Denna uppsats ämnar att undersöka de kommunikativa processer för blockedjeteknologi startups som ska lansera en så kallad “initial coin offering” och således mynta sin egna kryptovaluta, såsom till exempel bitcoin. Vi avser att undersöka det strategiska kommunikation processerna detta involverar. Från ena perspektivet är ett decentraliserat blockkedjesystem högt värderat på grund av det faktum att det jämställer samtliga medverkande och på så vis skapar en “perfekt demokrati”, å andra sidan argumenterar många att centralisering behövs för att bibehålla tillit. Tillit till organisationer skapas genom vetandet att det finns konsekvenser till dess handlingar som kan införas av högre auktoriteter ifall dessa handlingar faller utanför ramarna av vad som anses accepterat (De Fillipe & Wright, 2015). Utan en högre auktoritet som kan implementera detta blir tillit svårare att upprätthålla. Dock verkar blockkedjeteknologi motbevisa detta koncept. Hur är det möjligt för organisationer utan någon reglering från centrala myndigheter att skapa legitimitet och tillit för att på så sätt kunna få investeringar? Resultaten vi fann ställdes i jämförelse sig till våra tre legitimitets teorier som var kognitiv legitimitet, moral legitimitet och pragmatisk legitimitet, samt centrala teman och nyckelord. Att etablera en levande närvaro på sociala medier som till exempel Twitter, LinkedIn och framför allt Telegram grupper var mycket relevant. I telegram grupper sågs en grupp med många aktiva medlemmar och snabb svarsfrekvens från organisationen som mycket betydelsefullt, samt att ha botar som städar upp irrelevant material utan att deltagarna upplever detta som automatiserat och genuint. Att delta på event och etablera relationer med andra individer inom området och även närliggande områden som till exempel banksektorn var centralt, målet med detta var i många fall att kunna få betydelsefulla individer i sin styrelse av rådgivare vilket ökar legitimiteten. Att kunna ställa organisationens implementering av decentraliserad blockkedjeteknologi i jämförelse med den nuvarande centraliserade lösningen var essentiellt för att locka investerare som var villiga att riskera kapital för en ny modernare lösning.

The survival of organizations is dependent upon their legitimacy since legitimacy provides them with access to valuable resources. Organizations do not possess legitimacy, but rather it is ascribed to them by the society they are in when their actions meet societal expectations. Fulfillment of these societal expectations requires the moral and practical obligations of organizations which we call Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). To show their CSR performance, organizations have increasingly adopted the practice of CSR reporting. In CSR reporting, organizations are expected by their stakeholders to disclose both positive and negative aspects. Although disclosing negative aspects can pose a threat to organization’s legitimacy, a third party reporting them may cause more severe damages to the legitimacy of the organization. Therefore, organizations are motivated to legitimize their negative aspects by using legitimation strategies. Using the typology of Coombs and Holladay (1996), in combination with the legitimation strategies by Hahn and Lülfs (2014) as our frameworks, and the non-financial reports of the top ten German chemical companies as our illustrative cases, we investigate and interpret the choice of legitimation strategies used by organizations to report different types of negative aspects in CSR reports. Our findings show that there is a clear pattern in the use of corrective action as a legitimation strategy for all types of negative aspects. Furthermore, we identified instances, where a new type of legitimation strategy, which we called shifting blame legitimation strategy was used. We interpreted our findings using analytical reasoning and theoretical framework such as the concept of symbolic and substantive approach to interpret our findings. Based on the findings, we concluded that the dominant pattern identified falls under the substantive approach, theoretically known for helping companies retain their legitimacy.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-03-04T22:02:04Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 15 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / O objetivo deste trabalho consiste em promover uma reflexão sobre as estratégias de legitimação social empreendidas pela comunidade afro-umbandista no Rio Grande do Sul. Nesta perspectiva, a investigação visa compreender as possíveis iniciativas políticas concernentes aos processos de ocupação da arena púbica, bem como propõe analisar os sistemas reivindicativos e as práticas de negociação social empregadas pelos atores oriundos do campo afro-religioso gaúcho. Inicialmente, a análise intenta construir um mapeamento das principais complexidades sobre as quais se deparam as religiões de matriz africana em suas realidades sociais contemporâneas. Deste ponto, parte-se para a observação dos aspectos estratégicos delineados pelos membros destas religiosidades, os quais se encontram categorizados a partir de três enfoques. No primeiro, são abordados os aspectos morfológicos de legitimação, compreendidos na figura das principais instâncias atuantes junto aos propósitos reivindicativos, sobretudo os campos institucion / The objective of this work consists of fostering a reflection on social legitimation strategies undertaken by the Afro-umbandist community in Rio Grande do Sul. Accordingly, this investigation also aims to understand possible political initiatives concerning processes of occupation in the public arena, as well as proposes to analyze claim systems and practices of the social negotiation applied by actors coming from the Afro-religious field in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. Initially, the analysis intends to construct a mapping of the main complexities that African-originated religions have faced in their contemporary social realities. From this point, we have started the observation of strategic aspects outlined by the members of these religions, which were categorized from three approaches. In the first one, morphological legitimation aspects have been addressed and understood in the figure of main active instances with claim purposes, especially in institutional and federative fields. The second one has been re

The continuous rise of socio-economic inequality over the past decades with its connected political outcomes such as the Brexit vote in the UK, and the election of Donald Trump are currently a matter of intense debate both in academia and in journalism. A significant sign of the heightened interest was the surprise popularity of Thomas Piketty's Capital in the 21st Century. The book reached the top of the bestseller lists and was described as a "media Sensation" and Piketty himself as a "rock star Economist". This paper, drawing from a major international and cross-disciplinary study, investigates the print media treatment in four European countries of economic policy proposals presented in Capital. Applying social semiotic and critical discourse analysis, we specifically focus on articles which are in disagreement with these proposals and identify five categories of counterarguments used against Piketty: authorisation, moralisation, rationalisation, portrayal of victimhood and inevitability. Providing textual and linguistic examples we demonstrate how the use of linguistic resources normalises and conventionalises ideology-laden discourses of economic means (taxation) and effects, reinforcing particular views of social relations and class as common sense and therewith upholding and perpetuating power relations and inequalities. / Series: Department of Economics Working Paper Series

The continued rise of socio-economic inequality over the past decades with its connected political outcomes such as the Brexit vote in the UK, and the election of Donald Trump are currently a matter of intense debate both in academia and in journalism. One significant sign of the heightened interest was the surprise popularity of Thomas Piketty's Capital in the twenty-first Century. The book reached the top of the bestseller lists and was described as a "media Sensation", with Piketty himself as a "rock star Economist". This paper, drawing from a major international and cross-disciplinary study, investigates the print media treatment in four European countries of economic policy proposals presented in Capital. Applying social semiotic and critical discourse analysis, we specifically focus on articles which are in disagreement with these proposals and identify five categories of counterarguments used against Piketty: authorisation, moralisation, rationalisation, portrayal of victimhood and inevitability. Providing textual and linguistic examples we demonstrate how the use of linguistic resources normalises and conventionalises ideology-laden discourses of economic means (taxation) and effects, reinforcing particular views of social relations and class as common sense and therewith upholding and perpetuating power relations and inequalities.

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) har blivit en viktig del i samhället av den anledning att människors engagemang i hållbarhetsfrågor ökat. Företag fokuserar på att integrera CSR aktiviteter i företags strategier genom att ta ekonomiskt, socialt och miljömässigt ansvar. I tidigare forskning framgår det att det finns ett samband mellan CSR och lönsamhet då CSR aktiviteter kan medföra lönsamhet. I sökandet efter legitimitet kommunicerar företag ut sitt ansvarstagande och sina hållbarhetsinvesteringar i hållbarhetsredovisningarna. Huvudsyftet med studien var att undersöka hur företag argumenterar för förhållandet mellan CSR och lönsamhet. Denna kvalitativa studie är baserad på en dokumentstudie som studerar hållbarhetsredovisningar för tio olika företag inom olika branscher. Vid insamling av data från företagens hållbarhetsredovisningar låg fokuset på att identifiera argument som indikerade förhållandet mellan dess hållbarhetsinvesteringar och lönsamhet. Den insamlade datan analyserades genom att kategorisera argumenten i enlighet med Couplands fyra typer av legitimeringsstrategier: samhällelig legitimering, ansvarsfull legitimering, de-legitimering och kontext-specifik legitimering. Vid kategorisering av argument framkom det att branschtillhörighet är en faktor som påverkar vilket av de tre ansvar inom CSR som företagen prioriterar mest i sina hållbarhetsredovisningar. Företag använder legitimeringsstrategier som presenteras av Coupland med avsikt att legitimera sina hållbarhetsinvesteringar. Studiens resultat visar att företag använder främst strategin “ansvarsfull legitimering” för att legitimera hållbarhetsinvesteringar genom att betona sambandet mellan hållbarhetsarbete och lönsamhet. / Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has become an important part of today’s society as awareness about sustainability has increased among people. Companies are focusing on engaging CSR activities in their corporate strategies through being responsible economically, socially and environmentally. As mentioned in the previous studies, practicing of CSR activities can also generate profitability and hence the relationship between CSR and profitability is presented. In order to legitimise themselves, companies tend to communicate their responsibility and their investments in sustainability through sustainability reports. The main purpose of the study was to examine how companies legitimise their investments in sustainability by presenting arguments for the relationship between their CSR activities and profitability. This qualitative study is based on a document study where sustainability reports for ten companies operating in different branches are studied. The focus while studying the content of sustainability reports was to identify arguments indicating the relationship between their investments in sustainability activities and profitability. The collected data was analysed by categorizing it according to Couplands four types of arguments for legitimation: societal legitimation, responsible legitimation, de-legitimation and context-specific legitimation. During the categorization of the arguments, it was also identified that what responsibility companies tend to argument the most for depends on their respective branch. In order to legitimise their investments, companies are inclined to use the legitimation strategies suggested by Coupland. The conclusion of this study is that most of the companies use the strategy responsible legitimation to legitimise their sustainability investments by emphasizing the relationship between their sustainability work and profitability.This thesis is written in swedish.

This thesis measures the extent of the impact of the EU’s management of its migration flow in the aftermath of the ‘Summer of Migration’ on its legitimacy and normative power towards external actors.  Although historically funded and legitimated by its commitment to Human Rights values, the EU has failed to manage effectively and ethically the migration crisis indenpently. Building upon Buchanan’s constructivist approach of the strategies of legitimation used by IOs in IR, this thesis argues that this failure, by shedding light on the union’s weaknesses and pressuring it into to unethical external deals, deteriorates its image towards external actors and provides delegitimating tools to competitors of the EU in a global context of post-US hegemony, feeding power struggles in a shifting polarized world. By creating a theoretical bridge between EU internal policies and their external consequences, this thesis investigates interconnexions and causality effects between the structural flaws of the CEAS, the 2016 EU/Turkey deal and the loss of legitimacy of the EU. The arguments defended by this thesis are supported by an empirical research based on the critical discourse analysis of the evolutions of Turkish leaders’ speeches given at the UN General Assembly debates between 2009 and 2019. Using methods deriving from Discourse Historical Analysis (DHA), the analysis of the speeches pinpoints the role of the EU’s management of the migration crisis in the shift from positive to negative discourses of Turkish leaders towards the union. Finally, the study considers that the normative arguments related to the non-commitment of the EU to its upheld HR values has become a semantic tool of delegitimation for Turkey against the EU, and to promote itself as a new leader of IR.

Samhällets krav på företag att rapportera om sitt hållbarhetsarbete har ökat. I takt med dennautveckling av behov från samhället och lagstiftning har hållbarhetsrapporter utvecklats.Ramverket för rapportering av detta hållbarhetsarbete “Global Reporting Initiative” (GRI) harvuxit fram och har som syfte att skapa transparens och jämförbarhet mellan rapporterna. Detframkommer av tidigare forskning att motivet bakom att hållbarhetsrapportera har sin grund isträvan efter legitimitet. Genom att hållbarhetsrapportera uppfyller företagen intressenternasinformationsbehov. Legitimitetsteorin betonar hur viktigt det är att uppfylla detta behov för atterhålla legitimitet och därmed kunna överleva ekonomiskt. Forskning har identifierat en radolika strategier företag kan använda sig av för erhålla legitimitet när de rapporterar sitthållbarhetsarbete. Denna kvalitativa studies syfte har varit att undersöka hur företagsutformning av hållbarhetsrapporteringen förändrats över tid för att uppnå en högre nivå avlegitimitet. Dokumentstudien hade sin utgångspunkt i att granska hur fyra svenskabörsnoterade företag inom olika branscher använde sig av legitimitetsstrategier när deutformade sina rapporter. Studien fann att de undersökta organisationerna använde sig,medvetet eller omedvetet, av legitimitetsstrategier när hållbarhetsrapporteringen utformades.En annan slutsats denna studie drog var att branschtillhörighet tycktes vara en mer förklarandefaktor än tidsaspekten när det kom till vilka strategier företagen tillämpat. Denna uppsats ärskriven på svenska. / Society's need for companies to report on their sustainability work has increased. The development of needs from society and legislation resulted in sustainability reports being developed. The framework for reporting on this sustainability work “The Global Reporting Initiative” (GRI) has emerged and aims to create transparency and comparability between the reports. It appears from previous research that the motive behind sustainability reporting is based on the pursuit of legitimacy. By reporting on sustainability, companies meet stakeholders' informational needs. The theory of legitimacy emphasizes how important it is to fulfill this need in order to obtain legitimacy and thus be able to survive financially. Research has identified a number of different strategies companies can use to gain legitimacy when reporting on their sustainability work. The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine how companies choose to frame their sustainability reports in order to gain legitimacy. The document study was based on examining how four Swedish listed companies in different industries used legitimacy strategies when reporting their sustainability work. The study concluded that the selected companies, knowingly or unknowingly, use legitimation strategies when developing their sustainability reports. Another conclusion of this study was that a company’s industry affiliation seemed to be a more explanatory factor rather than change over time itself concerning the choices of legitimation strategies. This essay is completely written in Swedish.

Submitted by Silvana Teresinha Dornelles Studzinski (sstudzinski) on 2015-06-26T17:36:06Z No. of bitstreams: 1 DaianePiasMachado.pdf: 618795 bytes, checksum: 840ea95531275a994aca53621fb3d09c (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2015-06-26T17:36:06Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 DaianePiasMachado.pdf: 618795 bytes, checksum: 840ea95531275a994aca53621fb3d09c (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-02-25 / Nenhuma / Esse estudo analisa como as empresas brasileiras de capital aberto utilizam a evidenciação ambiental para gerenciar sua legitimidade social, verificando o objetivo da evidenciação, se é ganhar, manter ou recuperar a legitimidade; a forma como isso ocorre se de maneira pragmática, moral ou cognitiva e as estratégias utilizadas para esse fim. Para isso, são examinadas as informações ambientais divulgadas nos relatórios de sustentabilidade das empresas que compõem a carteira do Índice de Sustentabilidade Empresarial (ISE) da Bolsa de Valores de São Paulo (BM&FBOVESPA), adotando-se como unidade de numeração os parágrafos evidenciados. A amostra é composta por 30 empresas pertencentes a diversos setores da economia. Quanto à natureza, trata-se de uma pesquisa aplicada, com objetivo descritivo, abordagem quantitativa do problema e procedimento técnico documental. Os dados obtidos no estudo permitem concluir que as empresas da amostra utilizam a evidenciação ambiental como instrumento para gerenciar sua legitimidade social, fazendo isso de várias formas e utilizando diversas estratégias. Evidenciam suas informações ambientais com o intuito, preferencialmente, de ganhar legitimidade, empregando equilibradamente a forma pragmática, moral e cognitiva em sua evidenciação, relatando ações que visem popularizar seus modelos, fazer adeptos à sua forma de gestão, cooptar integrantes para desenvolver ações ambientais, mostrar que produzem resultados ambientalmente adequados, entre outras. / This study examines how brazilian companies use environmental disclosure to manage its social legitimacy, verifying the purpose of disclosure, if it’s to gain, maintain or repair legitimacy; how this occurs, if it´s a pragmatic, moral or cognitive mode and the strategies used for this purpose. To do this, we examine environmental disclosures in sustainability reports of the companies listed at the Managerial Sustainability Index (ISE) from São Paulo’s Stock Exchange (BM&FBOVESPA), adopting as unit numbering the highlighted paragraphs. The sample consists of 30 companies belonging to various sectors of the economy. It is an applied research with descriptive objective, quantitative approach to the problem and a documentary research as a technical procedure. The data obtained in this study allow us to conclude that the sample companies use environmental disclosure as a tool to manage their social legitimacy, making it in many ways and using different strategies. Demonstrate their environmental information in order, preferably, to gain legitimacy, employing a balanced pragmatic, moral and cognitive in its disclosure, reporting actions aimed to popularize their models, making adherents to its way of management, co-opt members to develop environmental initiatives, show that produce environmentally adequate results, among others.

Cette thèse aborde la relation entre le mormonisme et la société américaine, à travers une étude détaillée de matériaux médiatiques. Plus précisément, les stratégies de légitimation des groupes mormons et les stratégies de délégitimation utilisées par les détracteurs de ces groupes religieux marginaux sont analysées. Depuis la naissance du mormonisme, en terre américaine, ce courant a entretenu des relations tendues avec la culture mainstream. La thèse décrit tout d’abord l'évolution des rapports entre les mormons et la société américaine dominante, du 19e siècle à aujourd'hui, puis s’attarde à une analyse des productions médiatiques récentes mettant en scène des mormons monogames et polygames, avec une insistance particulière sur la série télévisée de fiction Big Love (HBO 2006-2011). Mais plus qu'une étude de cas à propos des tensions entre mormons et société américaine, la thèse nous informe sur les notions de déviance et de normalité et sur leur évolution temporelle, et offre une relecture de l’histoire du mormonisme à partir de son articulation avec la sphère médiatique. L'analyse permet de faire ressortir la manière dont le discours public influence la position des groupes minoritaires. La thèse met également en lumière les effets positifs de l'utilisation des médias de masse par les petits groupes sociaux ou religieux. En montrant comment un groupe religieux d’une période à l'autre de son existence se retrouve tour à tour stigmatisé, toléré et même parfois célébré, la thèse ouvre des perspectives pour l’analyse d’autres groupes minoritaires. Un modèle théorique, qui expose les stratégies de légitimation et de délégitimation publiques des différents groupes mormons, est central à la thèse. Il est issu d'un processus de théorisation ancrée. / This thesis addresses the relationship between Mormonism and American society, through a detailed analysis of media materials. Specifically, legitimation strategies, put forward by Mormons communities, and delegitimation strategies, used by opponents of these marginal religious groups, are considered. Since the inception of Mormonism, in the United States, this religious movement has maintained tense relationships with mainstream culture. First, this thesis describes the evolution of relationships between Mormons and mainstream society, from the 19th century to the present era, and then includes an analysis of recent media productions presenting Mormons, with an emphasis on the fiction TV series Big Love (HBO 2006-2011). More than a case study about tensions between Mormons and mainstream society, this thesis informs us about the notions of deviance and normality and their temporal evolution, and offers a reinterpretation of the history of Mormonism through its articulation with the media. The analysis sheds light on the way public discourse influences the position of minority groups, and on the positive effects of mass media use by small religious or social groups. By explaining how a religious group can, from one period of its existence to another, be stigmatised, tolerated and even sometimes celebrated, this thesis opens perspectives for the analysis of other minority groups. A theoretical model, exposing the legitimation and delegitimation strategies of Mormon groups, is central to the thesis. This model was derived from a grounded theory analysis.