Framing Contests and Cumulation in Institutional Emergence: The Case of the Diesel Particulate Filter in Germany

Modeling the Evaluation Process in a Public Controversy

“…First, we contribute to the literature on public controversies by showing how a perspective grounded in the sociology of valuation and evaluation (Lamont, 2012) mobilizing the orders of worth framework can be useful in understanding the development of a public controversy and the way in which different evaluation criteria and evaluative moves are brought to bear. Public controversies have been examined using discursive perspectives such as critical discourse analysis (Joutsenvirta & Vaara, 2015;Maguire & Hardy, 2009) and frame analysis (Guérard et al, 2013;Lefsrud & Meyer, 2012;Reinecke & Ansari, 2016). These studies have contributed to our understanding of the role of meaning in controversies, but they do not recognize that, underlying discursive strategies, there may be a rather limited number of repertoires of evaluation that are seen as legitimate within the public sphere and that it is through the reflexive mobilization of these repertoires that competent agents formulate and defend their public actions (Conley, 2015).…”

“…On the one hand, they are "schemata of interpretation" that structure people's understanding of issues (Goffman, 1974). But on the other, frames may be mobilized strategically to influence others, leading to "framing contests" and potential shifts in dominant frames in an organizational field (Guérard et al, 2013;Kaplan, 2008;Reinecke & Ansari, 2016).…”

“…Public controversies around social and environmental issues have attracted increasing attention in the literature of organization studies as scholars have examined how different groups of actors representing governments, firms, and civil society engage with each other to promote their perspectives, sustain their legitimacy or prevail in these disputes (Gond, Barin Cruz, Raufflet, & Charron, 2016;Guérard, Bode, & Gustafsson, 2013;Joutsenvirta & Vaara, 2015;Patriotta, Gond, & Schultz, 2011;Taupin, 2012).…”

“…Because of their public nature, controversies of this type reveal themselves significantly, though not only, in discursive forms as protagonists defend their positions and attempt to persuade others. Thus, many studies of public controversies have drawn on various forms of "frame analysis" derived from the social movements literature (Benford & Snow, 2000;Snow, Rochford Jr, Worden, & Benford, 1986) to examine how protagonists frame issues in order to appeal to the cognitive schemas of different constituencies, and to reveal how certain frames come to dominate others (Guérard et al, 2013;Kaplan, 2008;Reinecke & Ansari, 2016).…”