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Oliveira, V. & Nunes, F. G. (2026). Reframing INGO’s identity whilst navigating the local and global arenas. ISTR International Conference - Imagining the Next Generation:  Strengthening the Foundations of the Third Sector.

V. D. Oliveira and F. G. Nunes,  "Reframing INGO’s identity whilst navigating the local and global arenas", in ISTR Int. Conf. - Imagining the Next Generation:  Strengthening the Foundations of the 3rd Sector, Lisbon, 2026

@null{oliveira2026_1786009712226,
	year = "2026",
	url = "https://www.istr.org/page/ConferenceProgram#Schedule"
}

TY  - GEN
TI  - Reframing INGO’s identity whilst navigating the local and global arenas
T2  - ISTR International Conference - Imagining the Next Generation:  Strengthening the Foundations of the Third Sector
AU  - Oliveira, V.
AU  - Nunes, F. G.
PY  - 2026
CY  - Lisbon
UR  - https://www.istr.org/page/ConferenceProgram#Schedule
AB  - How are umbrella international non-profit organizations, born decades ago in a completely different society, actualizing their organizational identity, to the complexity of today’s world?
We introduce the concept of organizational identity “actualization" to encapsulate the balance between continuity and change within these organizations as their identity evolves locally and worldwide simultaneously. As identity is also a concept that manifests at multiple levels of analysis, identity change both local and globally can impact many aspects of organizing (Pratt et al., 2024).
A multi-country case study is conducted in one of the main world youth empowerment organizations, an umbrella INGO (UAI, 2025), by interviewing different stakeholders (workers and volunteers) and collecting relevant documentation for the ongoing actualization processes.
Previously to this study we conducted a systematic literature review on organizational identity in non-profit organizations over the last 20 years. With the outcomes of this literature review, we built the interview guides and dictionary of categories to analyse the data. Although we used this deductive process, we made sure there was space to collect elements not identified before through semi structured interviews and inductive coding when needed, so that we could analyse the processes of organizational identity change and actualization.
Through multi-level research (Molina-Azorín et al., 2020) we explore interlevel actualization of organizational identity in INGOs: worldwide global processes taking place to understand “who are who today?”; and local (units in three countries).
The theoretical basis for this specific research are three: organizational identity institutional theory; organizational identity tensions between the enduring characteristics and adaptability and the most recent ongoing debates on INGOs (governance, localization and power).
The institutional context is the source from which organizations can collect fundamental identity elements for their self-defining processes as in this case the INGO’s global arena, global trends as digitalization of processes, geographical clusters, context social reality as war and other social challenges, “extracting” central, distinctive and enduring elements that redefine their identity and that can constrain or enable identity (Besharov & Brickson, 2016). INGOs local and regional identities, intertwine with those of the communities in which they reside or originate, originating “nested identities” (Howard-Grenville et al., 2013), that shape identity content and fluidity (Gioia et al., 2010)
The focus of this research – currently under the data analysis and theory building phases - is on the multilevel forces that allow OI to be momentarily accomplished. Our study contributes to the study of how organizations deal with multiple identities and unity (Pratt, 2016). Various unifying and divergent identity tensions are identified, influenced by local and global pressures and opportunities, and various identity work strategies.
This study aims to highlight and facilitate organizational identity change processes in umbrella INGOs, considering their strong presence and impact worldwide.
ER  -