Talk–Action Dynamics: Modalities of aspirational talk
Year: 2019
Type: article
Abstract: This paper investigates talk–action dynamics in the context of organizations, focusing in particular on situations where the talk concerns complex organizational aspirations, that is, situations where the implied action takes considerable effort to unfold and therefore extends into an unknown future. Using corporate social responsibility (CSR) as recurrent exemplar, we address talk–action dynamics in four different modalities of aspirational CSR talk: exploration, formulation, implementation and evaluation. By conceptualizing the precarious relationship between talk and action in each of these modalities, the paper disentangles talk and action, all the while acknowledging that the two are mutually intertwined. Hereby, the paper extends theories of communicative performativity, recovering the perlocutionary dimension and focusing on uptake beyond the moment in which the speech act is uttered.
Source: Organization Studies
Institutions: Copenhagen Business School, Stockholm School of Economics
Language: English
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
Funder: Copenhagen Business School
OpenAlex ID: W2995492499