Ties That Bind and Ties That Break: The Identification Trajectories of Bereft Lehman Bankers

How and why might organizational identification in one organization influence organizational identification in another, and with what implications? We address this question based on ex-Lehman Brothers bankers’ career experiences. We explain how the death of an organization can feed individuals’ broader views of organizations—their “organizational orientation”—and how what they salvage from that organization relates to their “organizational identification trajectories”—the development of individuals’ organizational identification over time, as influenced by their earlier organizational identification. Our data reveal that, following the demise of Lehman, ex-bankers tended to develop views of organizations as ephemeral. Yet, differences also emerged: the low transferability of some ex-bankers’ salvage fueled their perceptions of organizations as financial providers, while the high transferability of others’ salvage promoted these ex-bankers’ views of organizations as learning providers. Importantly, ex-bankers’ varying salvage transferability anchored their understanding of what they could expect from organizations—whether financial rewards or learning—and how they came to (de)identify with Lehman and with their current organizations. Based on these findings, we discuss organizational policy and practice implications aimed at facilitating the re-employment of those who experienced organizational death.