1. A Rhetorical Theory of Diffusion
- Author
-
Sandy Edward Green
- Subjects
Process (engineering) ,Institutionalisation ,Strategy and Management ,media_common.quotation_subject ,General Business, Management and Accounting ,Epistemology ,State (polity) ,Organizational behavior ,Management of Technology and Innovation ,Rhetorical theory ,Rhetoric ,Sociology ,Diffusion (business) ,Social psychology ,Sociolinguistics ,media_common - Abstract
I use rhetorical theory to reconceptualize the diffusion of managerial practices. Specifically, I argue that the diffusion of a practice depends on the discursive justifications used to rationalize it. When such justifications are accepted and taken for granted, a practice reaches a state of institutionalization. Furthermore, I propose that changes in justifications and diffusion provide a basis for explaining institutionalization as both a process and a state. I then develop several propositions from this model.
- Published
- 2004
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