Introduction

Abstract

AbstractThis thesis explores the role of corporate diplomacy in the legitimation of multinational corporations (MNCs). By combining a sociological neo-institutional approach with public relations and news framing theory, this research examines how corporate diplomacy in a company’s host country, in this case, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), is performed, how news media in the host country frame corporate diplomacy, and how corporate diplomacy news affect organizational legitimacy. A mixed-method research design was applied to explore corporate diplomacy and its link to organizational legitimacy. The findings show that the corporations use different corporate diplomacy modes to gain legitimacy. Moreover, results imply that organizational legitimacy judgments, shaped by the news media, mainly depend on the demonstrated linkages of the corporation with the UAE government and the outlined benefits of corporate diplomacy for the local community. The results suggest that foreign corporations adapt to the host country’s cultural and political system to gain organizational legitimacy. This research has significant implications for theory and practice by offering profound insights into the role of corporate diplomacy in organizational legitimation from the organizational, media, and audience perspectives.