); 2) To examine the relationship between transformational leadership and both ways of organizational identification; and 3) To analyse the relative importance of organizational identification and leadership in order to predict some important organizational outcome variables such as employee’s satisfaction and extra-effort, and perception of unit and leader effectiveness. The sample consisted of 290 nurses working in fifteen different services in a public hospital in the central area of Spain (Castilla-La Mancha Autonomous Region). The great majority (88.6%) were women and the mean age was 39 years (SD = 9.11). The mean organizational tenure was 14.5 years (SD = 9.51), the tenure in the service was 8.84 years (SD = 7.38) and they were working with the evaluated supervisor a mean of 5.77 years (SD = 5.07). Questionnaires were distributed personally among nurses from the different departments by a research assistant, working in the hospital. Participants were voluntary and anonymous. The results showed that WID is higher than OID and maintains higher correlations with all the organizational outcome variables used in the study. It is a specific contribution of this research to analyse the relative strength of identification and transformational leadership in predicting leader’s effectiveness and employees’ satisfaction and performance. We found that transformational leadership is stronger predictor of leader’s effectiveness and employees’ extra-effort than organizational or work-group identification. On the other hand, work-group identification has stronger impact on perceived unit’s effectiveness, and employees’ satisfaction (general and with the group) than transformational leadership. In conclusion, this study underlines the importance of work-group identification and leadership among the nurses of different departments in a public Spanish hospital.

1. Juan A. Moriano and Fernando Molero
Department of Social and Organizational Psychology
Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (UNED)

2.  The importance of the psychological bond between employees and
organization has been underscored by many researchers (Haslam,
2004).
 This bond is frequently called organizational identification and can be
defined as the “perception of oneness with or belongingness to the
organization” (Ashforth & Mael, 1989, p. 34).
 However, organizations are not single and indivisible entities but
networks of groups that may elicit feelings of identification in
themselves (van Knippenberg & van Schie, 2000).
 That means that employees may become identified not only with the
whole organization but also frequently with smaller units (such as
divisions, departments or work-groups) closer to their everyday work
life.

3.  There is literature showing that leaders who raise follower’s
identification with the group, increase follower’ willingness to
contribute to group goals (Kark, Shamir, & Chen, 2003; Shamir,
Zakay, Breinin, & Popper, 1998) and that there are high
correlations between transformational leadership and
organizational identification (Epitropaki & Martin, 2005).

4.  The goals of this research are as follows:
• To examine the relationship between Work-Group
Identification (WID) and the identification with the
Organization as a whole (OID) .
• To study the relationship between transformational
leadership and both ways of identification.
identification
• To analyze the relative importance of organizational
identification and leadership in order to predict some
important organizational outcome variables such as
employees’ satisfaction and extra-effort, and
perceptions of unit and leader effectiveness.
effectiveness

5.  The sample consisted of 290 nurses working
in fifteen different services in a public hospital
in the central area of Spain (Castilla-La
Mancha Autonomous Region).
 The great majority (88.6%) were women and
the mean age was 39 years (SD = 9.11).
 The mean organizational tenure was 14.5
years (SD = 9.51)
 The tenure in the service was 8.84 years (SD
= 7.38)
 They were working with the leader
(supervisor) in question for an average of
5.77 years (SD = 5.07).

6. Organizational and Work-group Identification
 Identification was assessed on the Mael and Ashforth’s
(1992) 6-item scale.
 Participants answered two versions of the scale with the
only change of the target of the identification:
• The whole organization (public health system in
Spain), in the case of OID
• The specific hospital unit they worked in, for WID.

7. Transformational leadership
 The 20-item subscale of the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire
Form 5X (Avolio & Bass, 2004).
Organizational Outcome Variables
 To assess leader effectiveness, we used the 3 items of MLQ.
effectiveness
 Perceived unit effectiveness was measured by a single item included
in the MLQ.
 Employees’ extra-effort was measured by a 3-item sub-factor also
included in the MLQ (i.e., “To what extent does your leader or
supervisor get you to do more than you thought you could do?”).
 Employees’ satisfaction was assessed by 7 items extracted from the
literature on job satisfaction. Through a factorial analysis we obtained
two factors: “General Satisfaction” and “Work-group satisfaction”.

8.  Questionnaires were distributed personally
by a research assistant to nurses from
various departments of the hospital.
 Participation was voluntary and
anonymous.

9. Table 1. Descriptives and bi-variate correlations(N = 290)
Measures Mean 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
(SD)
1. OID 3.10 .83
(.97)
2. WID 3.68 .54*** .84
(.90)
3. Transformational 2.41 .13* .30*** .92
leadership (.73)
4. Leader’ 2.37 .09 .29*** .78*** .81
effectiveness (.94)
5. Perceived unit’ 3.58 -.06 .28*** .23*** .18** ---
effectiveness (1.07)
6. Employees’ 1.98 .10 .23*** .74*** .72*** .19** .70
extra-effort (.81)
7. Employees’ 2.75 .10 .32*** .22*** .23*** .34*** .14* .68
general satisfaction (.70)
8. Employees’ 3.65 .01 .27*** .22*** .22*** .46*** .19** .35*** .80
work-group (.96)
satisfaction.
*p<.05; **p < .001; *** p < .0001.
Note: Score ranges from 1 to 5, with higher scores indicating higher identification, transformational
leadership, etc. Coefficients alpha for each scale are given underlined on the diagonal.

10. Leader’s Unit Employees General Work-group
Effectiveness Effectiveness Extra Effort Satisfaction satisfaction
(N=290)
β β β β β
Step 1: Control variables
Sex -.03 .11 -.01 -.11 -.03
Organizational tenure -.19 .01 -.23* .07 -.12
Group-work tenure -.04 -.18 .02 -.06 -.20
Tenure with the leader .11 .19* .14 -.13 .23*
ΔR2 .02 .04 .03 .03 .04
Step 2 : Identification
OID -.15 -.26** -.04 -.04 -.22***
WID .34*** .38*** .21*** .40*** .39***
ΔR2 .09*** .12*** .04* .14*** .12***
Step 3: Leadership
Transformational .73*** .16* .73*** .09 .16*
leadership
ΔR2 .49*** .03* .49*** .01 .02*
Total adjusted R2 .58 .15 .54 .15 .16

11.  This study replicates and expands results obtained by van Knippenberg
and van Schie (2000). In the same vein that these authors we found, among
Spanish public health workers, that WID is higher than OID and maintains
higher correlations with all the organizational outcome variables.
variables
 We found that transformational leadership is a stronger predictor of leader
effectiveness and employees’ extra-effort than organizational or work-
group identification.
 On the other hand, work-group identification has stronger impact on
perceived units’ effectiveness, and employees’ satisfaction (general and
with the group) than transformational leadership.
 We also found positive correlations between transformational leadership
and work-group identification, but as far as our study has a correlational
character, it is not possible to determine the direction of this relationship.

12.  Although in this study identification with the whole organization does not
seem to be very important, we cannot forget that in order to maintain the
morale and a certain unit of action within an organization, general
identification with the global purpose or mission of the organization
(public health system) is also needed.
For further information, please contact:
jamoriano@psi.uned.es