Holding On While Letting Go: Neocolonialism as Organizational Identity Work in a Multinational Corporation

Storgaard, Marianne; Tienari, Janne; Piekkari, Rebecca; Michailova, Snejina

doi:10.1177/0170840620902977

Cited by 16 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 56 publications

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“…To illustrate, consider how differently most would perceive an activist man in finance, a queer activist accountant, or an activist mother in human resources. In an international context, additional axes include language (Vaara et al, 2005) and the status of subsidiary units, particularly when there are neo-colonial tendencies at play (Boussebaa, 2015; Storgaard et al, 2020). Such intersections constitute privileges and penalties by promoting or impairing access to networks, thus conferring different resonances and amplitudes on the voices of activist employees.…”

Section: New Directions For Micro-csr Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

Transforming corporate social responsibilities: Toward an intellectual activist research agenda for micro-CSR research

2020

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In their recent essay, Gond and Moser (2019) have proposed that micro-CSR research has the potential to “matter” and transform business practices as it engages closely with how individuals in companies work with and experience corporate social responsibility (CSR). But can micro-CSR research in its current form realize this transformative potential and serve social justice? Adopting an intellectual activist position, we argue that the transformative potential of micro-CSR is severely limited by its predominant focus on CSR as defined, presented, and promoted by companies themselves, thereby serving to sustain the hegemony of the business case for CSR, promoting narrow interests and maintaining managerial control over corporate responsibilities. We propose that micro-CSR researchers broaden the scope of their research to cultivate the potential of alternative ideas, voices, and activities found in organizational life. In so doing we lay out a research agenda that embraces employee activism, listens to alternative voices, and unfolds confrontational, subversive, and covert activities. In the hope of inspiring other micro-CSR researchers to explore these unconventional paths, we also offer suggestions as to how we can pursue them through empirical research.

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Section: New Directions For Micro-csr Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

Transforming corporate social responsibilities: Toward an intellectual activist research agenda for micro-CSR research

2020

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“…Previous research drawing on post-colonial theory in the study of the MNC has tended to represent the HQ as the coloniser and foreign subsidiaries as the colonised (e.g. Storgaard et al, 2020). In our study, the coloniser-colonised relationship was inverted as the Finnish HQ represented "the colonised" and Russian subsidiaries "the coloniser".…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 53%

“…As socio-political actors and sites, MNCs "are actively involved in the creation and diffusion of norms, practices and identities at the transnational scale" (Boussebaa, forthcoming). These corporations are among the most significant carriers of neo-colonialism worldwide as they reproduce the distinction between the core and the periphery from colonial times and maintain coloniser-colonised power relationships inside the organisation Boussebaa & Morgan, 2014;Storgaard, Tienari, Piekkari and Michailova, 2020). Such colonial-style power relationships are often sustained through the spread and imposition of language Phillipson, 1992;Śliwa, 2008;Vaara et al, 2005).…”

Section: Post-colonial Theorymentioning

confidence: 99%

Reversal of language hierarchy and the politics of translation in a multinational corporation

Ristolainen¹,

Outila

Piekkari

2021

cpoib

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Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explain the reversal of language hierarchy in a Finnish multinational corporation (MNC) from a political perspective. This paper situated the language hierarchy in the historical context of the colonial-style relationship between Finland and Russia. From a post-colonial perspective, the colonial legacy of Russia has had an influence on language strategy and everyday translation work in the Finnish multinational until the present day. Design/methodology/approach This paper undertook a case study based on qualitative secondary analysis of existing data sets. These data sets originated from two previously conducted studies of the same Finnish MNC. Findings The findings revealed a reversal of the traditional corporate language hierarchy. Russian, as the host country language of powerful local subsidiaries, rose to the top of the hierarchy at the expense of English, the common corporate language, and other languages. The colonial-style relationship was enacted by professional and paraprofessional translators who collaborated by using “the master’s language and imitating the master’s voice” to reap the strategic benefits of local responsiveness. Originality/value In contrast to previous work drawing on post-colonial theory in the study of MNCs, this paper represents the headquarters in Finland as the “colonised” party and the Russian subsidiaries as the “coloniser.” Owing to its colonial legacy, Russian, the host country language, became very powerful and influenced the language strategy of the entire MNC. This paper conceptualized translation as a multilevel phenomenon and offers a holistic explanation of why the language hierarchy in the Finnish MNC was reversed.

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“…Furthermore, we contribute to the literature on organizational identity (Anteby & Molnár, 2012; Corley & Gioia, 2004; Storgaard, Tienari, Piekkari, & Michailova, 2020) by showing that maintenance of organizational identity is no accident, but rather, is preserved by actors, such as top managers, in their effort to realize their objectives (Storgaard et al, 2020). For example, Collet, Carnabuci, Ertug and Zou (2020) show how ideological similarity with the majority enables actors to perpetuate their ideas.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Marriage to the Same Kind: Organizational Political Ideology and Mergers and Acquisitions

Chow

Louca²,

Petrou

et al. 2021

Organization Studies

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This study contributes to the growing literature on organizational political ideology by positing that acquiring firms choose targets with similar organizational political ideology in their effort to retain employees post-merger. Using a sample of M&A announcements in the United States from 1996 to 2014, we find a positive relationship between the similarity of political ideologies of the merging organizations and the likelihood of M&A announcement. In addition, we find that our main relationship is stronger the more homogeneous the organizational political ideology of the acquirer, and the more the human capital intensity of the merging firms. In addition, we find support for the proposed mechanism that drives the main relationship. We thus introduce the concept of organizational political ideology into the debate over the influence of organizational values in M&As, and we extend the theoretical application of political ideology to settings with inter-organizational partnerships.

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Holding On While Letting Go: Neocolonialism as Organizational Identity Work in a Multinational Corporation

Cited by 16 publications

References 56 publications

Transforming corporate social responsibilities: Toward an intellectual activist research agenda for micro-CSR research

Transforming corporate social responsibilities: Toward an intellectual activist research agenda for micro-CSR research

Reversal of language hierarchy and the politics of translation in a multinational corporation

Marriage to the Same Kind: Organizational Political Ideology and Mergers and Acquisitions

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