ABSTRACT
An organization that has a hybrid identity is one that embodies two or more identities at the same time. What is core, distinctive and at least relatively enduring about the organization is that it is both an X and a Y. A classic example is the university. As Albert and Whetten (1985) pointed out, a university is (or is like) both a religion and a business at the same time. How these diverse elements are merged, integrated, or kept separate is what gives the organization its unique hybrid status. Of course, not all hybrid organizations claim or have a hybrid identity. The latter requires that the hybrid character of the organization represent its distinctive and relatively enduring core.
