Owing Up or Opting Out : The Role of Emotions and Identities in Issue Ownership

Building from an in-depth study of a library system's responses to two different issues, we propose a theoretical account of the conditions that are conducive to issue ownership. At center stage in this account are the roles of emotions and social identities in determining whether and how an issue is seem as "belonging to" organizational members. We suggest that by better understanding the social-psychological processes that explain patterns of issue ownership, we can better understand issue-related action and inaction in organizations