Abstract
This article is a study of employee responses to identification inducements in a newsletter at the U.S. Forest Service. A systematic analysis indicates that the Forest Service attempts to induce identification through strategies and tactics embedded in the newsletter. The data revealed four employee responses to the newsletter content. Nonidentification responses do not produce feelings of identification. Textual identification responses manifest feelings of identification, as readers link themselves to the organization through newsletter depictions. Contextual identification requires evoking memories of past organizational participation if the person is to manifest feelings of membership in response to the newsletter. Finally, disidentification responses are associated with feelings of separateness from the organization. The implications of these findings are discussed.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
