The never-ending story: discursive legitimation in social media dialogue
This paper explores the dialogical dimensions of discursive legitimation in social media sites to understand how organisations produce knowledge of legitimacy in concert with their stakeholders. Drawing on the dialogical theories of Bakhtin and Nikulin, we consider the potential for conceptualising...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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SAGE
2018
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| Online Access: | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/48815/ |
| _version_ | 1848797854758338560 |
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| author | Glozer, Sarah Alice Caruana, Robert Hibbert, Sally |
| author_facet | Glozer, Sarah Alice Caruana, Robert Hibbert, Sally |
| author_sort | Glozer, Sarah Alice |
| building | Nottingham Research Data Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | This paper explores the dialogical dimensions of discursive legitimation in social media sites to understand how organisations produce knowledge of legitimacy in concert with their stakeholders. Drawing on the dialogical theories of Bakhtin and Nikulin, we consider the potential for conceptualising discursive legitimation as a product of dissent: an on-going ‘allosensual’ dialogue comprised of different voices and competing knowledge claims. We explore this through a micro-level analysis of organisation-led social media sites, wherein organisational practices are increasingly subjected to public scrutiny and where knowledge of legitimacy can be significantly shaped. Our dialogical lens highlights three inter-related functions of discursive legitimation. Discursive authorisation represents attempts to assume a credible ‘voice’ in-relation-to-‘other’ voices, within the dialogue. Discursive validation represents attempts to subject truth claims about legitimacy to rational, normative and moral verification. Finally, discursive finalisation represents attempts to harmonise dissent, either by co-opting or antagonising stakeholders towards consensus. Primarily, this paper unpacks the role of social media in legitimation processes, whilst also elaborating on organisational attempts to control stakeholder dialogue in online contexts. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T20:10:30Z |
| format | Article |
| id | nottingham-48815 |
| institution | University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus |
| institution_category | Local University |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T20:10:30Z |
| publishDate | 2018 |
| publisher | SAGE |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | nottingham-488152020-05-08T08:18:10Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/48815/ The never-ending story: discursive legitimation in social media dialogue Glozer, Sarah Alice Caruana, Robert Hibbert, Sally This paper explores the dialogical dimensions of discursive legitimation in social media sites to understand how organisations produce knowledge of legitimacy in concert with their stakeholders. Drawing on the dialogical theories of Bakhtin and Nikulin, we consider the potential for conceptualising discursive legitimation as a product of dissent: an on-going ‘allosensual’ dialogue comprised of different voices and competing knowledge claims. We explore this through a micro-level analysis of organisation-led social media sites, wherein organisational practices are increasingly subjected to public scrutiny and where knowledge of legitimacy can be significantly shaped. Our dialogical lens highlights three inter-related functions of discursive legitimation. Discursive authorisation represents attempts to assume a credible ‘voice’ in-relation-to-‘other’ voices, within the dialogue. Discursive validation represents attempts to subject truth claims about legitimacy to rational, normative and moral verification. Finally, discursive finalisation represents attempts to harmonise dissent, either by co-opting or antagonising stakeholders towards consensus. Primarily, this paper unpacks the role of social media in legitimation processes, whilst also elaborating on organisational attempts to control stakeholder dialogue in online contexts. SAGE 2018-02-23 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/48815/1/the%20never%20ending%20story.pdf Glozer, Sarah Alice, Caruana, Robert and Hibbert, Sally (2018) The never-ending story: discursive legitimation in social media dialogue. Organization Studies . ISSN 1741-3044 Allosensus; dialogue; legitimacy; communication; social media http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0170840617751006 doi:10.1177/0170840617751006 doi:10.1177/0170840617751006 |
| spellingShingle | Allosensus; dialogue; legitimacy; communication; social media Glozer, Sarah Alice Caruana, Robert Hibbert, Sally The never-ending story: discursive legitimation in social media dialogue |
| title | The never-ending story: discursive legitimation in social media dialogue |
| title_full | The never-ending story: discursive legitimation in social media dialogue |
| title_fullStr | The never-ending story: discursive legitimation in social media dialogue |
| title_full_unstemmed | The never-ending story: discursive legitimation in social media dialogue |
| title_short | The never-ending story: discursive legitimation in social media dialogue |
| title_sort | never-ending story: discursive legitimation in social media dialogue |
| topic | Allosensus; dialogue; legitimacy; communication; social media |
| url | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/48815/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/48815/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/48815/ |