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Organization Studies
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Pulp and Paper Fiction: On the Discursive Legitimation of Global Industrial Restructuring

Eero Vaara

Swedish School of Economics and Business Administration, Finland/Ecole de Management de Lyon, France

Janne Tienari

Lappeenranta University of Technology, Finland

Juha Laurila

Helsinki School of Economics, Finland

Despite the central role of legitimacy in social and organizational life, we know little of the subtle meaning-making processes through which organizational phenomena, such as industrial restructuring, are legitimated in contemporary society. Therefore, this paper examines the discursive legitimation strategies used when making sense of global industrial restructuring in the media. Based on a critical discourse analysis of extensive media coverage of a revolutionary pulp and paper sector merger, we distinguish and analyze five legitimation strategies: (1) normalization, (2) authorization, (3) rationalization, (4) moralization, and (5) narrativization. We argue that while these specific legitimation strategies appear in individual texts, their recurring use in the intertextual totality of the public discussion establishes the core elements of the emerging legitimating discourse.

Key Words: legitimation • discourse • media • industrial restructuring • globalization

This version was published on June 1, 2006

Organization Studies, Vol. 27, No. 6, 789-813 (2006)
DOI: 10.1177/0170840606061071
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