Corporate Diplomacy: How Multinational Corporations Gain Organizational Legitimacy: A Neo-Institutional Public Relations Perspective (Organisationskommunikation)

This Open-Access book investigates corporate diplomacy as a legitimation strategy of multinational companies in the United Arab Emirates. The author applies a neo-institutional public relations perspective, according to which societal expectations significantly shape corporate diplomacy communication. Using a multi-method research design, the author shows how corporate diplomacy is used in the host country, what role local media coverage and relationship management fulfill, and what effects corporate diplomacy has on corporate legitimacy in the host country community, i.e., UAE residents. The findings provide substantial insights into how multinational corporations seek legitimacy through corporate diplomacy and demonstrate how these efforts and the legitimation of corporations are affected by the media and the host country's public. About the Author Dr. Sarah Marschlich is a senior research and teaching associate at the Department of Communication and Media Research (IKMZ), University of Zurich. Her research focuses on public relations, organizational communication, and companies' social and political responsibility communication. In particular, she is interested in investigating the role of the public sphere in constituting organizational perceptions by the public Acknowledgments Abstract Contents Abbreviations List of Figures List of Tables 1 Introduction 1.1 Research Background 1.2 Research Gap and Research Aims 1.3 Structure of the Thesis 2 Conceptual Framework: Sociological Neo-Institutionalism, Legitimacy, and Public Relations 2.1 The Value of Sociological Neo-Institutionalism for Analyzing Corporate Diplomacy 2.2 Principles and Key Concepts of Neo-Institutional Approaches 2.2.1 Neo-Institutional Approaches and the Concept of Institution 2.2.2 Core Concepts and Key Assumptions 2.3 Organizational Legitimacy and the Process of Legitimation 2.3.1 The Foundations of Legitimacy Research and the Relevance of Gaining Legitimacy 2.3.2 Conceptualizations and Types of Organizational Legitimacy 2.3.3 Organizational Legitimacy and the Role of the Mass Media 2.3.4 Organizational Legitimation Strategies 2.4 Public Relations, Engagement, and Organizational Legitimacy 2.4.1 Public Relations and Engagement 2.4.2 Public Relations and the Media: The Importance of Media Frames 2.4.3 Neo-Institutional Public Relations 3 Corporate Diplomacy at the Intersection of Public Relations and Public Diplomacy 3.1 Public Diplomacy and Public Relations 3.2 Research Approaches to Corporate Diplomacy 3.3 Corporate Diplomacy and CSR 3.4 Toward a New Conceptualization of Corporate Diplomacy 4 State of Research: Previous Findings on Corporate Diplomacy, the Media, and Organizational Legitimacy 4.1 State of the Research on Corporate Diplomacy 4.2 State of the Research on Public Relations as a Legitimation Strategy 4.3 State of the Research on the Role of Media in Gaining Organizational Legitimacy 4.4 State of the Research on the Role of Institutional Relations in Gaining Organizational Legitimacy 4.5 State of the Research on Institutional Linkages and Intervening Variables in the Legitimation Process 5 Study Context: The Case of the UAE 5.1 The Political System and the Governmental Agenda in the UAE 5.2 The Economic System and the Relations between the Private and Public Sector in the UAE 5.3 The Cultural Heritage of the UAE 5.4 The Role of the Media in the UAE 6 Method 6.1 In-Depth Interviews: The Organizational Perspective on Corporate Diplomacy and Legitimacy 6.1.1 Sample 6.1.2 Procedure and Data Collection 6.1.3 Data Analysis 6.2 Content Analysis: The Media Perspective on Corporate Diplomacy and Legitimacy 6.2.1 Sample 6.2.2 Categories and Coding Procedure 6.2.3 Data Analysis 6.3 Experimental Survey: The Audience’s Perspective on Corporate Diplomacy and Legitimacy 6.3.1 Experimental Design, Procedure, and Sample 6.3.2 Development of the Stimulus 6.3.3 Measurement, Pre-test, and Statistical Measurement Model Validation 7 Results 7.1 The Perspectives of MNCs on Corporate Diplomacy 7.1.1 Engagement with the Government: Alignment with the National Agenda 7.1.2 The Role of Relationship Cultivation, Networks, and Strategic Alliances 7.1.3 Engagement with the Local Community and Employees 7.1.4 The Role of Global Corporate Values and Multiculturalism 7.2 Corporate Diplomacy News and the Construction of Organizational Legitimacy 7.2.1 Structure of Corporate Diplomacy News Coverage 7.2.2 Corporate Diplomacy Frames in the Media and their Link to Socio-Political Legitimacy 7.2.3 Corporate Diplomacy Frames in the Media and their Link to Cognitive Legitimacy 7.3 Effects of Corporate Diplomacy on Organizational Legitimacy 7.3.1 Manipulation Check 7.3.2 Hypotheses Testing 7.3.3 Indirect Effects 8 Discussion 8.1 The Organizational Perspective on Corporate Diplomacy and Organizational Legitimacy 8.2 The Media Perspective on Corporate Diplomacy and Organizational Legitimacy 8.3 The Audience’s Perspective on Corporate Diplomacy and Organizational Legitimacy 8.4 Overall Discussion of the Findings 9 Conclusion 9.1 Summary of the Findings 9.1.1 Research Questions 1 and 2: Corporate Diplomacy as an Engagement Process to Gain Organizational Legitimacy 9.1.2 Research Question 3: Corporate Diplomacy Media Frames and the Construction of Organizational Legitimacy in the Media 9.1.3 Research Question 4: The Effects of Corporate Diplomacy on Organizational Legitimacy 9.2 Implications for Theory and Practice 9.3 Limitations 9.4 Research Outlook 9.5 Concluding Remarks References