The Identity Crisis Behind Mergers Higher Education

"People do not respond to mergers simply because reporting lines change or departments reorganize. They respond because mergers disrupt meaning, belonging, relationships, status, and identity. What looks from the outside like resistance to change is often something much deeper: an attempt to preserve a sense of self within a shifting institutional landscape."

"When faculty hear that their college will merge with another unit, the reaction is often framed publicly as resistance to change, territoriality, or concern about budgets and governance. But those explanations rarely capture the emotional intensity that follows. Why does a structural change in an organization feel so personal?"

"Identity theory, particularly the work of sociologists Sheldon Stryker and Peter Burke, offers a compelling explanation: mergers threaten the social identities people use to understand who they are in the academic world. Universities Are Identity Systems. According to Stryker's Identity Theory, people hold multiple identities tied to the roles they occupy and the groups to which they belong."

"Faculty are not simply employees. They are mentors, scholars, department members, disciplinary experts, advisors, researchers, and representatives of institutional traditions. A wonderful former... When identities feel threatened, people within the same merger can experience it in dramatically different ways - from excitement and possibility to grief, anger, withdrawal, or distrust."

Mergers disrupt meaning, belonging, relationships, status, and identity rather than only reporting lines or departmental structures. Faculty reactions often appear publicly as resistance to change, territoriality, or budget and governance concerns, but the emotional intensity comes from personal stakes tied to social identity. Identity theory explains that people hold multiple role- and group-based identities, and mergers can threaten the identities faculty use to understand who they are in the academic world. When identities feel threatened, faculty respond differently, ranging from excitement and possibility to grief, anger, withdrawal, or distrust. Resistance frequently reflects attempts to preserve a sense of self within a shifting institutional landscape.

Read at Psychology Today