The storytelling of new experts : How CSR-experts legitimize through storytelling

Abstract: The formal requirements of experts are diminishing, thus opening up for the expansion of new experts, who are gaining more influence in society. In contemporary society, all organizations are pressured to consider Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and are therefore dependent on the new experts within the field. However, the research remains underexplored. Building on research on new experts and storytelling, this thesis addresses how CSR-experts within organizations engage in storytelling to legitimize their expertise. A framework of four storytelling themes was made, and a qualitative case study conducted. Six interviews were carried out and documents made by the interviewees studied. The findings demonstrate that the CSR-experts engage in storytelling in line with the storytelling themes, but new findings could also be added to the themes. They engage in future-oriented storytelling, as well as storytelling concerning current problems and solutions, to legitimize the role of expertise today and to sustain it for the future, demonstrating how storytelling is a dynamic process taking place in everyday organizational life. However, to attain legitimacy, the study indicates that storytelling needs to be adjusted to the receiver in a successful manner, otherwise it may instead inhibit the legitimacy that the CSR-experts are trying to create.