Trust-building strategies in corporate discourse : An experimental study

Fuoli, Matteo and Hart, Christopher James (2018) Trust-building strategies in corporate discourse : An experimental study. Discourse and Society, 29 (5). pp. 514-552. ISSN 0957-9265

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Abstract

This paper presents a scenario-based experiment designed to test the effects of trust-building strategies, realised in stance-taking acts, which a previous corpus-based study found to be salient features of stakeholder-facing corporate communication. The experiment relies on a between-subjects design in which a target group of subjects are exposed to trust-building strategies while another control group are not. We apply this paradigm to corporate discourse in the form of an About Us webpage produced by a fictitious multinational pharmaceutical company that has been accused by a whistleblower of corporate misconduct. The results of the study show that these strategies are indeed effective in fostering trust in the company and have an indirect positive effect on the perceived credibility of the company’s denial in response to the allegations made by the whistleblower. The strategies are therefore able to mitigate the potential damage caused by public accusations of wrongdoing and help companies insure against future threats to their legitimacy and freedom to operate, as when their behaviour violates, or is said to violate, societal norms and values. Theoretically, the results provide insights into the psychological mechanisms of trust-building and reader response. Methodologically, the study contributes to the growing body of work using experimental methods in CDA by further demonstrating that experimentation can usefully complement more traditional discourse-analytical methods as a form of triangulation.

Item Type:
Journal Article
Journal or Publication Title:
Discourse and Society
Additional Information:
The final, definitive version of this article has been published in the Journal, Discourse and Society, 29 (5), 2018, © SAGE Publications Ltd, 2018 by SAGE Publications Ltd at the Discourse and Society page: http://journals.sagepub.com/home/das on SAGE Journals Online: http://journals.sagepub.com/
Uncontrolled Keywords:
/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/3300/3315
Subjects:
?? experimental methodstriangulationcorporate discoursecritical discourse analysisepistemic vigilancetruststancecommunicationsociology and political science ??
ID Code:
90122
Deposited By:
Deposited On:
01 Feb 2018 13:04
Refereed?:
Yes
Published?:
Published
Last Modified:
19 Feb 2024 00:39