This study explores the complexities of public sector communication in Region Stockholm, focusing on the reasons for the communicative decisions made to reach the public. Through qualitative interviews with communication professionals in the organisation, the study investigates the conditions they face, how they conceptualise their audiences (the public), and how this affects their communicative decisions, as well as what the consequences are following these communicative decisions. The study utilises a theoretical framework drawn from the concepts of the Montreal School’s perspective on the communicative constitution of organisation (CCO) and strategic communication, both through the theoretical lens of actor-network theory (ANT). Furthermore, these perspectives are combined with the concept of imagined audience. This study identifies several conditions that influence both communication professionals’ communicative choices and their conceptualisation of the public. These include organisational structure, economic resources and digital affordances. This in turn shapes a dual perception of the public; as a homogeneous majority public conceptualised in relation to the organisation, possessing attributes such as Swedish-speaking and digital literacy, as well as diverse minority publics requiring tailored communication strategies outside ordinary day-to-day communication activities. Due to limited economic and structural resources, the organisation’s communication professionals tend to prioritise known groups (the general and homogeneous public) leading to the exclusion of the less familiar publics, which can be seen as problematic from a democratic perspective. This study contributes to the understanding of public sector communication through a novel perspective, highlighting the need to understand communication professionals’ perceptions of the public and the conditions in which they operate, with an emphasis on the democratic implications of inclusion and exclusion that follow.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:uu-531743 |
| Date | January 2024 |
| Creators | Gäfvert, Hanna, Rinalder, Svante |
| Publisher | Uppsala universitet, Institutionen för informatik och media |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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