Acting in the Name of   Others

Nathues, Ellen; Vuuren, Mark van

doi:10.4324/9781003224914-16

Cited by 4 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 0 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The consideration of polyphony in the context of D&I (Trittin and Schoeneborn, 2017;Trittin-Ulbrich and Villes eche, 2022) is pivotal in the theorization and research of humor targeted at members of minorities or historically disadvantaged groups since all the voices "that we (re)produce in our conversations and discourses also participate in what defines or identifies us" (Cooren, 2012, p. 6). Consequently, this study furthers the research on workplace humor in the D&I context in that it signposts the organizing agency of the physically absent yet present figures (Nathues and Van Vuuren, 2022) that eventually make a difference through their invocation in allegedly humorous acts, eventually contributing to the communicative constitution of inclusion and/or exclusion in the workplace. Furthermore, this study indicates that ethnicity and nationality, with the concomitant cultural "peculiarities", are the main drivers of disparaging humor in the workplace and that somewhat socially accepted (unconscious) biases and prejudices against people of foreign origin play an important role when it comes to organizational inclusion and/ or exclusion.…”

Section: Research Implicationssupporting

confidence: 60%

“…According to Nathues and Van Vuuren (2022), a ventriloquial analysis aims at identifying four ventriloquial connections, namely (1) appeal (i.e. a figure speaks for the interlocutor), (2) authorship (i.e.…”

Section: Methods Of Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

“…beliefs, norms, values) or someone while we simultaneously animate these beings to speak through us (Cooren, 2010; Nathues et al. , 2021; Nathues and Van Vuuren, 2022). This is what Cooren (2012) terms the constant vacillation or oscillation between the vent and figure/dummy, which is inherent in every act of communication.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Ultimately, the concept of ventriloquism highlights the fact that humans are both ventriloquists and figures/ dummies as our utterances are always animated by something (e.g. beliefs, norms, values) or someone while we simultaneously animate these beings to speak through us (Cooren, 2010;Nathues et al, 2021;Nathues and Van Vuuren, 2022). This is what Cooren (2012) terms the constant vacillation or oscillation between the vent and figure/dummy, which is inherent in every act of communication.…”

Section: Inclusion and Exclusion As Communicatively Constituted Pheno...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To answer these questions, excerpts from interviews with 84 employed people in Austria and Germany that convey anecdotes about the use of humor targeted at coworkers who belong to historically disadvantaged groups, are first analyzed by conducting a thematic text analysis (Kuckartz, 2013) followed by a ventriloquial analysis inspired by Nathues and Van Vuuren (2022). Overall, 17 relevant anecdotes were identified and analyzed.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 4 more Smart Citations

I'm only joking!(?) the role of disparaging humor in the communicative constitution of inclusion/exclusion in organizations

Wolfgruber

2023

EDI

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

PurposeThe purpose of this article is to investigate the communicative constitution of organizational inclusion and/or exclusion through humorous acts at the expense of members of minorities and/or historically disadvantaged groups.Design/methodology/approachSemistructured interviews with 84 employees in Austria and Germany dealing with their experiences regarding diversity and inclusion (D&I) at work were conducted and analyzed in two steps. First, a thematic text analysis was performed to structure the content and identify relevant themes and anecdotes for further analysis. Second, a ventriloquial analysis sought to identify the physically absent yet present voices in these anecdotes.FindingsThe interviews revealed that jokes and quips mostly target colleagues of observable foreign origin. The analysis further identified three themes that show that disparaging humor can simultaneously reinforce inclusion/exclusion across hierarchies and create boundaries within teams – but in different ways. The findings also indicate that above all prejudices “participate” in such events and that in most cases the collective is invoked to increase the joke's “authority”.Originality/valueThis research is the first one that investigates humor in the context of D&I through a communicative constitution of organization (CCO) lens, which facilitates studying the constitutive character of humorous communication in terms of inclusion and exclusion. Moreover, this is one of the first empirical humor studies to draw on established theory-driven concepts of inclusion-exclusion in its analysis.

show abstract

Section: Research Implicationssupporting

confidence: 60%

Section: Methods Of Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Inclusion and Exclusion As Communicatively Constituted Pheno...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

I'm only joking!(?) the role of disparaging humor in the communicative constitution of inclusion/exclusion in organizations

Wolfgruber

2023

EDI

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Mirroring and switching authoritative personae: A ventriloquial analysis of shareholder engagement on carbon emissions

2023

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

We examine how the authority of investors to speak about climate change with corporations is established. Leveraging the ‘communication as constitutive of organisations’ (CCO) perspective, we analyse who speaks on behalf of whom (or what) in shareholder engagement on corporate carbon emissions. Based on access to private dialogues between an engager acting on behalf of a pool of investors with 20 utility corporations, we identify how three authoritative personae—that of diplomat, advocate, and coach—convey climate change concerns. We find that the mirroring of these authoritative personae by corporations may lead to deliberation, evasion, or rejection of the suggested courses of action. We theorise how relational authority is communicatively constituted in shareholder engagement through a process of mirroring and switching between authoritative personae. Our framework contributes to the study of CCO and relational authority by highlighting how meta-figures are used by external actors in an attempt to author appropriate corporate actions. We discuss the implications of our framework for the role of shareholder engagement in current attempts at greening financial capitalism.

show abstract

Exploring the Role of Ventriloquism in Warranting Organizational Perceptions

Edor,

Elewosi,

Gomes

et al. 2023

hct

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This research looks at sponsored content through the lens of warranting theory. Brands often engage in activities to influence and manipulate others’ statements about them. These activities—specifically organizations’ use of sponsored content and promotions—enable exploring previously-untested components of warranting theory. An experiment exposed N = 91 college-aged individuals to an online tweet about a restaurant made either by the organization itself (first party), an unassociated individual (third party), or an individual indicating their post was an advertisement sponsored by the organization (external ventriloquism, “puppet,” or “dummy”). Findings reveal a partial-mediation effect, whereby both the claimant and the warranting value of the claim affected perceptions of the restaurant’s quality; but warranting value did not differ among message posters. Findings are discussed with respect to warranting theory and for practitioners.

show abstract

Acting in the Name of Others

Cited by 4 publications

References 0 publications

I'm only joking!(?) the role of disparaging humor in the communicative constitution of inclusion/exclusion in organizations

I'm only joking!(?) the role of disparaging humor in the communicative constitution of inclusion/exclusion in organizations

Mirroring and switching authoritative personae: A ventriloquial analysis of shareholder engagement on carbon emissions

Exploring the Role of Ventriloquism in Warranting Organizational Perceptions

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About