Master's in Accounting and Finance

Abstract: This thesis discusses organizational communication in Sweden following a scandal. The communication is based on the period after the scandal has gained attention. The communication 2 is divided into formal and informal communication based on whether the organization or a third party controlled the channel of communication. The communication is analyzed through cases and takes into consideration the Swedish Context. The Swedish Context describes the institutional setting for companies in Sweden, as it has been observed to be a unique situation in the global market. The thesis uses Neo-institutionalism, The Accounts theory and the Situational Crisis Communications theory to analyze how companies act, what effect the Swedish Context has on firms and how it compares to theory. The findings show that Swedish companies generally prefer to communicate without adding new information and use communication that puts as little attention to the company as possible. This is likely because of the Swedish Context’s influence on the national market, where little to no public interaction has occurred since the 20th century. Furthermore, Swedish companies tend to communicate reactively instead of proactively, meaning that they do not fill information gaps but instead choose to address the situation once it has gained attention. Future research should focus on developing the Swedish Context as an institutional setting and attempt to gain further insight by interviewing those who work with scandal communication. The thesis contributes to the field of communication by adding the Swedish context as an institutional setting and analyzing how it affects corporate scandal communication in Sweden.