Identification and Commitment

Groups rarely have complete control over members and, therefore, need to rely on them to behave in ways that benefit the group even when they are not being monitored. Whether this occurs depends largely on group members' attitudes toward the group. These attitudes are embodied in two closely related psychological constructs, identification and commitment. Across academic disciplines, researchers as well as practitioners who work with and in groups have investigated the conditions under which group members commit to a group, its work, and its values and the ways in which identifying with a group affects their selfconcept. Researchers have viewed knowledge of identification and commitment as essential to understanding how people feel about the groups to which they belong, what they would be willing to ...