Browsing by Subject "Identity"

Research has shown how individual identity may be either a burden or a supporting factor to group behavior. The issue is of relevance to business research where especially the field of supply chain management has been concerned with how relationships between supplier and buyer organizations may be facilitated. Yet, the interorganizational context has remained relatively less studied compared to the intraorganizational in terms of identity, whereas supply chain management studies have often disregarded behavioral factors. This study contributes to these shortcomings by examining how the identity types of organizational identity, collective identity and intergroup relational identity relate to commitment to supply relationships through the interaction of perceived supply disruption risk and individual risk attitude. Particularly, it is argued that individuals exhibit identity-protective cognitions and may, thus, assess risks threatening their identities as lower than others. A moderated mediation model with the constructs identity type, perceived supply disruption risk, individual risk attitude, and commitment to supply relationship was tested by collecting data from (N=)42 business students with a scenario-based role-playing experiment. The respondents were primed with an identity and consequently surveyed with items regarding the studied constructs. The data was then analyzed with exploratory factor analysis and moderated regression analysis. The results indicate that identity type is related to perceived supply disruption risk so that when an identity among the organization or supply chain relevant to an individual decision-maker exists, they tend to perceive the risks lower. However, the type of identity was of no significance to the strength of this effect. Likewise, the assumed mechanisms of mediation and moderation were not supported by the data. The findings show how the activation of organizational and interorganizational identities are essential in terms of organizational behavior and interorganizational relationships. On the one hand, identity may influence individual perceptions regarding other organizations. On the other hand, the identity or the perceptions do not always lead to congruent behavior. In this vein, it is possible that commitment to a relationship is more about what one commits to, than to whom. Future research could account for this and extend the presented model with more observations and concepts for better explanatory power.

Peacebuilding today is increasingly guided by the inclusivity norm, which has resulted in a call for participation of a diversity of actors. While religious actors’ and women’s efforts are sought in peacebuilding, the bridging group of actors – women active in peacebuilding on religious basis – has largely remained invisible. The aim of this thesis is to explore if and how women and religion are recognized and described in recent research on the role of religion in peacebuilding and the role of women in peacebuilding respectively. A second aim is to try to understand why women active in peacebuilding on religious basis remain invisible, especially with the recognized need for diversity in the peacebuilding field. In this thesis, quantitative and qualitative analyses are carried out on two sets of literature sources regarding the role of religion in peacebuilding and the role of women in peacebuilding respectively. The literature sets included primary sources such as official United Nations documents and secondary sources with a broad, global research focus. The quantitative analysis indicates that the literature on religious peacebuilding more frequently delved into topics related to women and gender than the literature on women’s peacebuilding does on matters of faith and religion. The qualitative analysis reveals several, at times contradictory perspectives on women and religion. In literature on women’s peacebuilding, religion is portrayed as a hindrance to women’s rights, as a resource for peacebuilding, as extremism and as a reason for conflict. The literature on religious peacebuilding portrays women as suppressed by religion, as empowered by religion, as victims of violence, as religious peacebuilders and as equal to men. The qualitative analysis reveals that identity and agency are important questions when looking at intersections of women, religion and peacebuilding. Both literature sets tend to juxtapose religious identity and gender identity in attempting to determine which one is or should be of greater importance. Both fields could benefit from carrying out an intersectional analysis, creating new possibilities for action in different contexts. Regarding agency, especially the field of women’s peacebuilding could benefit from a broadened view of agency, where it would not only be equated with women resisting religious traditions and leadership. The field of religious peacebuilding, on the other hand, could benefit from broadening the view of women to include the role of agents and not just passive victims. Future research should address the different forms of agency exhibited by religious women engaged in peacebuilding and how religious and/or gender identity can enhance or hinder peacebuilding.