Fred Mael
Fred Mael is the first author of a 1992 paper in the Journal of Organizational Behavior that tested organizational identification among college alumni. The paper defines the term as a sense of oneness with an organisation and reports a survey of 297 alumni.
Who they are
Fred Mael is an organisational researcher whose published work on this site is the 1992 alumni study written with Blake E. Ashforth. The paper appeared in volume 13, issue 2 of the Journal of Organizational Behavior.
Key papers
- Mael, F., & Ashforth, B. E. (1992). Alumni and their alma mater: A partial test of the reformulated model of organizational identification. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 13(2), 103-123.
The paper tests a model of organizational identification with self-report surveys from 297 alumni of one college. It relates identification to the distinctiveness of the college, to satisfaction and to sentimentality, and to donating, advising others to attend and taking part in school events.
Key ideas
The paper proposes that identification with an organisation can be measured as a feeling of oneness and then related to features of the organisation, features of the member and member behaviour. The authors suggest the approach can inform how colleges build alumni support and how managers think about loyalty during mergers and takeovers.
The idea sits within the wider concept of organizational identification and the construct of group identification.
Sources
- Mael, F., & Ashforth, B. E. (1992). Journal of Organizational Behavior, 13(2), 103-123. doi:10.1002/job.4030130202