Identification—the perceived oneness and/or belongingness—with a group has been found to be related to a host of individual and group outcomes. However, it remains unclear how group perceptions and outcomes are affected when an individual perceives oneness or membership, but does not perceive belongingness. The present study seeks to understand how perceived belongingness influences perceptions groups. I test the hypotheses using structural equation modeling with a sample of 435 working adults employed in a variety of work groups. The findings indicate that the higher degree an individual perceives a sense of belongingness by way of work group inclusion, the more positively they perceive the work group. The findings seek to make contributions to social identity theory and work group inclusion. Implications for theory and practice, as well as future fruitful avenues of research are discussed.
