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In Echoes of Success, Ian Stuart Kelly uses new information about late Victorian Scottish Highland battalions to provide new insights into how groups identify themselves, and pass that sense on to successive generations of soldiers.Kelly applies concepts from organisational theory (the study of how organisations function) to demonstrate how soldiers' experiences create a 'blueprint' of expected behaviours and thought patterns that contribute to their battalion's continued success. This model manages the interplay between public perception and actual life experiences more effectively than current approaches to understanding identity. Also, Kelly's primary research offers a more certain description of soldiers' life, faith, education, and discipline than has previously been available.

In Echoes of Success, Ian Stuart Kelly describes how actual life experiences and public perception together shaped identity in the late Victorian Scottish Highland battalions.

The Highland Brigade at Tel el-Kebir provides an excellent context to explore concepts of identity and belonging relying on both internal and external definitions. The Brigade's ad hoc nature prevented it from developing group characteristics and thus from developing an internal sense of identity. The reorganisation immediately prior to Tel el-Kebir created new groups that were forced to negotiate new identities. In some cases, such as for the 1st Gordons, this called for almost a total reconstruction of artefacts and espoused values. In looking for artefacts, espoused values and underlying assumptions, we can draw conclusions about how groups, national and supranational, identified themselves and responded to conflict.

Military historians have frequently noted the 'regimental system' as a central theme and defining feature of the British army, and the Scottish Highland regiments are often particularly noted for their distinctiveness even within the British army. The Highland regiments have featured prominently in a disproportionate number of regimental histories, and seem to have taken on a life of their own in their own minds as well as in the mind of the public. Despite this, issues surrounding the manner in which these regiments developed their individual identities and the interaction between individual self-concepts, military requirements and values, and civilian perceptions remains largely unasked. The original research on which this thesis rests includes detailed examinations of records from a wide variety of sources. Records of service for 1,331 soldiers serving in the British army on 1 July 1881 were examined to develop an understanding of their military experiences. In addition, regimental and military archives were examined for primary documents, poetry, works of art, and silver to examine how regimental characteristics may have been communicated. From this evidence, it becomes clear that theoretical frameworks that have been developed and applied to organisational identity, primarily private sector, can provide a framework to understand issues of group identity in a military context. This thesis finds that there are extensive interconnections between individuals, regiments, and the broader society. The unique set of experiences within each regiment creates its distinctive identity which is then imprinted on members. External sources provide the general context and situation for their shared experiences but internal resources within the regiments interpret the experiences into a blueprint for identity and can, in turn, influence the external sources' own understandings and perspectives.