How do organizations in the automotive industry make use of discursive strategies in the arena of social media to retain legitimacy in times of crisis?
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2019-08-19
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en
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Abstract
In recent times the automotive industry has become the centre of attention through
various scandals across several brands around the world. The wide reaching debate and
criticisms about the companies’ actions have left a struggle for preserving their
legitimacy. The public scrutiny, especially done by the media has left the companies to
search for viable options of reaching out to the public in an attempt for re-legitimation.
With the emergence of the Internet and the social media, new possibilities of connecting
to the public in a more direct manner have been established. Henceforth the aim of this
research project is the investigation on which discursive strategies the automotive
companies actually use in the new arena of social media in an attempt to regain their
legitimacy. The analysis of the collected data has shown that besides the various angles and influences of discourse on legitimacy, one particular strategy appeared to stand out in the arena of social media. The discursive antagonism, as identified by Luyckx & Janssens (2016), is the strategy where the actor aims to portray a positive self-image
(purification) and undermines the credibility of the opposing actor (polluting). Previous
studies in this field of research have taken into account the traditional media, where the
information flow is a one-way street and an active interaction between the company and
the public is impossible. However, this thesis researches how the use of social media hasovercome this hurdle and allows for an interaction, where the discursive antagonism
can be used as a powerful tool for (re)legitimation.
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Faculteit der Managementwetenschappen