Personnel Review

Purpose – The main purpose of this study is to examine the impact of organizational identification on in-role job performance and two learning behaviours, namely, feedback seeking and error communication. Furthermore, this research aims to establish the mediating role of learning goal orientation in the relationship between organizational identification and the three outcome variables.

Design/methodology/approach – Data for this paper were gathered from 130 high school teachers drawn from six schools operating in Pakistan. Multiple regression analyses were used to test the research hypotheses.

Findings – The results show that organizational identification has significant unique effects on in-role job performance and error communication; whereas, it influences feedback seeking indirectly through learning goal orientation. Additionally, the findings of this paper reveal that learning goal orientation mediates the effects of organizational identification on the three outcome variables.

Research limitations/implications – The present paper uses a cross-sectional research design and hence it is not possible to make inferences about causation. Also, the data for this study are collected from a single source, which creates the problem of common method variance. However, in spite of these limitations the results of this study indicate that organizational identification can play a pivotal role in enhancing organizational effectiveness.

Originality/value – This is the first study which assesses the impact of organizational identification on learning goal orientation, feedback seeking and error communication. Moreover, it is one of the few studies which has empirically established the link between organizational identification and job performance.