Once a Member, Always a Member: Identification Inducement Messages in National Sorority Magazines

Abstract

As sorority membership numbers keep rising, national sororities need to be cognizant of the ways in which they may induce their members to remain active and involved within the organization. Identification inducement messages are one way in which sorority organizations can continually reinforce organizational identification within their membership. This thesis sought to discover the strategies and tactics found in national sorority magazines and expand Cheney's (1983b) identification inducement typology. A content analysis of 25 articles found new ways in which the strategies and tactics were used. All four strategies - common ground, identification through antithesis, assumed "we," and identifying symbols - were found in the data and these strategies were used in new ways. Three new tactics - personal stories outside of the organization, positioning within the organization (both within the common ground strategy) and nicknames (within identifying symbols) - were found within the sampled articles.