Strategic Auto-Communication in Identity-Image Interplay: The Dynamics of Mediatizing

Through a longitudinal study, we explore how organizational identity change is influenced by external stakeholders. We analyze how a strategic auto-communicative process, in terms of a company’s stimulation of mass media attention, serves as a catalyst for identity construction within the organization. Our findings demonstrate the importance of mass media for influencing identity and for creating strong member identification. Moreover, they illustrate the process by which the mediatization of organizational identity, which at first sight might seem oriented towards external audiences, could have significant influence on internal audiences and their self-description. Our empirical data derive from a 10-year study of the Danish hearing instrument provider Oticon A/S, which has been celebrated by the media for its organizational transformation from a steep hierarchy to a matrix organization in a process that seemed to happen overnight. While Oticon’s overwhelmingly positive massive media attention is perhaps difficult to replicate, we suggest that it acts as a critical case through which to investigate how mediatization influences organizational identity dynamics in general.