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Group & Organization Management
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Short Stories at Work

Storytelling as an Indicator of Organizational Commitment

John F. McCarthy

Boston University School of Management, jackmc{at}bu.edu

Membership patterns and tenure cycles in organizations have changed, which has resulted in significant leadership challenges. This study examined the relationship between storytelling and organizational commitment to determine whether storytelling signaled the degree of unity that organizational members built to "weather" turbulence. Stories from interviews with employees across all hierarchical levels and tenure stages at diverse locations of a global firm were analyzed and compared with dimensions of organizational commitment. Findings here illustrated that storytelling was strongly associated with organizational commitment and indicated that stories continue to play an important role in conveying values and complex messages across organizational boundaries. Along with providing a productive diagnostic capability, the research offers insight about contemporary organizational membership and surfaces valuable leadership implications.

Key Words: storytelling • organizational values • organizational commitment • leadership

Group & Organization Management, Vol. 33, No. 2, 163-193 (2008)
DOI: 10.1177/1059601108314582
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[Abstract] [PDF]