International Journal of Strategic Communication最新文献

{"title":"Welcoming Newcomers in Start-Ups: Challenges for Strategic Internal Communication","authors":"Mia Thyregod Rasmussen","doi":"10.1080/1553118X.2022.2032716","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/1553118X.2022.2032716","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Start-ups operating under conditions of uncertainty and limited resources face several challenges for strategic internal communication. Meanwhile, their efforts in welcoming newcomers are of vital importance for the achievement of organisational success. This study investigates what the start-up context means for strategic organisational entry communication. Following a review of research at the intersection of HRM and entrepreneurship with implications for strategic entry communication, entrepreneurs and newcomers in six start-ups were interviewed. A thematic analysis resulted in the identification of three themes of challenges for strategic communication connected to welcoming newcomers in start-ups, namely: Aspects related to the overall organisational context and situation, aspects related to newcomers’ job content and design, and finally entrepreneurs’ communication skills, knowledge, and time resources. The discussion shows implications of the start-up context for strategic organisational entry communication as regards opportunities for strategic communication, as well as the content and form of the strategic entry communication. The study contributes to the body of knowledge on strategic communication in start-ups by drawing on research from the intersection of HRM and entrepreneurship, as well as generating new empirical insights highlighting challenges to strategic internal communication in start-ups, especially for the purpose of welcoming newcomers.","PeriodicalId":39017,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Strategic Communication","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-03-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46907822","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":"Carving Start-up Character: Effects of Symmetrical Communication on Start-up Corporate Character, Customer-Start-up Identification, and Customer Advocacy","authors":"Y. Ji, Z. Chen, L. Men","doi":"10.1080/1553118X.2021.2014502","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/1553118X.2021.2014502","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This study took a personification approach and examined how strategic communication influences the development of startup corporate character and associated outcomes in China. Specifically, it examined the relationships among startups’ symmetrical communication model, startup characters of agreeableness, enterprise, competence, and ruthlessness, customer identification with the startup, and eventually, customer advocacy. Results from an online survey with 641 startup customers in China revealed the importance of practicing symmetrical communication at startups, which effectively helps shape startup character. In turn, startup corporate character would affect customer identification with the startup, which eventually contributes to customer advocacy. This study provides valuable theoretical grounds to advance the growing literature on corporate character, stakeholders-organization identification, and symmetrical communication, emphasizing a unique startup context in the culturally distinctive market of China. It also provides practical insights for startup leaders, communication practitioners, and entrepreneurs on how to build a favorable corporate character, strengthen connections with customers, and win support from customers.","PeriodicalId":39017,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Strategic Communication","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-03-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45343033","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":"Narrative Start-up Identity Construction as Strategic Communication","authors":"Sanna Ala-Kortesmaa, Tomi Laapotti, Leena Mikkola","doi":"10.1080/1553118X.2022.2027772","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/1553118X.2022.2027772","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT In this qualitative case study, positioning itself within the social constructionist approach, we aimed to investigate and interpret identity narration and organizational identity in strategic external and internal communication at the health technology startup company Naava Group Oy. By analyzing three different datasets (Twitter, blog posts, and interviews), we examined how organizational identity was emerged and which way it was strategic in storytelling and narratives. The results indicate that the startup's strategic social media identity storytelling seemed strategically crafted, as various voices were detected to narrate the same stories that repeated the same narrative content. The study also interestingly reveals that the four identities emerging from narrative storytelling were interpermeable and strongly connected to the narratives’ content. The social media narratives and identities varied slightly during the 8-year period that the datasets, in total, covered. However, the identities communicated on social media were more coherent than the internal identities expressed by employees. The findings suggest that, in strong startup identity creation, the cohesiveness of the identity storytelling, the voices that narrate the identity construction, and the content and temporal dimensions of the narrated stories are strategic key factors.","PeriodicalId":39017,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Strategic Communication","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-03-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44045296","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":"Assembling the Start-up Brand: A Process Framework for Understanding Strategic Communication Challenges","authors":"Vidhi Chaudhri, J. Pridmore, C. Mauck","doi":"10.1080/1553118X.2021.1976784","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/1553118X.2021.1976784","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT The proliferation of start-ups and their contribution to the global economy is well-documented as is their high failure rate, a paradox attributable in large part to the inadequate attention start-ups ascribe to establishing a strong brand. Premised on the idea that brand-building is an active process of meaning-making and an assemblage of layers of professional and material activities, our study offers an empirically grounded approach to start-up branding. Based on an inductive analysis of interviews with co-founders of 15 start-up and scale-up brands, we propose a process framework of start-up branding that highlights the strategic communication processes by which entrepreneurs bring their products to market. Through this contribution, we make clear that entrepreneurial brand building is not a one-size-fits all process and that there is no linear pathway. While the framework is not predictive of success, it is indicative of a new formulation of how strategic communication can be used to understand and evaluate brand processes within entrepreneurial organizations.","PeriodicalId":39017,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Strategic Communication","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-03-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45919533","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":"Start-up and Entrepreneurial Communication","authors":"A. Godulla, L. Men","doi":"10.1080/1553118X.2022.2040165","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/1553118X.2022.2040165","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This editorial introduces start-ups as critical drivers of growth in modern economies and gives an overview on existing research about young and innovative companies in the field of strategic communication. It also provides an overview of the articles published in this special issue.","PeriodicalId":39017,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Strategic Communication","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-03-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41474184","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":"Analogies in Entrepreneurial Communication and Strategic Communication: Definition, Delimitation of Research Programs and Future Research","authors":"Britta M. Gossel","doi":"10.1080/1553118X.2021.2015689","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/1553118X.2021.2015689","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This article aims to build a better understanding of entrepreneurial communication and strategic communication. The term entrepreneurial is finding its way into the discussion of communication science in general and strategic communication in particular, for example, through the consideration of startups. So far, the term entrepreneurial communication remains vague, is hardly defined and is not systematically distinguished from strategic communication. By applying an analogies lens in the context of problematizing, differences between the terms entrepreneurial and strategic in entrepreneurial communication and strategic communication are explored based on selected given definitions. As a result, three unifying dimensions – development stage, mode, and logic – are developed to highlight fundamental differences between the two terms. To create potential for a future creation of entrepreneurial communication as research program, and to elaborate on future potential for strategic communication in relation to this, central theoretical approaches in entrepreneurship research and their potential to research entrepreneurial communication are explored.","PeriodicalId":39017,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Strategic Communication","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-03-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45314618","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":null,"pages":null},"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":"The Role of Internal Communication in Start-ups: State of Research and Practical Approaches","authors":"Cornelia Wolf, A. Godulla, L. Beck, Lea Neubert","doi":"10.1080/1553118X.2021.2023544","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/1553118X.2021.2023544","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Start-ups differ from established organizations in having limited routines and undergoing constant change that shapes their communicative structures. Although they are dependent on successful internal communication, its importance as a strategic discipline seems underestimated in practice. In addition, research on internal communication in start-ups has so far only focused on several sub-areas. In this article, internal communication is, in a first step, defined as a subdiscipline of strategic communication and elaborated on from the perspective of the Four Flows Model in order to allow a holistic view on internal communication. Secondly, we ask what role is attributed to strategic internal communication in start-ups across different stages of development in academic research and practice. Answers are provided through a multi-method design consisting of a systematic literature review in the fields of strategic communication, business management, and entrepreneurship, and 12 guided interviews with representatives of start-ups. Although both literature and interviewees identify internal communication as crucial to the success of start-ups, it mainly results from routine and is rarely strategically derived or evaluated. This study provides a more detailed insight into the role of strategic communication in start-ups, to which further studies can refer in order to fill the research gaps discussed.","PeriodicalId":39017,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Strategic Communication","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-03-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49551333","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":"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":null,"pages":null},"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":"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":null,"pages":null},"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}