"The trustworthy Friend" - A study of the relation between organisational communication and member identification at a Swedish media organisation

Abstract: In order to increase trustworthiness and obtain societal legitimacy, media organisations want their members to become ambassadors. But becoming an ambassador requires identification. Often management tries to foster identification by implementing organisational values without including members in the process of constructing such values. In the present study we explore member identification in relation to organisational communication at a Swedish newspaper organisation. With the assessment that organisational communication activities should be anchored in internal co-creation in order to increase the likelihood of member identification, we propose an extended model of Corporate Branding theory. Analysing 12 conversational interviews at the newspaper as well as its recent marketing campaign by means of Critical Discourse Analysis, our study showed that members’ perception of a positive organisational image can overpower a lack of communion and, further, that journalistic values per se—or incorporated as a symbol within the organisation—can foster identification regardless of profession.