摘要：In this theoretical article, the authors revisit the concept of identity, proposing the better understanding of its complexity, as wel/ as its broa der use in organizational analysis. While exploring the origins of the concept and the trends of its evolution through several fields of knowledge, the authors develop a conceptual framework, which differentiates the many existing perspectives on identity based on two key dimensions: the focal object dimension and the observation dimension. The former distinguishes the object to which the concept is applied (e.g., an individual, a group, an organization etc.); the tetter differentiates how identity is observed (from the innerly observed - self - to the external/y observed - image). The combination of these two dimensions defines several quadrants, in which it is possible to portrait the different existing perspectives on identity. At last, the model is expanded with a third dimension (the identity definition), which debates the basic foundations of the concept: of this being something central, distinctive and enduring.
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