13.3 Research objectives and hypotheses

The main goals of the study presented below were as follows :

• To identify the main distinguishing characteristics of Polish enterprises in the textile and metal sectors.

• To find out what Polish directors thought foreign customers and competitors considered to be the distinctive characteristics of their enterprises.

• To find out what Polish directors thought Polish customers and competitors considered to be the distinctive characteristics of their enterprises.

An attempt was made to advance several hypotheses on the organizational identity and its determinants in the Polish context. They are exploratory in nature and could be used as a basis for further empirical testing.

• Hypothesis 1: Polish enterprises have a dual organizational identity: one constructed for Polish customers and the other for foreign customers.

The second hypothesis addresses the way in which Polish enterprises have responded to threats to their identity, particularly after 1990. These threats include privatization , acquisition by foreign or Polish firms, restructuring, stiff competition by foreign firms, criticism by ecological movements, and accusations by the mass media, the public and other stakeholders.

• Hypothesis 2: there is a trend among Polish enterprises to cling on to their old identity when faced with a threat.

Contrary to this hypothesis, it is generally thought that identity changes when it is threatened by any of the factors listed above (Duton and Dukerich, 1991; Elsbach and Kramer, 1996; Famielec et al . 1999; Aniszewska, 1999). Does a change in identity always take place when a threat emerges? Has this occurred in the metal and textile industries?

The next two hypotheses (3 and 4) will be tested to see whether structural variables (privatization, restructuring) influence changes in organizational identity or whether organizational leadership is the more important variable.

• Hypothesis 3: privatization is linked to a tendency to change the organizational identity.

It is commonly believed that the privatization of state-owned enterprises is a strong driving force in economic and organizational changes (Balcerowicz, 1992). Privatization, for instance, affects organizational culture, although its positive impact is not at all obvious (Konecki and Fraczak-Konecka, 1998).

• Hypothesis 4: strong leadership is linked to a tendency to change the organizational identity when there is a threat to the existing identity.

Research shows that strong organizational leadership can change the organizational culture to one that is better adjusted to the competitive environment (Konecki and Fraczak-Konecka, 1998). Theorists of organizational identity also claim that strong leaders are agents of change in respect of organizational identity, and adapt the organization s decision-making processes to the nature of the new identity (Strategor, 1999, pp. 522 “5, 527 “42, 571).

The fifth and the sixth hypotheses aim at preliminary verification of the impact of strength and type of organizational identity ( utilitarian identity versus normative identity) on the formulation of a new organizational strategy.

Highly significant relationships sometimes exist between several structural variables. For example the structure should match the strategy (Strategor, 1999, pp. 287 “95); the structure is dependent on the environmental culture (Konecki, 1994, pp. 25 “35); the complexity of the structure depends on the firm s size and its technology and the structure is dependent on the complexity and uncertainty of the external environment (Strategor, 1999, pp. 287 “95). We shall try to verify the following hypotheses in order to identify the relationship between structure, strategy and organizational identity.

• Hypothesis 5: the stronger the organizational identity the smaller the chance of formulating a new organizational strategy.

• Hypothesis 6: type of organizational identity (utilitarian versus normative) determines the likelihood of a firm formulating a new organizational strategy.