Legitimacy Strategies for Communicating Corporate Activities Using Symbolic Value

Research purpose. The objective of this paper was to identify the strategies for the use of symbols as communication tools by senior corporate executives in the era of a sudden change in the environment related to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. While it has been proved that the leadership style (whose part is to be informative) was affected by the pandemic it can be assumed that the effects of the pandemic can be found in CEO letters. The authors aim at examining to what extent the legitimacy context established by the legitimising CEO messages describing corporate activities and their results can be shaped by symbols embedded in the messages. Symbols understood as textual signs are used in such a way that labels and categories created by symbols have meaning in social interaction and when being intentionally selected enable necessary legitimacy. From the point of view presented in the paper, it is important to acknowledge that symbols facilitate interactions between organisational actors which may be strengthened depending on which form of value (ideological, comparative, isomorphic) symbols imply. Design / Methodology / Approach. In the literature on the perspectives of the analysis of legitimacy of enterprises, the significance of the trend focusing on change agents, who, through their actions, attempt to give the processes of legitimacy formation a proper direction, can be emphasised. To achieve the research objective, letters from CEOs of enterprises diversified with regard to the reported changes in financial performance were analysed using manual content analysis based on the grounded theory approach. This technique was justified by the need to deal with highly contextual messages. Findings. The obtained research results allowed identifying four types of legitimacy strategies for communicating corporate activities, in which embedded symbols play a different role due to the legitimacy context evolving under the influence of changes in the environment and approaches towards learning in enterprises associated with them. In this way, it has been shown that the approach towards the use of symbols has evolved in communication tools used by senior corporate executives in the era of a sudden change in the environment related to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Among enterprises that register positive changes in financial performance when the level of uncertainty decreases, it can be observed that such kind of a group of enterprises appears to be less focused on the ongoing nature of legitimate work activities and ideological values to be generated by symbols embedded in their communication. Among enterprises that register negative changes in financial performance when the level of uncertainty decreases, it can be observed that enterprises appear to draw more attention to how their adaptation can be managed and are more focused on isomorphic values to be generated by symbols embedded in their communication. Originality / Value / Practical implications. Gaining stakeholder legitimacy for corporate activities is a key element of sustainable development in many sectors, and the issue of using symbols, alongside the institutional perspective, constitutes a significant component of deliberations in that matter. The identified strategic patterns appear to be appropriate for companies across different sectors. When being used they may enable managers to build the legitimacy of their activities effectively, which is of great importance from the point of view of the developmental paths for those companies.