The role of organizational language in gaining legitimacy from the perspective of new institutional theory

Coskun R., ARSLAN S.

JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT & ORGANIZATION, 2023 (SSCI) identifier

  • Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
  • Basım Tarihi: 2023
  • Doi Numarası: 10.1017/jmo.2023.7
  • Dergi Adı: JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT & ORGANIZATION
  • Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), Scopus, ABI/INFORM, Business Source Elite, Business Source Premier, EconLit, Psycinfo
  • Anahtar Kelimeler: Institutionalism, new institutional theory, organizational language, organizational legitimacy, Turkish business groups, DISCURSIVE LEGITIMATION, COMMUNICATION, DISCOURSE, ENTREPRENEURSHIP, STRATEGIES, MANAGEMENT, CATEGORIES, IDENTITY, CULTURE, FICTION
  • Eskişehir Osmangazi Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

This research addresses the role of organizational language in the establishment of legitimacy from the perspective of New Institutional Theory. Several conceptual and methodical contributions have been made. First, by pairing cultural-cognitive legitimacy with phenomenological institutionalism and socio-political legitimacy with social organizational institutionalism, we have proposed a new way of classifying legitimacy. Second, we made connections between language strategies of organizations and cultural-cognitive and socio-political legitimacy. Finally, by re-categorizing language strategies aimed at legitimacy, we have provided a framework that is applicable in studying the relationship between different language strategies and legitimacy. Using this framework, we conducted an empirical study in which we analyzed the press releases of five major Turkish business groups. It was found that their language strategies were generally similar and mostly aimed at socio-political legitimacy.