The good, the bad, and the ambivalent: Managing identification among Amway distributors

An ethnographic study of distributors for Amway, a network marketing organization, examines the practices and processes involved in managing members' organizational identification. It shows that this organization manages identification by using two types of practices: sense-breaking practices that break down meaning and sense-giving practices that provide meaning. When both sense-breaking and sense-giving practices are successful, members positively identify with the organization. When either sense-breaking or sense-giving practices fail, members deidentify, disidentify, or experience ambivalent identification with the organization. A general model of identification management is posited, and implications for both theory and practice are offered.