Symbolic Management: Toward an Interdisciplinary Understanding of Appearances (Research in the Sociology of Organizations, 105)

The ebook edition of this title is Open Access and freely available to read online. Recent years have seen a growing body of research within and between disciplines on how, when, and why organizations manage appearances.Scholars have examined different forms of symbolic decoupling such as greenwashing and diversity washing, where leaders formally adopt policies that resonate with stakeholders but neglect to properly implement them, and the communication practices by which managers bolster the legitimacy and reputation of their organization, its policies, and their own leadership.While this explosion of attention across disciplines has yielded major insights and policy implications, it has led to a fragmentation of understanding. Symbolic Management brings together eminent scholars from strategy, management, organizational sociology, and business economics to develop interdisciplinary and cross-contextual insights on symbolic management.The contributions develop new theory about the rol