TY - CHAP

T1 - Theorizing the Role of Metaphors in Co-orienting Collective Action Toward Grand Challenges

T2 - The Example of the COVID-19 Pandemic

AU - Schoeneborn, Dennis

AU - Vásquez, Consuelo

AU - Cornelissen, Joep P.

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2022 Dennis Schoeneborn, Consuelo Vásquez and Joep P. Cornelissen. Published by Emerald Publishing Limited.

PY - 2022/3/29

Y1 - 2022/3/29

N2 - This paper adds to the literature on societal grand challenges by shifting the focus away from business firms and other formal organizations as key actors in addressing such challenges toward the inherent organizing capacity that lies in the use of language itself. More specifically, we focus on the organizing capacities of metaphor-based communication, seeking to ascertain which qualities of metaphors enable them to co-orient collective action toward tackling grand challenges. In addressing this question, we develop an analytical framework based on two qualities of metaphorical communication that can provide such co-orientation: a metaphor’s (a) vividness and (b) responsible actionability. We illustrate the usefulness of this framework by assessing selected metaphors used in the public discourse to make sense of and organize collective responses to the Covid-19 pandemic, including the flu metaphor/analogy, the war metaphor, and the combined metaphor of “the hammer and the dance.” Our paper contributes to extant research by providing a means to assess the co-orienting potential of metaphors in bridging varied interpretations. In so doing, our framework can pave the way toward more responsible use of metaphorical communication in tackling society’s grand challenges.

AB - This paper adds to the literature on societal grand challenges by shifting the focus away from business firms and other formal organizations as key actors in addressing such challenges toward the inherent organizing capacity that lies in the use of language itself. More specifically, we focus on the organizing capacities of metaphor-based communication, seeking to ascertain which qualities of metaphors enable them to co-orient collective action toward tackling grand challenges. In addressing this question, we develop an analytical framework based on two qualities of metaphorical communication that can provide such co-orientation: a metaphor’s (a) vividness and (b) responsible actionability. We illustrate the usefulness of this framework by assessing selected metaphors used in the public discourse to make sense of and organize collective responses to the Covid-19 pandemic, including the flu metaphor/analogy, the war metaphor, and the combined metaphor of “the hammer and the dance.” Our paper contributes to extant research by providing a means to assess the co-orienting potential of metaphors in bridging varied interpretations. In so doing, our framework can pave the way toward more responsible use of metaphorical communication in tackling society’s grand challenges.

KW - Co-orientation

KW - Communication

KW - Covid-19

KW - Grand challenges

KW - Metaphors

KW - Organization theory

KW - Management studies

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85126669763&partnerID=8YFLogxK

UR - https://www.mendeley.com/catalogue/e1188f4d-0abf-3742-ab70-9ccead7cb4a0/

U2 - 10.1108/S0733-558X20220000079005

DO - 10.1108/S0733-558X20220000079005

M3 - Chapter

AN - SCOPUS:85126669763

SN - 978-1-83909-829-1

T3 - Research in the Sociology of Organizations

SP - 69

EP - 91

BT - Research in the Sociology of Organizations

A2 - Gümüsay, Ali Aslan

A2 - Martin, Emilio

A2 - Trittin-Ulbrich, Hannah

A2 - Wickert, Christopher

PB - Emerald Publishing Limited

ER -