110
A. R. do Rosário Contani and K. De Déa Roglio
This article focuses on communication as a discursive component of social
practice and a strategic decision-making element. Hendry (2000) states that, since
discourse is a part of social practice, there is the possibility of deviations in its
construction and its meaning in social interaction, even when considering the
symbolism present in the language. Some attributes of this perspective are present in
this study, such as: (i) contextualization of strategic thinking with action; (ii) speculation on the relationship between practice and strategic management research; (iii)
understanding of the multiplicity of definitions of business strategies raised in the
literature; (iv) exploratory basis of the relationship between strategy and functional
practices; (v) placement of strategic practices in political and historical contexts
(Hendry 2000).
As a consequence, communication is employed in the process of influence of the
construction of the other’s meaning—the sensegiving (Gioia and Chittipeddi 1991).
To achieve this purpose, symbols, images and other communication elements are
used. Although the construction of meaning has been widely discussed (Maitlis and
Christianson 2014), the processes of inducing the production of meaning stand out in
particular, focusing on meaning to influence strategic change (Gioia and Chittipeddi
1991). Sensegiving, in spite of being a managerial prerogative, has elements that
interact throughout the organization and may suffer resistance to communication
efforts (Maitlis and Christianson 2014). Therefore, the change in strategy requires
a discursive component of social interaction (Balogun et al. 2014). Consequently,
organizational communication elements inform the decision-making content of a
strategic movement.
Although the sharing economy has the potential to be a new pathway to sustainability (Martin 2016), organizations in developing countries may perform differently
when it comes to social responsibility. There is a lack of studying and understanding
issues in sustainability in different cultural settings, especially in regions not yet fully
integrated as it happens in a number of areas in Latin America (Leal et al. 2018).
Companies show recurrent attention concerning collective aspects as social responsibility implies the obligation of the organizations to the society (Smith 2003). Accordingly, regulation issues are representative of the tensions and pressures between
private and public interests. On one hand, focusing on social responsibility initiatives provides a more sustainable world; on the other hand, regulatory disagreements
impose difficulties to support the operations.
Thus, this study aims to analyze how the communication of regulatory issues is
established as an element of sensegiving of the strategic decision regarding sustainability in the mobility sector of the sharing economy in Brazil. The scope of this study
unfolds into three distinct moments: to characterize the decision-making process
that leads to the attribution of meaning in face of the principles of sustainability; to
describe the elements of the narrative created to influence the users and the means of
communication used to disseminate the narratives; to analyze how the sensegiving
is concretized in the decision-making process of formation of the sector’s strategy.
There is a close connection between sharing economy and social responsibility that
also needs to be recognized.
A. R. do Rosário Contani and K. De Déa Roglio
This article focuses on communication as a discursive component of social
practice and a strategic decision-making element. Hendry (2000) states that, since
discourse is a part of social practice, there is the possibility of deviations in its
construction and its meaning in social interaction, even when considering the
symbolism present in the language. Some attributes of this perspective are present in
this study, such as: (i) contextualization of strategic thinking with action; (ii) speculation on the relationship between practice and strategic management research; (iii)
understanding of the multiplicity of definitions of business strategies raised in the
literature; (iv) exploratory basis of the relationship between strategy and functional
practices; (v) placement of strategic practices in political and historical contexts
(Hendry 2000).
As a consequence, communication is employed in the process of influence of the
construction of the other’s meaning—the sensegiving (Gioia and Chittipeddi 1991).
To achieve this purpose, symbols, images and other communication elements are
used. Although the construction of meaning has been widely discussed (Maitlis and
Christianson 2014), the processes of inducing the production of meaning stand out in
particular, focusing on meaning to influence strategic change (Gioia and Chittipeddi
1991). Sensegiving, in spite of being a managerial prerogative, has elements that
interact throughout the organization and may suffer resistance to communication
efforts (Maitlis and Christianson 2014). Therefore, the change in strategy requires
a discursive component of social interaction (Balogun et al. 2014). Consequently,
organizational communication elements inform the decision-making content of a
strategic movement.
Although the sharing economy has the potential to be a new pathway to sustainability (Martin 2016), organizations in developing countries may perform differently
when it comes to social responsibility. There is a lack of studying and understanding
issues in sustainability in different cultural settings, especially in regions not yet fully
integrated as it happens in a number of areas in Latin America (Leal et al. 2018).
Companies show recurrent attention concerning collective aspects as social responsibility implies the obligation of the organizations to the society (Smith 2003). Accordingly, regulation issues are representative of the tensions and pressures between
private and public interests. On one hand, focusing on social responsibility initiatives provides a more sustainable world; on the other hand, regulatory disagreements
impose difficulties to support the operations.
Thus, this study aims to analyze how the communication of regulatory issues is
established as an element of sensegiving of the strategic decision regarding sustainability in the mobility sector of the sharing economy in Brazil. The scope of this study
unfolds into three distinct moments: to characterize the decision-making process
that leads to the attribution of meaning in face of the principles of sustainability; to
describe the elements of the narrative created to influence the users and the means of
communication used to disseminate the narratives; to analyze how the sensegiving
is concretized in the decision-making process of formation of the sector’s strategy.
There is a close connection between sharing economy and social responsibility that
also needs to be recognized.