Organizational identification: Validation of the Italian scale in the healthcare context

Organizational identification is related to employees’ perception of oneness with their workplace. Being identified with one’s organization could promote organizational citizenship behaviors and protect from turnover, very important performance outcomes especially in healthcare organizations. Mael and Ashforth’s (1992) scale is one of the most used tools in literature, and this study proposes the validation of the Italian version within the healthcare context. 1505 nurses working in public sector were involved. Confirmatory factor analyses, multigroup and invariance tests, and reliability analyses were performed. Convergent and divergent validity were tested with correlational analyses. Results confirm the Italian version as a valid and reliable tool, facilitating the evaluation of nurses’ identification with their healthcare organization. This validation allows enhancing understanding of organizational dynamics within healthcare contexts, ultimately contributing to the development of efficient management strategies and to the improvement of outcomes for both staff and patients.