Responding to institutional complexity:

Reputation and crisis management in Danish municipalities

Authors

  • Finn Frandsen Aarhus University, Denmark
  • Winni Johansen Aarhus University, Denmark
  • Heidi Houlberg Salomonsen Aalborg University, Denmark

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.58235/sjpa.v20i2.14953

Keywords:

Crisis management, (De)coupling, Institutional complexity, Municipality, Reputation management

Abstract

This article investigates how and provides tentative explanations of why reputation and crisis management—defined as two different yet not incompatible sets of ideas stemming from the same institutional logic—have been institutionalized in the public sector in Denmark. More specifically, we examine whether reputation and crisis management become integrated (coupling) or not (decoupling) as disciplines after having being introduced to the individual organizations. The empirical context is the organizational field of Danish municipalities. Based on both quantitative and qualitative data, including, an elite survey conducted among administrative actors from the municipalities and communication plans, the analysis found that although reputation and crisis management per se are widely disseminated within the field, they are neither entirely institutionalized nor strongly coupled.

 

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Author Biographies

Finn Frandsen, Aarhus University, Denmark

Finn Frandsen is a professor of corporate communication and director of the Centre for Corporate Communication in the School of Business and Social Sciences, Aarhus University, Denmark. His primary research interests include crisis management and crisis communication, environmental and climate communication, and the institutionalization of strategic communication in private and public organizations. His research has appeared in international journals and handbooks, such as Corporate Communications: An International Journal, International Journal of Strategic Communication, Management Communication Quarterly, The Handbook of Crisis Communication (2010), Handbook of International Crisis Communication Research (2015) and Routledge Handbook of Strategic Communication (2014).

Winni Johansen, Aarhus University, Denmark

Winni Johansen is a professor of corporate communication and director of the Executive Master’s Program in Corporate Communication in the School of Business and Social Sciences, Aarhus University, Denmark. Her primary research interests include crisis management and crisis communication, environmental communication, change communication and the institutionalization of strategic communication in private and public organizations. Her research has appeared in international journals and handbooks, such as Corporate Communications: An International Journal, International Journal of Strategic Communication, Management Communication Quarterly, Public Relations Review, The Handbook of Crisis Communication (2010), Routledge Handbook of Strategic Communication (2014) and Handbook of International Crisis Communication Research (2015).

Heidi Houlberg Salomonsen, Aalborg University, Denmark

Heidi Houlberg Salomonsen is an associate professor of public organization and administration in the Department of Political Science at Aalborg University, Denmark. Her primary research interests are comparative research on the relationship between ministers, top civil servants and political advisers as well as strategic communication in the public sector, including reputation management, political communication etc., as well as case study methodology. Her research has appeared in international journals and books, such as International Review of Administrative Sciences, International Journal of Public Administration, Scandinavian Journal of Public Administration, Journal of European Public Policy and Public Administration.

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Published

2016-06-15

How to Cite

Frandsen, F., Johansen, W., & Houlberg Salomonsen, H. (2016). Responding to institutional complexity:: Reputation and crisis management in Danish municipalities. Scandinavian Journal of Public Administration, 20(2), 7–38. https://doi.org/10.58235/sjpa.v20i2.14953

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