Rebuilding users’ trust in social media organizations The case of Facebook

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2024-06-24

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en

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The pivotal role of trust in the organization-stakeholder relationship has been extensively studied. However, trust can also be lost if organizations fail to meet their commitments, ultimately leading to reputational damage. While there is literature proposing mechanisms for restoring trust in the organization-stakeholder relationship, empirical validation and research looking at trust-building from the organizational perspective are lacking. This paper will address these gaps by employing a rhetorical analysis to examine how Facebook uses corporate communication to rebuild trust with their users. Drawing on the Aristotelian framework of persuasive appeals – ethos, pathos, and logos – this study explores how rhetorical appeals are used to exhibit the four different trust attributes – competence, integrity, benevolence, and concern. The findings of this research contribute to both rhetorical and trust literature by building a bridge between the two concepts. By doing so a nuanced understanding of how Facebook strategically employs rhetoric to manage the (re)building of trust in the organization-stakeholder relationship is provided.

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Faculteit der Managementwetenschappen

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