Pub Date : 2024-09-17DOI: 10.1177/08933189241284598
Chun Liu, Qin Yuan, Jiang Luo
Purpose: In recent years, many enterprises have established anonymous online forums to encourage employees to speak up. However, questions remain regarding whether these anonymous communication channels work. This research explores how and when technical anonymity influences employees’ willingness to speak up.Design/methodology/approach: Via an experimental method (study 1), we investigated the effects of technical anonymity and the moderating effects of voice solicitation. Via an experimental method (study 2), we examined the effects of technical anonymity and the moderating effects of time delay.Findings: The results of two studies consistently indicate that employees are more willing to speak up in the anonymous condition than in the nonanonymous condition and that psychological safety mediates the relationship between technical anonymity and employees’ willingness to speak up. In addition, we identify the boundary conditions of the effects of technical anonymity. In the prohibitive voice solicitation condition and in the delay condition, the above effects exist.Originality/value: First, we contribute to the literature on organizational media affordance by examining the effects of the anonymity affordance. Second, we contribute to the literature on organizational anonymity communication by exploring the impacts of technical anonymity on employees’ willingness to speak up in the workplace. Third, we extend the literature on employee voice by theorizing and demonstrating the moderating roles of two novel variables.
{"title":"Technical Anonymity and Employees’ Willingness to Speak Up: Influences of Voice Solicitation, General Timeliness, and Psychological Safety","authors":"Chun Liu, Qin Yuan, Jiang Luo","doi":"10.1177/08933189241284598","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/08933189241284598","url":null,"abstract":"Purpose: In recent years, many enterprises have established anonymous online forums to encourage employees to speak up. However, questions remain regarding whether these anonymous communication channels work. This research explores how and when technical anonymity influences employees’ willingness to speak up.Design/methodology/approach: Via an experimental method (study 1), we investigated the effects of technical anonymity and the moderating effects of voice solicitation. Via an experimental method (study 2), we examined the effects of technical anonymity and the moderating effects of time delay.Findings: The results of two studies consistently indicate that employees are more willing to speak up in the anonymous condition than in the nonanonymous condition and that psychological safety mediates the relationship between technical anonymity and employees’ willingness to speak up. In addition, we identify the boundary conditions of the effects of technical anonymity. In the prohibitive voice solicitation condition and in the delay condition, the above effects exist.Originality/value: First, we contribute to the literature on organizational media affordance by examining the effects of the anonymity affordance. Second, we contribute to the literature on organizational anonymity communication by exploring the impacts of technical anonymity on employees’ willingness to speak up in the workplace. Third, we extend the literature on employee voice by theorizing and demonstrating the moderating roles of two novel variables.","PeriodicalId":47743,"journal":{"name":"Management Communication Quarterly","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2024-09-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142256775","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-09-15DOI: 10.1177/08933189241280889
Tanya Vomacka, Patrice M. Buzzanell
Our study explored 13 university members’ sensemaking and resilience around remote work during the COVID-19 pandemic. We found that “affective sensemaking” ran throughout our data and exposed the vulnerabilities and uncertainties that we called relational precarities. Affective sensemaking of relational precarities encapsulated sensate experiences or intensities entangled with the fragmented, fluid, and non-linear nature of processes in the Communication Theory of Resilience (CTR) and their adaptive-transformative dynamics. Evidence of how participants adapted, transformed, and embodied resilience during moments fraught with relational precarity emerged through three themes or practices: (dis)connecting relationally precarious networks, intertwining contradictory affect-place-self-presentation, and performing and feeling (in)visible. We contribute to CTR and organizing by centering fragility, affect, and relational precarity as key to understanding the being-becoming of resilience.
{"title":"Affective Sensemaking of Relational Precarities: Resilience as Becoming in Pandemic Shifting to Remote Work","authors":"Tanya Vomacka, Patrice M. Buzzanell","doi":"10.1177/08933189241280889","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/08933189241280889","url":null,"abstract":"Our study explored 13 university members’ sensemaking and resilience around remote work during the COVID-19 pandemic. We found that “affective sensemaking” ran throughout our data and exposed the vulnerabilities and uncertainties that we called relational precarities. Affective sensemaking of relational precarities encapsulated sensate experiences or intensities entangled with the fragmented, fluid, and non-linear nature of processes in the Communication Theory of Resilience (CTR) and their adaptive-transformative dynamics. Evidence of how participants adapted, transformed, and embodied resilience during moments fraught with relational precarity emerged through three themes or practices: (dis)connecting relationally precarious networks, intertwining contradictory affect-place-self-presentation, and performing and feeling (in)visible. We contribute to CTR and organizing by centering fragility, affect, and relational precarity as key to understanding the being-becoming of resilience.","PeriodicalId":47743,"journal":{"name":"Management Communication Quarterly","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2024-09-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142256776","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-09-10DOI: 10.1177/08933189241268503
Dennis Schoeneborn, Urša Golob, Hannah Trittin-Ulbrich, Matthias Wenzel, Amy O’Connor
Corporate social responsibility (CSR) communication faces significant challenges due to an increasing polarization of public discourses. This polarization oversimplifies societal differences into “us versus them” dynamics, complicating consensus building and eroding trust in democratic processes. Traditionally, CSR communication research has focused on how organizations negotiate meanings between various stakeholders. However, the rise in polarization necessitates a broader research scope to understand its impact on CSR practices and organizational relationships. This Special Issue of Management Communication Quarterly explores these evolving challenges, analyzing how polarization reshapes CSR communication and outlining strategies for businesses to navigate this fragmented landscape. The issue also reflects on the broader role of corporations amidst tendencies of polarization and suggests directions for future research.
{"title":"CSR Communication and the Polarization of Public Discourses: Introduction to the Special Issue","authors":"Dennis Schoeneborn, Urša Golob, Hannah Trittin-Ulbrich, Matthias Wenzel, Amy O’Connor","doi":"10.1177/08933189241268503","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/08933189241268503","url":null,"abstract":"Corporate social responsibility (CSR) communication faces significant challenges due to an increasing polarization of public discourses. This polarization oversimplifies societal differences into “us versus them” dynamics, complicating consensus building and eroding trust in democratic processes. Traditionally, CSR communication research has focused on how organizations negotiate meanings between various stakeholders. However, the rise in polarization necessitates a broader research scope to understand its impact on CSR practices and organizational relationships. This Special Issue of Management Communication Quarterly explores these evolving challenges, analyzing how polarization reshapes CSR communication and outlining strategies for businesses to navigate this fragmented landscape. The issue also reflects on the broader role of corporations amidst tendencies of polarization and suggests directions for future research.","PeriodicalId":47743,"journal":{"name":"Management Communication Quarterly","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2024-09-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142182404","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-08-02DOI: 10.1177/08933189241271401
Carol Linehan, Elaine O'Brien
What does work engagement mean to employees in contemporary work environments designed to be fun, highly engaging and productive? Engagement studies tend to focus on ‘being engaged’ rather than ‘doing engagement’ with little consideration given to organisational processes which influence employee agency in engagement. This study aims to contextualise the concept of engagement as a situated performance that involves navigating organisational discourses and expectations. Through in-depth interviews, we explore what engagement means to workers, and what performances are required in a contemporary technology company. Our analysis uncovers how ‘engagement’ functions as a discourse to normalise particular behaviours, moving the theoretical focus from the state-based focus on ‘being’ engaged to ‘doing’ engagement. We elucidate the discursive forces dictating what engagement means and the kinds of work/worker that hold value, providing an alternative to the current individualistic framing of engagement, illuminating a missing element in discussions on engagement - the performative element.
{"title":"From Being to Doing: Exploring the Situated Discourses and Performances of Work Engagement","authors":"Carol Linehan, Elaine O'Brien","doi":"10.1177/08933189241271401","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/08933189241271401","url":null,"abstract":"What does work engagement mean to employees in contemporary work environments designed to be fun, highly engaging and productive? Engagement studies tend to focus on ‘being engaged’ rather than ‘doing engagement’ with little consideration given to organisational processes which influence employee agency in engagement. This study aims to contextualise the concept of engagement as a situated performance that involves navigating organisational discourses and expectations. Through in-depth interviews, we explore what engagement means to workers, and what performances are required in a contemporary technology company. Our analysis uncovers how ‘engagement’ functions as a discourse to normalise particular behaviours, moving the theoretical focus from the state-based focus on ‘being’ engaged to ‘doing’ engagement. We elucidate the discursive forces dictating what engagement means and the kinds of work/worker that hold value, providing an alternative to the current individualistic framing of engagement, illuminating a missing element in discussions on engagement - the performative element.","PeriodicalId":47743,"journal":{"name":"Management Communication Quarterly","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2024-08-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141882692","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-07-30DOI: 10.1177/08933189241268866
Bitt Moon, Minjeong Kang
Employee silence, as a distinct behavior that differs from employee voice, might cause serious communication problems in organizational settings. Drawing upon the theoretical perspective of dialogic communication and the organization-public dialogic communication (OPDC) model, this study examined the role of dialogic employee communication from organizational leaders in alleviating acquiescent silence and defensive silence. Psychological empowerment and psychological safety were considered as potential mediators. The results of an online survey of 570 full-time employees in the United States revealed that employees were less likely to engage in acquiescent silence or defensive silence when they perceived dialogic employee communication from their leaders. The findings revealed the mediating role of psychological safety between dialogic employee communication from leaders and employee silence. However, psychological empowerment was not found to be a significant mediator. The theoretical and strategic implications are discussed.
{"title":"Breaking Employee Silence Through Dialogic Employee Communication: Mediating Roles of Psychological Safety and Psychological Empowerment","authors":"Bitt Moon, Minjeong Kang","doi":"10.1177/08933189241268866","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/08933189241268866","url":null,"abstract":"Employee silence, as a distinct behavior that differs from employee voice, might cause serious communication problems in organizational settings. Drawing upon the theoretical perspective of dialogic communication and the organization-public dialogic communication (OPDC) model, this study examined the role of dialogic employee communication from organizational leaders in alleviating acquiescent silence and defensive silence. Psychological empowerment and psychological safety were considered as potential mediators. The results of an online survey of 570 full-time employees in the United States revealed that employees were less likely to engage in acquiescent silence or defensive silence when they perceived dialogic employee communication from their leaders. The findings revealed the mediating role of psychological safety between dialogic employee communication from leaders and employee silence. However, psychological empowerment was not found to be a significant mediator. The theoretical and strategic implications are discussed.","PeriodicalId":47743,"journal":{"name":"Management Communication Quarterly","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2024-07-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141868247","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-07-29DOI: 10.1177/08933189241268341
D. Bharathi, Raju Murugan
{"title":"Book Review: Organization, Communication and Language A Case Book of Methods for Analysing Workplace Text and Talk","authors":"D. Bharathi, Raju Murugan","doi":"10.1177/08933189241268341","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/08933189241268341","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":47743,"journal":{"name":"Management Communication Quarterly","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2024-07-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141868278","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-07-26DOI: 10.1177/08933189241254096
Gastone Gualtieri, Francesco Lurati
This paper investigates how companies approach corporate social responsibility in polarized landscapes. Polarization makes the dominant dialogical approach to CSR potentially inconclusive. Indeed, companies cannot orient societal CSR meanings through an all-stakeholder-inclusive dialogue because, in a polarized world, stakeholders form alternative meanings in separate and mutually delegitimizing conversations. To understand how companies try to appear responsible under these circumstances, we examine Italian telecom companies’ CSR reports issued throughout the launch of 5G technologies, a polarizing topic that sparked fake news and conspiracy theories. The findings show that, in such polarizing circumstances, companies may adopt a partisan approach to CSR, i.e., engaging with only one conversation to shape CSR views within it while ignoring the other. Through this approach, companies may further exacerbate polarization and shape CSR meanings to align with their core business, rather than the opposite. These implications, we argue, might jeopardize the very essence of CSR.
{"title":"Being Responsible in a Polarized World: From Dialogical to Partisan CSR","authors":"Gastone Gualtieri, Francesco Lurati","doi":"10.1177/08933189241254096","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/08933189241254096","url":null,"abstract":"This paper investigates how companies approach corporate social responsibility in polarized landscapes. Polarization makes the dominant dialogical approach to CSR potentially inconclusive. Indeed, companies cannot orient societal CSR meanings through an all-stakeholder-inclusive dialogue because, in a polarized world, stakeholders form alternative meanings in separate and mutually delegitimizing conversations. To understand how companies try to appear responsible under these circumstances, we examine Italian telecom companies’ CSR reports issued throughout the launch of 5G technologies, a polarizing topic that sparked fake news and conspiracy theories. The findings show that, in such polarizing circumstances, companies may adopt a partisan approach to CSR, i.e., engaging with only one conversation to shape CSR views within it while ignoring the other. Through this approach, companies may further exacerbate polarization and shape CSR meanings to align with their core business, rather than the opposite. These implications, we argue, might jeopardize the very essence of CSR.","PeriodicalId":47743,"journal":{"name":"Management Communication Quarterly","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2024-07-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141783746","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-07-20DOI: 10.1177/08933189241264540
Virginia S. Harrison, William Seaton, Carla White
Dialogic openness suggests that organizations should employ an agonistic approach to conversation, discussion, and listening when communicating with activist groups. This study applies this theoretical premise to corporate social responsibility communication in motorsport, specifically Formula 1, which has been increasingly communicating about sustainable initiatives on social media. Through quantitative content analysis, we analyzed 820 responses to 10 CSR-related tweets during the 2021 season. We found that reactions to the messages were mostly critical, from both the left and right political perspectives. More liberal viewpoints indicated that Formula 1 should do more to address sustainability, while more conservative viewpoints complained that Formula 1 should “stick to sports” and stop engaging in social issues. Both sides showed high levels of skepticism for the intentions behind the messages. Based on our findings, we suggest that sport organizations should use principles of dialogic openness foster deliberative communication around sustainability in sport.
{"title":"Understanding Polarized Reactions to Sport CSR and Sustainability Communication on Social Media Through Dialogic Openness","authors":"Virginia S. Harrison, William Seaton, Carla White","doi":"10.1177/08933189241264540","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/08933189241264540","url":null,"abstract":"Dialogic openness suggests that organizations should employ an agonistic approach to conversation, discussion, and listening when communicating with activist groups. This study applies this theoretical premise to corporate social responsibility communication in motorsport, specifically Formula 1, which has been increasingly communicating about sustainable initiatives on social media. Through quantitative content analysis, we analyzed 820 responses to 10 CSR-related tweets during the 2021 season. We found that reactions to the messages were mostly critical, from both the left and right political perspectives. More liberal viewpoints indicated that Formula 1 should do more to address sustainability, while more conservative viewpoints complained that Formula 1 should “stick to sports” and stop engaging in social issues. Both sides showed high levels of skepticism for the intentions behind the messages. Based on our findings, we suggest that sport organizations should use principles of dialogic openness foster deliberative communication around sustainability in sport.","PeriodicalId":47743,"journal":{"name":"Management Communication Quarterly","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2024-07-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141738156","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-06-21DOI: 10.1177/08933189241261717
W. Lance Bennett, Julie Uldam
Following a long period in which pressures to adopt CSR practices came largely from the left, the current communication environment has become far more divisive with the rise of illiberal political pressures from the right. These conflicting pressures arise from irreconcilable communication logics that threaten the future of CSR. This paper examines how these disruptive communication logics reflect the changing roles of disinformation in CSR communication, highlighting two overlapping eras: (1) the history of some companies using disinformation strategically to avoid or misrepresent CSR commitments; and (2) the more recent addition of what we term systemic disinformation generated by politicians, think tanks, and irresponsible competitors. These disinformation spheres challenge liberal democratic values and amplify attacks on CSR values. We discuss the dilemmas for companies seeking to adopt more responsible business practices and explore the implications of CSR communication becoming increasingly linked to larger societal conflicts over the nature of democracy.
{"title":"Corporate Social Responsibility in The Disinformation Age","authors":"W. Lance Bennett, Julie Uldam","doi":"10.1177/08933189241261717","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/08933189241261717","url":null,"abstract":"Following a long period in which pressures to adopt CSR practices came largely from the left, the current communication environment has become far more divisive with the rise of illiberal political pressures from the right. These conflicting pressures arise from irreconcilable communication logics that threaten the future of CSR. This paper examines how these disruptive communication logics reflect the changing roles of disinformation in CSR communication, highlighting two overlapping eras: (1) the history of some companies using disinformation strategically to avoid or misrepresent CSR commitments; and (2) the more recent addition of what we term systemic disinformation generated by politicians, think tanks, and irresponsible competitors. These disinformation spheres challenge liberal democratic values and amplify attacks on CSR values. We discuss the dilemmas for companies seeking to adopt more responsible business practices and explore the implications of CSR communication becoming increasingly linked to larger societal conflicts over the nature of democracy.","PeriodicalId":47743,"journal":{"name":"Management Communication Quarterly","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2024-06-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141504515","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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