Proverbs as other-than-human actants in corporate social responsibility communication: A ventriloquial analysis of corporate-community dialogues

Abstract

How do proverbs play a role in the evolution of corporate-community communication about social responsibility? We show that these everyday sayings can act as powerful, other-than-human actants in corporate social responsibility (CSR) dialogues. Drawing on 32 interviews with CSR managers in Vietnam, supported by ethnographic notes and observations from 8 corporate–community presentation sessions, we trace how proverbs enter conversations and redirect the flow of interaction. Using a ventriloquial lens, we identify three mechanisms—authoring, re-authoring, and counter-authoring—through which proverbs speak on behalf of participants, challenge corporate narratives, and reopen space for community voice. Our findings reveal how proverbs become resources through which community members reclaim authority, rework the meaning of CSR, and negotiate more equal communicative ground with corporations. By foregrounding how these cultural resources participate in interaction, our study encourages communication constitutes organization scholarship to take seriously the organizing role of material and other-than-human actants. We argue that attending to proverbs not only enriches our understanding of communication in the Global South but also unsettles dominant assumptions about who, and what, gets to participate in organizational life.