Identity trajectories: Explaining patterns of change and persistence in organizational identities

Our study examines long-term patterns of change and persistence in organizational identities. We track how the identities of four nonprofits evolved over a period of 15 to 30 years, from their founding to the present day. Our findings reveal two different trajectories of change over time, associated with different types of identity work, and a different use of claims of categorical membership and organizational distinctiveness to define organizational means vs. ends. These observations suggest that not all the categories and features members use to make and give sense of “who we are” as an organization are equally important to them, and that over the long term, ends-related claims seem to be more important to preserve a sense of continuity than means-related claims are.