Meaning Structures in a Contested Issue Field: A Topographic Map of Shareholder Value in Austria

When organizational concepts spread beyond national and cultural boundaries, they must pass through powerful filters of local cultural and structural opportunities and constraints in order to mobilize legitimacy. Struggles over their meaning are intensified if they challenge the prevailing order. Drawing on the case of shareholder value in Austria, we examine how the different ways of framing a contested issue in public discourse are related to the local cultural and sociopolitical context. We combine in-depth content analysis with multivariate statistics to explore the meaning structures that organize this issue field.