1.

Organizational and brand identity: Research within this third

theme has generally been an extension of the second (i.e., self-
presentation) and, to a lesser extent, the first (i.e., self-concept),
to entities other than individuals, namely, organizations and their
brands. Scholars within this theme frequently draw on the
theoretical foundations in both classical philosophy and
impression management as well as the work in the first two
themes outlined above.
Here, research does not fall quite as cleanly into distinct streams;
however, in general, studies focus on either the identity of an
organization or of a brand.
First, some research has focused on the authenticity of
organizations. In defining organizational authenticity, scholars
tend to draw explicit links to the theoretical foundations in
classical philosophy as well as work from psychology within the
self-concept theme. For example, Carroll and Wheaton suggest
that “...by analogy, an organization would be authentic to the
extent that it embodies the chosen values of its founders, owners
or members...” The emphasis in
such definitions is on organizational values (i.e., the
backstage), but, at the same time, most empirical studies tend to
focus on audience perceptions of organizational action (i.e., the
front stage). Audiences have been shown to make
authenticity attributions on the basis of observed
production processes, product names, adver-
tising campaigns, ownership struc-
ture, the extent to ́which it is “local”, and even CEO
portraits. Such attributions of authenticity tend to translate into
audience appeal for the organization and its products and
services. In addition, audiences have been shown to evaluate the
authenticity of an organization on the specific basis of its
corporate social responsibility programs and the manner in which
such programs are publicized or not. Although
most research has focused on audience perceptions of the front
stage, some have considered how orga-
nizational members collectively understand and even construct
the backstage, often via an agentic use
of its own history; such considerations have also extended beyond
the boundaries of the organization to communities and
other collective identities. In sum, this
collection of research may seem disparate at first blush, but the
common thread is an interest in organizational authenticity,
conceived as the consistency between the organization’s values
and its actions.