Networks of Meaning: Identity Productions across Digital and Print Media

Abstract

Managing organizational identity evolution is critical for identity coherence and consequent legitimacy. The complexity of identity evolution management has increased with the widespread adoption of digital media. In this information age, isomorphic pressures dictate that organizations publish an unprecedented breadth and detail of information, through a variety of media. Though media differences have been explored in contexts of interpersonal and dyadic communication, there is a dearth of research relating to differences in how media shape mass communication, and social constructions facilitated by mass communication, such as organizational identity. The purpose of this research is to understand how different types of organizations use digital and print media differently in forging and evolving their identities. Using an inductive case study approach toward theory development, I conceptualize identity as schema and demonstrate a novel way to think about and measure identity and underlying themes, which structure identity schemas. This research synthesizes concepts from identity and schema theory, contributing to the literature on organizational identity. This research also contributes to development of IS theories explaining media affordances for mass communication. By demonstrating how website archives and network analysis can lead to understanding of organizational identity evolution through examination of changes in the salience of and relationships between concepts in identity schemas over time, this research makes a methodological contribution as well.