Transparency, Publicity, Democracy, and Markets: Inhabiting Tensions Through Hybridity

Abstract

In this article, I explore the relationship between transparency and publicity, and consider how the links between the two ideas might be reconceptualized to make better sense of their empirical reality. Both transparency and publicity have acquired a normative power as management ideas that govern all kinds of organizations—political, commercial, nonprofit, and public sector. Transparency is normatively associated with ensuring accountability of those who govern (whether politically or economically) to those they are governing, while publicity is a strategic act motivated primarily by self-interest: to engage in publicity is to make visible something that one desires to be seen in a particular way in order to reap the benefits of that perception. The result of these normative associations is that transparency and publicity are often understood as conceptually opposed and incommensurate concepts. In this article, I challenge this dichotomy and suggest that, given the empirical reality of their application by organizations, it is more productive to understand the concepts as a transparency–publicity hybrid, rather than separate ideas. By investigating the empirical connections between transparency and what might be termed promotional publicity, new and more productive thinking about the effects of their interaction on organizations can develop.

Metaphors of Visibility: Rhetorical Practices in the Normalization of Individual Online Image Management

“…describe in the introduction to this special issue, the power of transparency as a concept is rooted in its construction as a neutral form of information sharing. The prevailing assumption is that transparency is what occurs when there are no efforts to manage or curtail information flow (see also Edwards, 2020). The version of transparency encouraged by companies in the ORM industry—one that claims to direct visibility through the circulation of digital content designed to appeal to search engine logics—troubles any preconception that this approach to transparent self-presentation is an exercise in unmediated communication.…”

“…Reputation management is a core component of modern business strategies. Companies use publicity as a way to promote their organizations and divert attention from information that threatens its brand (Edwards, 2020). The ORM industry applies strategies honed in corporate public relations to assist individuals in the protection and sale of their online image.…”

Fintech’s Transparency–Publicity Nexus: Value Cocreation Through Transparency Discourses in Business-to-Business Digital Marketing

“…So, what is marketing’s role in promoting transparency in fintech markets? Edwards (2020) argues that where transparency is called on to counter criticisms of publicity—particularly in commercial environments—it can only be enacted as visibility management, allowing organizations to ensure their transparency efforts align with operational imperatives and legitimacy claims. Marketing plays an important role in visibility management; in a digital age, this increasingly means search visibility , that is making products, services, and ideas visible via website navigation, search engine optimization, social media promotion, and hyperlinked content (Kingsnorth, 2019).…”

“…Those companies needing to build transparency can do so by publicizing their willingness to undergo digital transformation. This transparency–publicity (see Edwards, 2020) can be achieved through discursive boundary work activated in different ways. In the findings section that follows, I examine how Fintech’s B2B value cocreation network interweaves the three discursive strategies—protection, hybridization, and expansion—to cocreate transparency for various fintech actors.…”

Know Your Indoor Farmer: Square Roots, Techno-Local Food, and Transparency as Publicity

“…With a focus on Square Roots, this article provides a clear case study of an organization employing what Edwards (2020) terms "transparency-publicity as market strategy," illustrating the positive possibilities that such an approach can bring to consumer engagement with the food system, while also demonstrating how the tactic can be used to distract from a company's purported social responsibility goals. The Square Roots Transparency Timeline, specifically, operates as what Harvey et al (2013) have called a "transparency device," a technological apparatus that visualizes social data to "enact transparency and provide a space of moral certainty about what constitutes good governance or harmonious social relations" (p. 299).…”