A Survey on Strategies and Identity Construction of Coaches in the Voice of China

Abstract

In the past decade, talent shows have gone viral in China. In talent shows, the interaction between the coaches and the contestants is a major attraction for audiences. The coach’s speaking style and pragmatic skills reflect their strategies for recruiting contestants and have influences on identity construction. Based on the Politeness Principle (PP), this study analyzes the utterances of coaches in the recruitment part of The Voice of China season 10. With the help of qualitative analysis software NVivo, researchers try to code the utterances to which PP is applied. Based on the results of the research, this study put forward four recruitment strategies, including Complimentary Strategy, Beneficial Strategy, Emotion Strategy and Modesty Strategy. Moreover, four identities can be constructed based on these strategies, including Amiable Identity, Rational Identity, Perceptual Identity and Modest Identity. This study provides insights into the identity construction of members within an organization from a discourse analysis perspective, especially in the context of talent recruitment and trainee management.