BUSINESS ECOSYSTEM IDENTITY CONSTRUCT

The paper's cognitive goal is to present the population ecology approach and the organizational identity concept as complementary in the search for a Business Ecosystem Identity (BEI) construct. The research goal involves analyses of the organizational identity construct (the organizational level) and of the business ecosystem identity (the inter-organizational level). The paper is a result of a theoretical review and presents a conceptual approach. The study provides an integrated, state of the art overview of literature related to business ecosystem identity. The findings suggest that identity research categories allow business ecosystem analysis. The identity research categories are as follows: (1) strength of identification with the business ecosystem, (2) strength of the identity of the key organization / ecosystem and (3) duality of the business ecosystem identity (normative / utilitarian identity). These categories allow research in the area of business ecosystem survival, business ecosystem borders and dynamic evolution.