Capitalizing Rational Myths A Neo-Institutionalist Reading of Organization’s Social Campaign Visuals

Abstract

Taking a neo-institutionalist lens, this paper examines how organizations visualize societal rational myths in a bid to lend legitimacy to their social claims. Specifically, by unraveling the semiotic features of an organization’s visual communication, this research unpacks how rational myths at the societal level take on a physical, visual form in social campaigns. This study contributes to neo-institutionalism in organization studies by elucidating how less tangible aspects of institutions incarnate in visual forms in organizations’ social undertakings, and by reconciling structural approaches of neo-institutional theory with more agentic ones.