Welcome to the family! : A study of the effect of a corporate cultures influence on the employers identity

The purpose of this study is to examine in what way a strong corporate culture can have an effect on the ways that individuals perceive their own identity based on different social aspects, thereby meaning the influence of personalities in relation to the environment. In this essay I have used the theory of employer branding in an analysis of the corporate culture at Ikea Barkarby, with the purpose to answer the following questions: How does the relation between the employee and the corporate culture appear from an identity perspective, i.e can an individual’s identity be affected by the influence of a strong corporate culture? If the corporate culture has an influence on the individual’s identity, what rhetorical tools are part of this? How can the surrounding corporate cultures possibly influence the employee’s process of becoming a part of the corporate culture? The method of research that was used in this study is a framing analysis and a semistructured interview method. In the discussion of the influence of social environment on identity I have used the rhetorical term doxa. The material that was examined was an advertisement for employment from the Ikea Barkarby website as well as the response from my interviews of some of the employees. The result of the analysis shows that it is possible for an individual to negotiate with himself about his identity in relation to the actual situation and environment, meaning a possible transformation of the individual’s behavior in different social contexts, in this example the corporate culture at work. At the same time the employees experience that their perceived identity has not been influenced since being introduced to the corporate culture, which I regard as an effect of efficient recruitment work where Ikea employs people with certain values. The conclusion is consequently that the identity can be affected by social influences but it is problematic to unravel whether it is the corporate culture by the use of employer branding that has an effect on the identity, or if there are other social variables that affect the individual’s perceived identity