Organizational anthropomorphism increases organizational resilience by strengthening relations with employees and promoting stronger organizational identification. Organizational anthropomorphism thus offers a valuable lens to understand how organizations develop and maintain their identities in the face of change, automation, and lack of meaning. Yet, organizational anthropomorphism can be misleading due to its visceral nature and its association with biased forms of identification. We define ethical organizational anthropomorphism (“ethical OA”) and explore its “believability” by drawing from research on organizational legitimacy, organizational virtuousness, organizational overidentification, and organizational identity orientation. We adopt a contingency lens by examining the believability, quality, and quantity, of organizational anthropomorphism along with the instability–stability continuum of market competition and the three organizational identity types.
anthropomorphism helps shape organizational identities in the face of external and internal change.