To study how populist sentiments have increasingly influenced businesses in society, we examine how German and Swedish corporations addressed the refugee situation in their 2015 and 2016 annual reports. We find that corporations changed their communication once refugee migration became subjected to populist political sentiments, but that they did so without subscribing to those sentiments. Although populism is based on such sharp oppositions as welcoming refugees or closing borders, our analysis shows that corporations have found ways to communicate about the refugee migration beyond these oppositions. Rather than taking a political stance, the corporations studied have primarily articulated the refugee situation as it pertains to their business operations. We identify four modes of articulation: the refugee as someone needing international aid, as a factor for economic analysis, as a benefit recipient, or as a potential stakeholder. These findings help nuance our understanding of how corporations navigate contested political issues.
Al-EsiaZ.CraneA.IatridisK. (2023). Political CSR and populism: Toward an information-based theory of political CSR. Business & Society. Advance online publication.
2.
AndersenN. Å. (2003). Discursive analytical strategies: Understanding Foucault, Koselleck, Laclau and Luhmann. The Policy Press.
3.
BalzacqT. (2005). The three faces of securitization: Political agency, audience and context. European Journal of International Relations, 11(2), 171–201.
4.
BélandD. (2020). Right-wing populism and the politics of insecurity: How president Trump frames migrants as collective threats. Political Studies Review, 18(2), 162–177.
BlakeD. J.MarkusS.Martinez-SuarezJ. (2022). Populist syndrome and nonmarket strategy. Journal of Management Studies. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1111/joms.12859
7.
ButzbachO.FullerD. B.SchnyderG. (2020). Manufacturing discontent: National institutions, multinational firm strategies, and anti-globalization backlash in advanced economies. Global Strategy Journal, 10(1), 67–93.
8.
CastellóI.EtterM.Årup NielsenF. (2016). Strategies of legitimacy through social media: The networked strategy. Journal of Management Studies, 53(3), 402–432.
9.
ChouliarakiL.ZaborowskiR. (2017). Voice and community in the 2015 refugee crisis: A content analysis of news coverage in eight European countries. International Communication Gazette, 79(6–7), 613–635.
10.
CulpepperP. D. (2021). Quiet politics in tumultuous times: Business power, populism, and democracy. Politics & Society, 49(1), 133–143.
11.
CurranL.EckhardtJ. (2020). Mobilizing against the antiglobalization backlash: An integrated framework for corporate nonmarket strategy. Business and Politics, 22(4), 612–638.
12.
DahlstedtM.NeergaardA. (2019). Crisis of solidarity? Changing welfare and migration regimes in Sweden. Critical Sociology, 45(1), 121–135.
13.
De CleenB.GlynosJ.MondonA. (2018). Critical research on populism: Nine rules of engagement. Organization, 25(5), 649–661.
14.
DevinneyT. M.HartwellC. A. (2020). Varieties of populism. Global Strategy Journal, 10(1), 32–66.
15.
FeldmannM.MorganG. (2021). Brexit and British business elites: Business power and noisy politics. Politics & Society, 49(1), 107–131.
16.
FeldmannM.MorganG. (2022). Business elites and populism: Understanding business responses. New Political Economy, 27(2), 347–359.
GreussingE.BoomgaardenH. G. (2017). Shifting the refugee narrative? An automated frame analysis of Europe’s 2015 refugee crisis. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 43(11), 1749–1774.
GuoG. C.Al ArissA.BrewsterC. (2020). Understanding the global refugee crisis: Managerial consequences and policy implications. Academy of Management Perspectives, 34(4), 531–545.
21.
HartwellC. A.DevinneyT. M. (2022). The demands of populism on business: Introducing corporate political responsibility. International Business Review. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ibusrev.2022.102075
22.
HartwellC. A.DevinneyT. M. (2023). A responsibility to whom? Populism and its effects on corporate social responsibility. Business & Society. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/00076503231163536
23.
HolmesS.CastañedaH. (2016). Representing the “European refugee crisis” in Germany and beyond: Deservingness and difference, life and death. American Ethnologist, 43(1), 12–24.
24.
HolzbergB.KolbeK.ZaborowskiR. (2018). Figures of crisis: The delineation of (un)deserving refugees in the German media. Sociology, 52(3), 534–550.
25.
KennyK. (2016). Organizations and violence: The child as abject-boundary in Ireland’s industrial schools. Organization Studies, 37(7), 939–961.
26.
KennyK.ScriverS. (2012). Dangerously empty? Hegemony and the construction of the Irish entrepreneur. Organization, 19(5), 615–633.
27.
KerrR.RobinsonS.ŚliwaM. (2022). Organising populism: From symbolic power to symbolic violence. Human Relations. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/00187267221129181
28.
KindermanD. (2021). German business mobilization against right-wing populism. Politics & Society, 49(4), 489–516.
29.
LaclauE. (2005). On populist reason. Verso.
30.
LaclauE.MouffeC. (2001). Hegemony and socialist strategy: Towards a radical democratic politics (2nd ed.). Verso.
31.
MatarD. (2017). Media coverage of the migration crisis in Europe: A confused and polarised narrative. Mediterranean Yearbook, 2017, 292–295.
32.
MattissekA.SchopperT. (2019). “Culture” in German media discourses on refugees: A political geography perspective. In MarttilaT. (Ed.), Discourse, culture and organization (pp. 245–266). Palgrave Macmillan.
33.
MilesM. B.HubermanA. M. (1994). Qualitative data analysis: An expanded sourcebook. Sage.
34.
MuddeC.KaltwasserC. R. (2017). Populism: A very short introduction. Oxford University Press.
35.
MüllerJ.-W. (2016). What is populism?University of Pennsylvania Press.
36.
NagR.CorleyK. G.GioiaD. A. (2007). The intersection of organizational identity, knowledge, and practice: Attempting strategic change via knowledge grafting. Academy of Management Journal, 50(4), 821–847.
37.
NeuD.WarsameH.PedwellK. (1998). Managing public impressions: Environmental disclosures in annual reports. Accounting, Organizations and Society, 23(3), 265–282.
38.
NybergD.MurrayJ. (2023). Corporate populism: How corporations construct and represent “the people” in political contestations. Journal of Business Research, 162, 113879.
39.
PanibratovA.HerreraR. A. S.EsquerdoA. C.KlishevichD. (2022). Surviving populism: A corporate political activity approach in Mexico. Journal of International Business Policy, 6, 182–200.
40.
SallaiD.SchnyderG.KindermanD.NölkeA. (2023). The antecedents of MNC political risk and uncertainty under right-wing populist governments. Journal of International Business Policy. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1057/s42214-023-00154-3
41.
SchnyderG.SallaiD. (2020). Between a rock and a hard place: Internal-and external institutional fit of MNE subsidiary political strategy in contexts of institutional upheaval. Journal of International Management, 26(2), 100736.
42.
Vaughan-WilliamsN. (2015). Europe’s border crisis: Biopolitical security and beyond. Oxford University Press.
43.
WangR.CooperK. R. (2022). Corporate social responsibility in emerging social issues: (Non) institutionalized practices in response to the global refugee crisis. Journal of Communication Management, 26(1), 98–114.
44.
WeberF.Larsson-OlaisonU. (2017). Corporate social responsibility accounting for arising issues. Journal of Communication Management, 21(4), 370–383.
45.
WickertC.SchererA. G.SpenceL. J. (2016). Walking and talking corporate social responsibility: Implications of firm size and organizational cost. Journal of Management Studies, 53(7), 1169–1196.
46.
WodakR. (2004). Critical discourse analysis. In SealeC.GoboG.GubriumJ. F.SilvermanD. (Eds.), Qualitative research practice (pp. 197–213). Sage.
