Abstract
Purpose: The thesis seeks to investigate how activist groups have strategically made use of emotions and symbols in visuals and how this influences firms and third parties in the context of private politics towards corporate social irresponsibility (CSI) where activist groups via mediatized activism have sought to inflict symbolic damage upon a perceived socially irresponsible firm.
Design/methodology/approach: The thesis abductively associates the strategic use of emotions and symbols in visuals with an integrated normative framework of private politics towards CSI, which is investigated in a multiple cross-case study design by a narrative thematic analysis as well as social and multimodal semiotics.
Findings: The thesis finds that the strategic use of emotions and symbols in visuals can be correlated with an activist groups’ perception of a socially irresponsible firm, and that it influences the intensity of perceived firm irresponsibility by third parties as well as the likelihood of firm adoption and/or whether a firm creates a conflict over the resolution to the issue(s) in an attempt to maintain competitive advantage.
Research limitations/implications: The thesis delimits its attention towards how both the strategic use of emotions and symbols in visuals and third-party influences are expressed on the social media of YouTube. As a result, more research is needed to verify the validity and reliability of the empirical integration in the thesis.
Practical implications: The thesis finds that some types of the strategic usages of emotions and symbols in visuals by activist groups are likely to obtain a high intensity in perceived firm irresponsibility by third parties, whereas other types are more likely to lead to firm adoption and/or a conflict over the resolution to an issue.
Originality/value: The attempt to apply the strategic use of emotions and symbols in visuals directly in context of private politics towards CSI is the first of its kind.
Educations | MA in International Business Communication (Intercultural Marketing), (Graduate Programme) Final Thesis |
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Language | English |
Publication date | 2020 |
Number of pages | 107 |
Supervisors | Verena Girschik |