Nothing But a Name? Discursive Temporal Work in the Context of an Organizational Name Change

Abstract

Starting from the recognition that an organizational name may serve as a meaningful representation of both organizational identity and strategy, this paper investigates how the temporal tension between an organizational identity anchored in an illustrious past and an exclusively future oriented strategic vision plays out in the case of an organizational name change. The paper employs a critical discursive analysis perspective in order to investigate how temporal work is discursively conducted outside the boundaries of the focal organization. The findings elucidate the micro-discursive elements and temporal orientations underpinning the legitimation and contestation efforts performed by both internal and external stakeholders in a discursive struggle that played out in the media concerning the organizational name change of a long-lived company.