International Journal of Strategic Communication最新文献

{"title":"Conditions of One-Way and Two-Way Approaches in Strategic Start-Up Communication: A Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA)","authors":"C. Rudeloff, Sigrid Bekmeier-Feuerhahn, Jörg Sikkenga, Aliena Barth","doi":"10.1080/1553118X.2021.1994408","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/1553118X.2021.1994408","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This study aims to analyze what leads to particular communication practices in start-ups. We propose a connection between the entrepreneurial decision-making logics causation and effectuation and strategic communication. To reveal different configurations of conditions that lead to one-way and two-way communication approaches, we conduct a QCA (n = 18). As a result, five paths can be identified. It can be concluded that situational factors activate decision-making logics that lead to different communication approaches. This article provides a better understanding of the antecedents of strategic start-up communication, enriches the literature on one-way and two-way communication approaches and demonstrates that QCA can be implemented fruitfully in strategic communication studies.","PeriodicalId":39017,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Strategic Communication","volume":"16 1","pages":"157 - 181"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-03-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46994572","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Persuasive Reasons in Crowdfunding Campaigns: Comparing Argumentative Strategies in Successful and Unsuccessful Projects on Kickstarter","authors":"Rudi Palmieri, Chiara Mercuri, Sabrina Mazzali-Lurati","doi":"10.1080/1553118X.2021.2008942","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/1553118X.2021.2008942","url":null,"abstract":"In crowdfunding, individuals or small enterprises seek to attract funds for an innovative project by collecting small amounts of capital from a large number of people. In the last decade, it has become a popular form of fundraising that helped thousands of early stage entrepreneurs and ordinary people to realise their business idea (Mollick, 2014). The level of crowdfunding activity grew massively with the advent of the Internet, as project founders can nowadays easily reach a vast public by setting a campaign online. Between 2009 and 2021, over four billion dollars have been pledged on Kickstarter, one of the world’s most popular crowdfunding websites (Kickstarter, 2021a). In uploading a project on Kickstarter or similar venues, founders specify a funding target that must be met for the project to be successful and design a multimodal campaign (including video, images and written text) in which they pitch their project to an audience of potential backers. Crowdfunding campaigns, not very different from other fundraising or non-financial campaigns (e.g., political campaigns), constitute a genre of strategic communication, particularly when the latter is understood as communication related to the very existence and survival of a corporate entity (Hallahan et al., 2007; Zerfass et al., 2018). Indeed, the business project for which funding is sought can be set up only if it gains legitimacy (Frydrych et al., 2016) from funders, which in turn depends on the founders’ ability to communicate their project in a persuasive way. As this study will show more in detail, the discursive content of a crowdfunding campaign involves some of the typical “ingredients” of strategic communication, like, for example, the legitimation of societal needs, the construction of reputation and of a trustworthy image, the connection between the promoted products/services and the expectations of customers and other stakeholders, the exposition of plans for the achievement of business goals, etc. In other words, crowdfunding campaigns are persuasion endeavours that cannot be fulfilled by merely routinised and operational messaging, requiring instead the adoption a strategic approach to communication, which includes the deployment of micro-level communication strategies (Palmieri & Mazzali-Lurati, 2021; Van Werven et al., 2015). The need for a strategic approach when communicating a crowdfunding project is implicitly demonstrated by the fact that many campaigns fail to obtain their funding goal. For example, Kickstarter has currently a 38.76% acceptance rate (www.kickstarter.com/help/stats) and it includes overly successful campaigns as well as very unsuccessful ones. The chances of losing a crowdfunding","PeriodicalId":39017,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Strategic Communication","volume":"16 1","pages":"332 - 355"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-03-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41752649","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"CEO Brand Equity – Implementation of a Conceptual Model: Comparing CEO Brand Equity during Successful and Crisis Periods","authors":"Osnat Cottan-Nir, S. Lehman-Wilzig","doi":"10.1080/1553118X.2021.2010084","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/1553118X.2021.2010084","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Chief Executive Officer (CEO) brands that shape stakeholders’ perceptions have become a central component of companies’ strategic communication due to the CEO brand’s substantial contribution to the perception of the company’s brand, to its reputation, and thus to its performance. However, the concept of CEO brand equity is still under-researched. This study offers a first-time, empirical implementation of the CEO brand equity conceptual model, comparing the strongest Israeli CEO brand’s equity between two different periods (peak and crisis) through two central stakeholder groups’ perceptions: media (content analysis); financial analysts (in-depth interviews). The findings indicate significant differences exist between the two periods – strongly suggesting the model’s utility as a professional, strategic communication tool for assessing CEO brands’ contribution to the company, while offering a better understanding of CEO brand strengths and weaknesses. The CEO brands can also be taken as examples for leader branding of other organizations (nonprofit or governmental etc.).","PeriodicalId":39017,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Strategic Communication","volume":"16 1","pages":"34 - 49"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44089187","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Messenger Nationality, Media Skepticism, and Crisis Communication Effectiveness: Huawei’s YouTube Messages as Perceived in the U.S.","authors":"Yicheng Zhu, Shannon A. Bowen, Xiangming Lyu","doi":"10.1080/1553118X.2021.2014499","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/1553118X.2021.2014499","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This study examines the effect of messenger nationality on the credibility perception of YouTube sources in the theoretical context of situational crisis communication theory (SCCT). An online survey experiment with a quota U.S. voter sample (N = 354) showed that Russian nationality decreases source credibility perception in comparison to U.K. and control conditions, while the latter two showed no differences. Although skepticism in domestic media dampens such an effect, path analyses also showed that such impact can be extended to the effectiveness of an MNC’s (i.e., Huawei) global crisis communication efforts in the U.S. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.","PeriodicalId":39017,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Strategic Communication","volume":"16 1","pages":"111 - 126"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44980748","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Valenced Metaphors in Strategic Communication: The Case of the Greek Economic Crisis","authors":"A. Vogiatzis","doi":"10.1080/1553118X.2021.2001472","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/1553118X.2021.2001472","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This study examined the valence of political metaphors in the context of the Greek economic crisis in ten speeches delivered by the Greek Prime Minister (PM). Five of the speeches were proclamations addressing the Greek people in the first year of the crisis, while the other five speeches were addresses to the Members of the Parliament (MPs). These two types of speeches were compared in terms of metaphor frequencies, metaphor valence, and types of metaphors. The results revealed that in the proclamations addressed to the Greek people the PM used significantly more metaphors than in the speeches addressing the MPs. In terms of valence, the analysis showed that the PM used significantly more positive metaphors than negative when addressing the Greek people; this, however, was not confirmed in the speeches addressing the MPs. In terms of metaphor type, overall the travel frame was the most frequently used one in the speeches addressing the Greek people, while this was not the case in the addresses to the MPs. In terms of strategic communication and crisis management, positive metaphoric language was the primary means to fulfil the organization’s (i.e., the government’s) mission, which was no other than to manage the crisis in relation to the Greek people.","PeriodicalId":39017,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Strategic Communication","volume":"16 1","pages":"18 - 33"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45418169","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A Relational Dimension of Open Innovation: Towards A Comprehensive Strategic Communication Research Agenda","authors":"M. Recalde, E. Gutiérrez-García, María Jesús Yánez-Galdames","doi":"10.1080/1553118X.2021.2014501","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/1553118X.2021.2014501","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Open innovation is a strategic phenomenon that has arisen in corporate life since the beginning of the 21st century. The management of this process involves a communicative dimension that both management and communication scholarship have overlooked over the last twenty years. At the same time, communication management in open innovation processes enacts the strategic nature of the discipline and practice. However, there is scant knowledge and evidence to be found in this discipline, despite the fact that the topic itself calls for deeper exploration of mainly a relational and communicative phenomena. We argue for the promotion of a comprehensive research agenda that entails delving into the theoretical and empirical challenges of the strategic communication discipline in open innovation. Likewise, this article responds to the call for greater interdisciplinary research. Findings include six research gaps, the examination of nine research lines, as it relates to discussion of specific methods/methodologies which would fill those gaps. Moreover, the proposed research pathways map out a starting-point for the future of this growing field of inquiry while also positioning strategic communication as a catalyst discipline and practice that will help to foster open innovation management and research.","PeriodicalId":39017,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Strategic Communication","volume":"16 1","pages":"70 - 90"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43844393","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Becoming a “Normal” and “Ordinary” Organization through Strategic Communication? Discursive Legitimation of the Swedish Armed Forces","authors":"Malin Ågren, H. Sataøen","doi":"10.1080/1553118X.2021.2014500","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/1553118X.2021.2014500","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This article examines the use of discursive legitimation strategies as a mode of strategic communication in public sector organizations. The study object is the Swedish Armed Forces (SAF). As a military organization, SAF’s communication has traditionally been characterized by restrictions, regulations, discretion, and secrecy. However, changing conditions have created a new need for legitimation of SAF and its operations, both internally and externally. The aim of the study is to understand how discursive legitimation is used in internal strategic communication in a public sector context, with particular emphasis on the challenges related to changing conditions and inconsistent demands on the organization. Discursive Legitimation Analysis (DLA) is used to study 31 editorials in SAF’s staff magazine to examine how SAF’s activities and its transformed role in society are legitimated. Two main findings are identified: (1) the frequent and unexpected use of rationalization as a legitimation strategy, stressing conformity with other organizations rather than differentiation; and (2) inconsistent legitimation strategies, with conflicting values and perspectives on strategic communication operating simultaneously. These findings highlight the difficulty of maintaining coherency and consistency in practice. The study further helps advancing the general understanding of the limits of strategic communication in pursuing legitimacy.","PeriodicalId":39017,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Strategic Communication","volume":"16 1","pages":"50 - 69"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43608569","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Active Employee Communication Roles in Organizations: A Framework for Understanding and Discussing Communication Role Expectations","authors":"Joost W.M. Verhoeven, Vibeke Thøis Madsen","doi":"10.1080/1553118X.2021.2014503","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/1553118X.2021.2014503","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Several scholars have pointed out the importance of employees’ strategic communication behaviors for organizational performance and employee wellbeing. Employees contribute to organizations by acting as brand ambassadors, boundary spanners and crisis communicators. Employees play such roles on top of assigned job tasks, which can lead to role overload, role conflicts and job stress. The analysis of employees’ communication role enactment is hampered by the lack of a framework describing the complete range of active communication roles that employees are expected to play in the workplace. This article introduces the Active Employee Communication Roles (AECR) Framework (AECR), develops the conceptualization of eight communication roles, and discusses implications for strategic communication. The first four roles – the embodier, promotor, defender, and relationship builder role – describe ambassador roles. In addition, employees play the roles of scout, sensemaker, innovator, and critic to contribute to organizational development. The AECR framework provides a new lens which aids our understanding of the relationship between communication, and employee performance and wellbeing, and provides employees and employers a tool to analyze and calibrate mutual expectations regarding communication behaviors. The framework can also help employees to more strategically allocate resources when executing the various communication roles. This may help to alleviate employee role stress, and create healthier workplaces.","PeriodicalId":39017,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Strategic Communication","volume":"16 1","pages":"91 - 110"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"59884198","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Fake-News Network Model: A Conceptual Framework for Strategic Communication to Deal with Fake News","authors":"Mohammad Ali","doi":"10.1080/1553118X.2021.1988616","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/1553118X.2021.1988616","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This article analyzes the entire life span of a corporate fake-news report as a case study, proposing a conceptual framework for strategic fake-news communication. Using the confirmation-bias theoretical model, this qualitative textual analysis examines the most widely circulated tweets of a fake-news item about Nike, 603 replies to the tweets, users’ biographical profiles (e.g., political affiliations), the role of opinion leader(s), and relevant prior contexts. The findings provide in-depth insight into how people believe fake news and how their conversations about fake news (re)shape the victim brand’s social realities. Overall, the findings of this study illustrate a “Fake-News Network Model” that explains the underlying mechanisms of how a fake-news item functions together with other aspects (e.g., context, perception, opinion leaders, and cognitive processes), prompting certain people to believe particular fake-news reports and, discuss the victim brand (e.g., Nike) based on that perceived truth. The article discusses the implications of this network model for both fake-news researchers and strategic communication professionals.","PeriodicalId":39017,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Strategic Communication","volume":"16 1","pages":"1 - 17"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47876163","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Deproblematization as an Enrichment of Framing Theory: Enhancing the Effectiveness of an Awareness-Raising Campaign on Child Poverty","authors":"B. Van Gorp, Bart Vyncke","doi":"10.1080/1553118X.2021.1988615","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/1553118X.2021.1988615","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Entities wanting to communicate purposefully should have insight into the different frames and counter-frames that give meaning to an issue. Therefore, this research introduces a Framing Counter-framing Theory (FCT). A conceptual distinction is made between frames that define an issue as a problem and frames that deproblematize it. An experimental study (N = 1,000) was conducted in Belgium regarding the effects of an awareness-raising campaign on child poverty. It demonstrated that using deproblematizing frames can render such a campaign more effective. There was an increased willingness to donate in the condition in which the campaign used deproblematizing frames as counter-framing strategy. Furthermore, the results highlight how the internal coherence of a deproblematizing frame can be disrupted by priming an alternative problematizing frame mitigating the intended effect. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings and FCT are discussed.","PeriodicalId":39017,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Strategic Communication","volume":"15 1","pages":"425 - 439"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-10-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49545815","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}