Category salience and organizational identification Rolf Van Dick 1 *, Ulrich Wagner 2 , Jost Stellmacher 2 and Oliver Christ 2 1 Aston University, Birmingham, UK 2 Philipps-University Marburg, Germany The aim of this study was to examine (1) the effects of increased salience on three work-related identities (i.e. career, school and occupation), (2) whether these effects had an impact on extra-role behaviours, and (3) whether identification mediated these effects. Standardized questionnaires were completed by 464 schoolteachers concerning identification with the focuses career, school, and occupation as well as scales measuring work extra-role behaviours. The questionnaire was administered under four experimental conditions. As expected, teachers identified more strongly with their schools when their school-type was made salient; they identified more strongly with their occupation when they were told that they were compared with other professional groups. Higher salience of the school membership identity was associated with higher levels of self-reported extra-role behaviours on behalf of the school. This effect was mediated by school identification. The following paper presents the social identity approach as a theoretical background for the understanding of organizational identification. The aim of the present paper is to examine how identification is affected by contextual salience and how it, in turn, affects extra-role behaviours. We manipulated the contextual salience of work-related categories (i.e. career, school, occupation) and compared them to a non-manipulated control group. Furthermore we measured identification to these categories and self- reported extra-role behaviours and tested for direct effects of contextual salience of these categories on identification with these categories and on self-reported extra-role behaviours. The results will be discussed both in their implications for theory and for practitioners. Social identity theory (SIT, Tajfel & Turner, 1979, 1986) makes three basic assumptions about the underlying processes of maintaining and enhancing self-esteem and feelings of self-worth: (1) individuals strive for positive self-esteem; (2) part of individuals’ self-concept, their social identity, stems from their membership in certain *Correspondence should be addressed to Rolf Van Dick, Aston University, Aston Business School, Work & Organisational Psychology Group, Aston Triangle, Birmingham B4 7ET, UK (e-mail: r.vandick@aston.ac.uk). The British Psychological Society 273 Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology (2005), 78, 273–285 q 2005 The British Psychological Society www.bpsjournals.co.uk DOI:10.1348/096317905X25779