The communication environment in which organizations operate is changing, not least due to the increasing digitalization. With social media platforms growing importance in a professional context, employees can become potent communicators with strategic relevance for organizations. Communication through these Corporate Influencers poses several challenges to organizations, as the established approaches and methods of strategic communication, as discussed in literature, can only partially be applied for this new form of communicators. Due to the novelty of this field there is a significant gap in academic literature. Therefore, this paper aims to explore the challenges connected to the communication of Corporate Influencers from an organizational perspective, moreover, offering first insights into an emerging field in the discipline of strategic communication. To address the research gap, this study pursued an exploratory, hence qualitative approach. Nine semi-structured interviews with experts in the field from nine different companies were conducted and analyzed using the Gioia method. Through this method, the author was able to identify eleven major challenges on different hierarchical levels, arising for organizations in connection to the communication of Corporate Influencers. The analysis suggested a strong interrelation between the singular challenges, presented in form of a dynamic model. By contrasting these papers findings against preexisting literature from the field of strategic communication, and in particular employee advocacy, this thesis concludes that a holistic view is necessary from an organizational perspective. While an adequate corporate culture is the prerequisite for all further efforts, the challenges on a managerial level are of equal importance to those on the employee level, as well as to the challenges surfacing when moving towards the operationalization. While the challenges need to be addressed individually for a successful Corporate Influencer communication, they should at all times be regarded in an overall organizational context.

Syfte: Syftet med denna studie är att få en större förståelse för vilka tankar och känslor kommunikationsansvariga i åtta svenska kommuner har kring begreppet ”kommunikativ organisation”, om och i sådana fall hur begreppet ”kommunikativ organisation” och forskning kring begreppet påverkar hur man planerar för och arbetar med sin kommunikation samt vem som gynnas av begreppet ”kommunikativ organisation”. Fokus i denna studie ligger på att undersöka tankar kring den ”kommunikativa organisationen” (Heide et al, 2019) men också på om och i sådana fall på vilket sätt den kommunikativa organisationen skiljer sig från andra liknande organisationsetiketter, till exempel den lyssnande organisationen, den innovativa organisationen eller organisationen som baseras på tillitsbaserad styrning (Bringselius, 2017).  Frågeställningar:  Hur tänker kommunikationsansvariga kring begreppet ”kommunikativ organisation”? Påverkar forskningen kring begreppet ”kommunikativ organisation” hur man planerar för organisationens kommunikation? Skiljer sig begreppet ”kommunikativ organisation” från andra organisationsetiketter? Vilka professioner gynnas av just begreppet ”kommunikativ organisation”? Teorier: Studien ingår främst i det kommunikationsteorietiska forskningsfältet och fokuserar mer specifikt på begreppen ”kommunikativ organisation” (Heide et al, 2019). Studiens teoretiska ramverk utgörs av Heides sju steg för en kommunikativ organisation samt forskning kring organisationsbegrepp och professionsforskning med fokus på kommunikatörer. Dessa teorier stödjer denna studies resultat och analys genom att åskådliggöra på vilket sätt ett begrepp påverkar hur de intervjuade kommunikationsansvariga benämner, strukturerar, paketerar och arbetare med sina organisationers kommunikation. Metod: För denna studie har ett operationaliseringsschema utifrån studiens syfte och frågeställningar kopplat till det teoretiska ramverket för begreppet ”kommunikativ organisation”, organisationsteori och professionsforskning satts upp. Därefter har individuella kvalitativa semistrukturerade intervjuer med kommunikationsansvariga på åtta svenska kommuner genomförts. Efter genomförda intervjuer har insamlad data transkriberats och bearbetats genom kodning i analysprogrammet NVivo. Där har olika teman framträtt och utifrån detta har analys och diskussion samt slutsats arbetats fram. Slutsats: Ingen av de tillfrågade kommunikationsansvariga i de åtta kommunerna säger sig ha infört eller ha planer på att införa den ”kommunikativa organisationen” till punkt och pricka så som den beskrivs i forskningen (Heide et al, 2019). Det vill säga ingen av de intervjuade kommunerna hade någon form av styrande dokument eller plan för samtliga sju delar som slutrapporten ”Den kommunikativa organisationen” ställer upp för att man ska vara en kommunikativ organisation. Flera av de tillfrågade kommunerna säger sig dock arbeta med forskningsmaterialet som underlag för att vidareutveckla kommunens kommunikation och samtliga säger att det är viktigt och att man vill vara en kommunikativ organisation. / Purpose: The purpose of this study is to gain a greater understanding of what thoughts and feelings communication managers in eight Swedish municipalities have about the concept of "communicative organization", if and in such cases how the concept of "communicative organization" and research on the concept affect how one plans for and works with their communication and who benefits from the concept of "communicative organization". The focus of this study is on examining thoughts about the "communicative organization" (Heide et al, 2019) but also on whether and in such cases how the communicative organization differs from other similar "organizational labels"; for example, the listening organization, the innovative organization or the organization based on trust-based governance (Bringselius, 2017). Research question:  What do communication managers think about the concept of "communicative organization"? Does research on the concept of "communicative organization" affect how to plan for the organization's communication? Does the term "communicative organization" differ from other "organizational labels"? Which professions benefit from the very concept of "communicative organization"? Theories: The study is primarily part of the communication theory field of research and focuses more specifically on the concepts of "communicative organization" (Heide et al, 2019). The theoretical framework of the study consists of Heide's seven steps for a communicative organization as well as research on organizational definitions and profession research with a focus on communicators. These theories support this study's results and analysis by illustrating how a concept affects how the interviewed communication managers name, structure, package and work with their organizations' communications. Method: For this study, an operationalization schedule based on the purpose and questions of the study linked to the theoretical framework for the concept of "communicative organization", organizational theory and professional research has been set up. Since then, individual qualitative semi-structured interviews with communication managers at eight Swedish municipalities have been conducted. Since then, individual qualitative semi-structured interviews with communication managers at eight Swedish municipalities have been conducted. After conducting interviews, collected data has been transcribed and processed by coding in the analysis program NVivo. There, different themes have emerged and from this analysis and discussion and conclusion have been developed. Conclusion: None of the communications managers surveyed in the eight municipalities claim to have introduced or have plans to introduce “the communicative organization” to the letter as described in the research (Heide et al, 2019). That is, none of the municipalities interviewed had any kind of governing document or plan for all seven parts that the final report "The communicative organization" sets up for being a communicative organization. However, several of the municipalities surveyed say they are working with the research material as a basis for further developing the municipality's communication and all say that this is important and that they want to be a communicative organization.