Expressive behavior in economics and politics

Expressive behavior is the self-interested quest for utility through acts and declarations that confirm a person's identity. Expressive voting is an example of expressive behavior. I introduce expressive behavior in the forms of expressive rhetoric and expressive generosity. The questions for society and for public policy are whether expressive behavior affects others, and if so whether beneficially or disadvantageously. In experiments, expressive behavior often benefits others. There are adverse social consequences when, in real-life decisions, expressive behavior results in unwanted public policies of expressive-policy traps. I consider the prospects for avoiding or exiting expressive-policy traps.     

Strategic intent as a rhetorical device

Strategic intent is a useful concept in accounting for purpose and continuity of goals in an organization adapting to internal and external developmental pressures. Yet, extant literature on strategic intent does not account for heterogeneity of goals within an organization. Indeed, there is confusion over who possesses strategic intent. In this paper, we seek to revitalize the concept of strategic intent by exploring its potential as a rhetorical device. Based on philosophical theory of collective agency, we argue that to realize the integrative promise of strategic intent in organizations, achieving coherence between multiple intents is the most viable option. Drawing from rhetorical theories, we investigate the processes involved in diffusing intent and building coherence between multiple intents.     

近年来危机传播之研究综述

本文从公共关系学和修辞学两种取向，针对国内外近年来的危机传播（crisis communication）研究进行了综述。从公共关系学取向而言，危机公关研究仍关注实践层面的传播策略，危机时的媒介策略与议题建构、网络危机公关成为两个较受重视的研究领域。从修辞学取向而言，危机情境与危机反应策略之间的关联成为近年来此取向研究的重点，并开始探索情感在危机时对利益相关者行为意图的影响。最后，本文针对已有的研究存在的不足，建议未来的危机传播研究加强取向的整合、拓宽学科视角、重视新媒体和文化差异研究。     

Grandiose branding: World-class aim and its organizational consequences

Branding has become a strategic tool for university management in competition for students, faculty, and funding. In this study, we explore university branding in its extreme form of grandiose branding and ask How can grandiose branding initiate a process that prompts ethically and morally questionable practices in organizations? Grandiose branding is characterized by an excessive use of superlatives that frame higher education institutions as “world-class universities.” Through a self- and autoethnographic single-case study conducted in a business school, our study shows that branding efforts that do not align with an organization’s actual quality and performance can lead to a counterproductive cycle of camouflaging top management’s failures and justifying ethically and morally questionable actions directed towards the institution’s primary stakeholders. The study contributes to the earlier literature on grandiosity in the context of higher education by taking a process perspective and explores the implications of grandiose branding from rhetoric through implementation.