Why all this communication?

Explaining strategic communication in Danish local governments from an institutional perspective

Authors

  • Jeppe Agger Nielsen Department of Political Science, Aalborg University
  • Heidi Houlberg Salomonsen Department of Political Science, Aalborg University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.58235/sjpa.v16i1.16210

Keywords:

Strategic communication, Organizational-institutional theory, Isomorphic pressures, Translation, Local government

Abstract

Public organizations are increasingly paying attention to strategic communication. However, the extant literature on public sector communication is predominantly descriptive, exploring how strategic communication is performed in practice, with little emphasis on why strategic communication has become so popular. Drawing on organizational institutional theory together with reports from a case study of strategic communication in Danish local governments, we take a first step towards explaining “all this communication”. Our results reveal how normative and mimetic institutional pressures occur, as key external stakeholders support and legitimize strategic communication while communicating general, yet detailed, instructions for performing strategic communication in a context of radical organizational changes. Moreover, we demonstrate how local governments translate strategic communication somewhat differently than external stakeholders, causing not only isomorphism but also heterogeneity in organizational strategies. Based on the empirical findings, we argue that strategic communication issues might benefit from being interpreted in a broader socio-political context rather than as a simple management tool for professionalizing public sector communication.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biographies

Jeppe Agger Nielsen, Department of Political Science, Aalborg University

Jeppe Agger Nielsen, PhD, assistant professor at the Department of Political Science, Aalborg University, Denmark. His research interests include the modernization of the public sector and new management principles such as New Public Management and E-government. Jeppe Agger Nielsen has co-authored a number of books, including “Hjemmehjælp - mellem myter og virkelighed” [Homecare – Between Myths and Reality] (2006) and “Nye kommuner i støbeskeen (2008) as well as articles in Nordic and international journals, e.g. Local Government Studies.

Heidi Houlberg Salomonsen, Department of Political Science, Aalborg University

Heidi Houlberg Salomonsen, PhD, associate professor, the Department of Political Science, Aalborg University, Denmark. Research interests include civil servants in a comparative perspective, public sector and government communication and public management.

Downloads

Published

2012-03-15

How to Cite

Nielsen, J. A., & Salomonsen, H. H. (2012). Why all this communication? Explaining strategic communication in Danish local governments from an institutional perspective. Scandinavian Journal of Public Administration, 16(1), 69–89. https://doi.org/10.58235/sjpa.v16i1.16210

Issue

Section

Original Articles

Most read articles by the same author(s)

Similar Articles

<< < 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 > >> 

You may also start an advanced similarity search for this article.