Mediating Identity: A Study of Media Influence on Organizational Identity Construction in a Celebrity Firm

Abstract

This is the accepted version of the paper.This version of the publication may differ from the final published version. Permanent ABSTRACTThis paper reports a longitudinal field study on the effects of positive media coverage on the re-construction of organizational identity. The study highlights how intense positive coverage -to the point of turning an organization into a 'celebrity' -influences both the way members understand their organization (sensemaking effect) and the gratification they derive from its positive representation (self-enhancement effect). Our findings suggest that positive media representations foster members' alignment around an emergent new understanding of what their organization is. Over time, however, celebrity may 'captivate' members' organizational identity beliefs and understandings, and impede further identity work as media persist in the replication of representations that differ from members' experienced reality, but are too appealing to them to be publicly contradicted.

Lessons in Fluidity: Anonymous and the Communicative Formation of Organizational Identity

“…Similarly, recent empirical studies on identity (Gioia et al, 2010;Kjaergaard et al, 2011;Schultz & Hernes, 2013) have increasingly stressed the importance of external actors in processes of organizational identity construction. For instance, Schultz and Hernes's (2013) investigation of the LEGO case supports earlier research by Dutton and Duckerich (1991) that discrepancies between identity and externally construed images might trigger intense selfscrutiny and thus may serve as an important resource for change (see also Christensen et al, 2013).…”

“…Seidl, 2005). Similarly, Morsing (2006) highlights that organizations tend to engage in practices of "strategic autocommunication" in the public arena, that is, an organization's efforts to strengthen and shape its (internal) identity also through external communication activities (see also Kjaergaard et al, 2011). Morsing argues that this form of communication is especially likely to occur in situations where the range of members is unknown to the organization itself (as in the case of Anonymous) or where membership is rather informal.…”

“…Furthermore, this theoretical lens helps conceptualize why and how non-members can contribute to organizational identity formation in much the same way as members do (Kjaergaard et al, 2011;Fiol and Romanelli 2012), since in a communication-centered perspective both members and non-members belong to the -albeit structurally coupledenvironment of the organization as a communicative entity (Seidl & Becker, 2006). In this regard, a communication-centered lens (Cooren et al, 2011) helps to account for the most loose and fluid forms of organizations and the ways in which they accomplish an identity, even in cases where organizational membership is unstable or unclear.…”

“…Focusing on episodes of communicative events, this process perspective accounts for the role of follow-up communication in identity reproduction and change in the course of identity crisis. Second we complement the current member-focused view on organizational identity formation (e.g., Gioia et al, 2010;Kroezen & Heugens, 2012), which allows us to resolve the duality of identity and image many previous works on identity are struggling with By de-centering members in identity formation processes, a CCO framework provides a conceptual umbrella for integrating the extensive lists of external factors found to influence identity formation processes such as peer organizations (Gioia et al, 2010), national identity (Jack & Lorbiecki, 2007), cultural framing (Glynn & Watkiss, 2012), or the media (Kjaergaard et al, 2011; see also Gioia et al, 2013, p. 163ff.).…”

Image Consumption of People Perceived As Leaders

“…People who pursue professional activities and who are recognized for their good reputation are elevated from the general public into public figures, as they have a significant impact on the functioning of society (Ranft et al, 2006;Sanchez Abril, 2011). The ongoing process of globalization, the development of electronic communications, popularized advertising, and a growing interest in business have led to the situation in which leaders of organizations have been treated as celebrities ( Kjaergaard, Morsing and Ravasi, 2011;Morris, Brotheridge and Urbanski, 2005; (Chen and Meindl, 1991;Hannah and Zatzick, 2007;Hegele and Kieser, 2001). However, studying images between contemporary organizations and popular culture is not a nascent approach (Rehn, 2008;Tyler and Cohen, 2008).…”