The death of a central figure, like a charismatic founder, can dilute
the sense of collective identity among the various stakeholders of a
local community. Maintenance of collective identity can be a difficult
task, because the organization needs to then simultaneously deal with
multiple identity drifts. We conducted an inductive study of Finnish
company Ponsse, the founder recently passed away. The second-generation
chairman took the lead to articulate the values that implicitly
prevailed during the leadership of the founder. Our findings show that
organizations that experience a loss can maintain and strengthen their
collective identity after the passing of a charismatic leader by
engaging in material identity work. Our study highlights two phases
underlying the process of reinforcing the collective identity: creating
the material environment and enacting material experiences. We
contribute to deepen current understanding of how collective identities
can be reinforced after a major loss by illuminating the material
underpinnings of identity work."