Comunicazione e strutturazione di un quadro istituzionale. Riflessioni sulla recente crisi del sistema finanziario (Communication and structuring of an institutional framework. Reflections on the recent crisis of the financial system)

Authors

  • Claudio Nigro
  • Enrica Iannuzzi
  • Gemma Carolillo

Keywords:

communication;, institutional framework;, Institutional Work;, narrative analysis;, power;, financial crisis;

Abstract

Purpose of the paper: This work aims to identify the contribution of the communication activities carried out by key actors for the definition of the institutional framework governing any organizational context. The communication mechanisms are analysed in the frame of the Institutional work, where they are used as strategic lever by the actors to produce and disseminate “discourses” to drive the decision-making processes that generate regulation (normative framework) and to shape a shared vision of the world (symbolic framework).

Methodology: These arguments are tested in respect to the Institutional work processes that built the institutional framework of the U.S. financial system in the period prior to the 2007 financial crisis. The analysis adopted a qualitative methodology -the narrative approach- to investigate the Institutional work in the period prior to the issue of two fundamental deregulation laws (GLBA/1999, CFMA/2000).

Results: The study of the communication mechanisms used by the key players contributes to the identification of the antagonistic positions they held in the political debate and the role they played in the deregulation process.

Limits: The references on which the analysis is based are not uniform: while there is abundance of documents testifying the positions of the actors supporting the deregulation, there is scarcity of sources on the opponents' views.

Practical Implications: The work shows the way forward to further studies on the role of communication in the construction of institutional frameworks. It also provides a key to the reading of the crisis, enabling a greater comprehension of some phenomena in view of the construction of the “new financial order”.

Originality of the work: The chosen theoretical approach helps shading light on the communication dynamics orienting decision-making processes otherwise not clearly identifiable.

References

AHREND R., COURNÈDE B., PRICE R. (2008), “Monetary Policy, Market Excess And Financial Turmoil”, OECD Economics Department Working Paper, p. 597.

BANK FOR INTERNATIONAL SETTLEMENTS (2009), Quarterly Review, March.

BARLEY A., TOLBERT P.S. (1997), “Institutionalization And Structuration: Studying The Links Between Action And Institution”, Organization Studies, n.18, pp. 93-117.

BARNEY J. (1991), “Firm Resources And Sustained Competitive Advantage”, Journal of Management, n. 17, pp. 99-120.

BATTILANA J. (2006), “Agency And Institutions: The Enabling Role Of Individuals’ Social Position”, Organization, vol. 13, n. 5, pp. 653-676.

BATTILANA J., D’AUNNO T. (2009), “Institutional Work And The Paradox Of Embedded Agency”, in Lawrence T.B., Suddaby R., Leca B. (eds.), Institutional Work: Actors and Agency in Institutional Studies of Organizations, Cambridge University Press.

BERGER P.L., LUCKMANN T. (1969), La realtà come costruzione sociale, Il Mulino, Bologna.

BERNANKE B.S. (2004), “The Great Moderation”, Meetings of the Eastern Economic Association, Washington DC, February 20.

BOJE D.M. (2001), Narrative Methods For Organizational And Communication Research, Sage, London.

BRESCIA MORRA C. (2008), “Le carenze della regolamentazione”, in Barucci E., Messori M., Oltre lo Shock. Quale stabilità per i mercati finanziari, Egea, Milano.

BUFACCHI I. (2009), “L’escalation dei titoli tossici”, Il Sole 24 Ore, 12 marzo.

CAROLILLO G. (2010), “La crisi finanziaria del 2007: attori strategici e processi di costruzione di un sistema concreto”, Dissertazione Tesi di Dottorato, Università degli Studi di Foggia, 4 febbraio.

CAROLILLO G., CORTESE F. (2010), Origine ed evoluzioni del mercato statunitense dei mutui subprime, Quaderni del Dipartimento SEAGMEG dell’Università di Foggia, n. 3.

CAROLILLO G., MASTROBERARDINO P., NIGRO C. (2011), “The 2007 Financial Crisis: Strategic Actors and Processes of Construction of a Concrete System”, Journal of Management and Governance (online version).

CHENEY G., CHRISTENSEN L.T., CONRAD C., LAIR D.J. (2004), “Corporate Rhetoric In Organizational Discourse”, in Grant D., Hardy C., Oswick C., Putnam L. (eds), The Sage handbook of organizational discourse, Sage, London, pp. 79-103.

CHONG D., DRUCKMAN J.N. (2007). Framing Theory. Annual Review of Political Science, n. 10, pp. 103-126.

CLEGG S.R., HARDY C., LAWRENCE T.B., NORD W.R. (eds.) (2006), Handbook Of Organization Studies, Sage, London.

COSTABILE M. (2001), Il capitale relazionale, Mc-Graw Hill, Milano.

COTTA RAMUSINO E. (2010), “Il divenire della finanza tra logiche di sistema e comportamenti imprenditoriali”, Sinergie, n. 81.

CRESPI F. (1999), Teoria dell’agire sociale, Il Mulino, Bologna.

CROZIER M., FRIEDBERG E. (1978), Attore sociale e sistema. Sociologia dell’azione organizzata, Etas Libri, Milano.

CZARNIAWSKA B. (1997), Narrating The Organization: Dramas Of Institutional Identity, University of Chicago Press, Chicago.

CZARNIAWSKA B. (2000), The Uses Of Narrative In Organization Research, Gothenburg Research Institute, Goteborg.

CZARNIAWSKA B., SEVÓN G. (eds.) (1996), Translating Organizational Change, Berlin, De Gruyter, Germany.

DIMAGGIO P. (1988), “Interest And Agency In Institutional Theory”, in Zucker L. (ed.), Institutional Patterns and Culture, Ballinger Publishing Company, Cambridge.

DORADO S. (2005), “Institutional Entrepreneurship, Partaking, And Convening”, Organization Studies, vol. 26, n. 3, pp. 385-414.

DORE R. (2009), Finanza pigliatutto, Il Mulino, Bologna.

DUFFIE D. (2008), “Innovations In Credit Risk Transfer: Implications For Financial Stability”, Bank for International Settlements Working Paper, n. 255.

ENTMAN R.M. (1993), “Framing: Toward Clarification of a Fractured Paradigm”, Journal of Communication, vol. 43, n. 4, pp. 51-58.

EPSTEIN G.A. (2005), Financialization And The World Economy, Edward Elgar Publishing, Northampton, MA.

FINANACIAL STABILITY FORUM (2008), Rafforzare la solidità dei mercati e degli intermediari, Rapporto del 7 aprile.

FISCHER F. (2003), Reframing Public Policy: Discursive Politics And Deliberative Practices, Oxford University Press, Oxford, U.K.

FLETCHER J.K., BAILYN L., BLAKE-BEARD S. (2009), “Practical Pushing: Creating Discursive Space In Organizational Narratives”, in Cox J.W., Letrent-Jones T.G., Voronov M., Weir D. (eds.), Critical Management Studies At Work: Multidisciplinary Approaches To Negotiating Tensions Between Theory And Practice, Edward Elgar, Cheltenham, U.K.

FRIEDBERG E. (1994), Il potere e la regola, Etas Libri, Milano.

GOFFMAN E. (1974), Frame Analysis, Free Press, New York.

GRANT D., HARDY C., OSWICK C., PUTNAM L. (eds.) (2004), Handbook of organizational discourse, Sage, London.

GRAZIANO G. (1995), Lobbying, pluralismo, democrazia, NIS, Roma.

GREENWOOD R., SUDDABY R. (2006), “Institutional Entrepreneurship In Mature Fields: The Big Five Accounting Firms”, Academy of Management Journal, n. 49, pp. 27-48.

GREENWOOD R., OLIVER C., SAHLIN K., SUDDABY R. (2008), The Sage Handbook Of Organizational Institutionalism, Sage, London.

GUALANDRI E. (2008), “Crisi finanziaria: quali lezioni per le autorità di vigilanza”, Bancaria, n. 10.

HAJER M.A. (1995). The Politics Of Environmental Discourse, Oxford University Press, Oxford, U.K.

HARDY C. (2011), “How Institutions Communicate; or How Does Communication Institutionalize?”, Management Communication Quarterly, vol. 25, n. 1, pp. 191-199.

HARDY C., MAGUIRE S. (2008), “Institutional Entrepreneurship”, in Greenwood R., Oliver C., Sahlin K., Suddaby R., The sage handbook of organizational institutionalism, Sage, London.

HARDY C., MAGUIRE S. (2010), “Discourse, Field-Configuring Events, And Change In Organizations And Institutional Fields: Narratives Of DDT And The Stockholm Convention”, Academy of Management Journal, vol. 53, n. 6, pp. 1365-1392.

HARDY C., PHILLIPS N. (2004), “Discourse And Power”, in Grant D., Hardy C., Oswick C., Putnam L. (eds.), The Handbook Of Organizational Discourse, Sage, London.

HAUSER G.A. (1999), Vernacular Voices: The Rhetoric Of Publics And Public Spheres. University of South Carolina Press, Columbia.

HIRSCH P. M. (1986), “From Ambushes to Golden Parachutes: Corporate Takeovers as an Instance of Cultural Framing and Institutional Integration”, America Journal Of Sociology, vol. 91, n. 4, pp. 800-837.

INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND (2007), World Economic Outlook Database, October.

LAMMERS J.C. (2011), “How Institutions Communicate: Institutional Messages, Institutional Logics, and Organizational Communication”, Management Communication Quarterly, vol. 25, n. 1, pp. 154-182.


LAWRENCE T.B. (1999), “Institutional Strategy”, Journal of Management, vol. 25, n. 2, pp. 161-187.


LAWRENCE T.B., SUDDABY R. (2006), “Institutions and Institutional work”, in Clegg S.R., Hardy C., Lawrence T.B., Nord W.R. (eds.), Handbook Of Organization Studies, Sage, London.

LAWRENCE T.B., SUDDABY R., LECA B. (2009), “Introduction: Theorizing and studying Institutional Work”, in Lawrence T.B., Suddaby R., Leca B. (eds.), Institutional work: Actors And Agency In Institutional Studies Of Organizations, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK.

LAWRENCE T., SUDDABY R., LECA B. (2011), “Institutional Work: Refocusing Institutional Studies Of Organization”, Journal of Management Inquiry, vol. 20, n. 1, pp. 52-58.

LECA B., NACCACHE P. (2006), “A Critical Realist Approach To Institutional Entrepreneurship”, Organization, vol. 13, n. 5, pp. 627-651.

MAGNUS G. (2007), “What This Minsky Moment Means for Business”, Financial Times, August 23.

MAGUIRE S., HARDY C., LAWRENCE T.B. (2004), “Institutional Entrepreneurship In Emerging Fields: Hiv/Aids Treatment Advocacy In Canada”, Academy of Management Journal, n. 47, pp. 657-680.

MAGUIRE S., HARDY C. (2006), “The Emergence Of New Global Institutions: A Discursive Perspective”, Organization Studies, n. 27, pp. 7-29.

MASTROBERARDINO P. (ed.), (2006), Lobbying. Agire tra vincoli, ESI, Napoli.

MASTROBERARDINO P., CAROLILLO G. (2006), “Una disamina concettuale del termine lobby”, Quaderni del Dipartimento SEAGMEG, n. 6, pp. 1-20.

MASTROBERARDINO P., NIGRO C. (eds.), (2009), Le dinamiche di governance d’impresa, ESI, Napoli.

MASTROBERARDINO P., NIGRO C., CORTESE F., CAROLILLO G. (2009), “Il valore e il ruolo delle asimmetrie informative nella dialettica tra proprietà e management”, Proceeding of XXXI Annual Conference AIDEA, Il Mulino, Bologna.

MASTROBERARDINO P. (2010), “La governance del sistema impresa tra istituzionalizzazione e azione del soggetto imprenditoriale”, Sinergie, n. 81, pp. 135-174.

MCCOMBS M.E., REYNOLDS A. (2008), “How the News Shapes our Agenda”, in Bryant J., Olivers M.B. (eds.), Media Effects: Advances in Theory and Research, Routledge, London.

MERILAINEN S., TIENARI J., THOMAS R., DAVIES A. (2004), “Management Consultant Talk: A Cross-Cultural Comparison Of Normalizing Discourse And Resistance”, Organization, n. 11, pp. 539-564.

MEYER J.W., ROWAN B. (1977), “Institutionalized Organizations: Formal Structure As Myth And Ceremony”, American journal of sociology, vol. 83, n. 2, pp. 340-363.

OLIVER C. (1991), “Strategic Responses To Institutional Processes”, Academy Of Management Review, n. 16, pp. 45-179.

OLIVER C. (1992), “The Antecedents Of Deinstitutionalization”, Organization Studies, n. 13, pp. 563-588.
ONADO M. (2009), I nodi al pettine, Laterza, Bari.

PANEBIANCO S. (2000), Il lobbying europeo, Giuffrè, Milano.

PFEFFER J. (1981), Power in Organizations, Ballinger Publishing Company, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

PHILLIPS N., HARDY C. (2002), Understanding Discourse Analysis, Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

PHILLIPS N., LAWRENCE T., HARDY C. (2004), “Discourse and Institutions”, Academy of Management Review, n. 29, pp. 1-18.

PIEROBON F. (2008), “Evoluzione dell’attività bancaria e crisi finanziaria”, in Barucci E., Messori M., Oltre lo Shock. Quale stabilità per i mercati finanziari, Egea, Milano.

POLKINGHORN D. (1988), Narrative Knowing and the Human Sciences, State University of New York Press, New York.

POWELL W.W., DIMAGGIO P.J. (1991), The New Institutionalism in Organizational Analysis, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago.

PUTNAM L.L., FAIRHURST G.T. (2001), “Discourse Analysis In Organizations”, in Jablin F.M., Putnam L.L. (eds.), The New Handbook Of Organizational Communication, Sage, Newbury Park, CA.

REESE S.D., GANDY O.H., GRANT A.E. (2001) Framing Public Life: Perspectives on Media and Our Understanding of the Social World, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, New Jersey.

RIAZ S. (2009), “The Global Financial Crisis: An Institutional Theory Analysis”, Critical Perspectives on International Business, n. 5, pp. 26-35.

RIAZ S., BUCHANAN S., BAPUI H. (2011), “Institutional Work Amidst The Financial Crisis: Emergine Positions Of Elite Actors”, Organization, n. 18, pp. 187-214.

RIESSMAN C.K. (2007), Narrative Analysis For The Human Sciences, Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA.

RINDOVA V.P., WILLIAMSON I.O., PETKOVA A.P., SEVER J.M. (2005), “Being Good Or Being Known: An Empirical Examination Of The Dimensions, Antecedents And Consequences Of Organizational Reputation”, Academy of Management Journal, n. 48, pp. 1033-1050.

ROBERTS P.W., DOWLING G.R. (2002), “Corporate Reputation And Sustained Superior Financial Performance”, Strategic Management Journal, n. 23, pp. 1077-1093.

ROUBINI N. (2007), “Are we at the Peak of a Minsky Credit Cycle?”, Nouriel Roubini’s EconoMonitor, www.roubini.com.

ROUBINI N. (2009), “The United States of Ponzi”, www.forbes.com, March 19.

SACCOMANNI F. (2009), “Nuove regole e mercati finanziari”, Bancaria, 1.

SCHUTZ A. (1974), La fenomenologia del mondo sociale, Il Mulino, Bologna (Or. Ed. 1932).

SCOTT W.R. (1995), Institutions And Organizations, Sage, Thousand Oaks (CA).

SHILLER R.J. (2008), Finanza shock. Come uscire dalla crisi dei mutui subprime, Egea, Milano.

SHILLER R.J., (2009), Euforia irrazionale. Alti e bassi di Borsa, Il Mulino, Bologna.

SHILLER R.J., KROSZNER R.S. (2011), Reforming U.S. Financial Markets, The MIT Press, Cambridge (MA).

SHOEMAKER P. J., REESE S.D. (1996), Mediating the Message, Longman, White Plains (NY).

STIGLITZ J.E. (2010), “The Financial Crisis Of 2007-8 And Its Macroeconomics Consequences”, in Griffith-Jones S., Ocampo J.A., Stiglitz J.E., Time For A Visible Hand: Lessons From The 2008 World Financial Crisis, Oxford University Press, pp. 19-49.

STOCK J.H., WATSON M.W. (2002), “Has The Business Cycle Changed And Why?”, in Gertler M., Rogoff K. (eds.), NBER Macroeconomics Annual 2002, n. 17, MIT Press, Boston (MA).

SUDDABY R. (2011), “How Communication Institutionalize: A Response To Lammers”, Management Communication Quarterly, vol. 25, n. 1, pp. 183-190.

SUMMERS P.M. (2005), “What Caused the Great Moderation? Some Cross-Country Evidence”, Economic Review, Federal Reserve of Kansas City.

TARGETTI F., TAMBORINI R. (2008), “Globalizzazione, squilibri e crisi”, in Barucci E., Messori M., Oltre lo Shock. Quale stabilità per i mercati finanziari, Egea, Milano.

TAYLOR J.R., COOREN F., GIROUX N., ROBICHAUD D. (1996), “The Communicational Basis Of Organization: Between The Conversation And The Text”, Communication Theory, vol. 6, n. 1, pp. 1-39.

WHALEN C. (2007), “The U.S. Credit Crunch of 2007: A Minsky Moment”, Public Policy Brief, n. 92, The Levy Economics Institute.

WHITTLE A., MUELLER F., MANGAN A. (2009), “Storytelling And ‘Character’: Victims, Villains And Heroes In A Case Of Technological Change”, Organization, n. 16, pp. 425-442.

WRAY L.R. (2007), “Lessons from the Subprime Meltdown”, Working Paper, 522, The Levy Economics Institute.

ZILBER T.B. (2007), “Stories And The Discursive Dynamics Of Institutional Entrepreneurship: The Case Of Israeli High-Tech After The Bubble”, Organization Studies, n. 28, pp. 1035-1054.

ZINGALES L. (2008), “I nodi del mark-to-market e le modifiche agli accordi di Basilea”, Il Sole 24Ore, 15 ottobre.

ZUCKER L.G. (1991), “The Role of Institutionalization in Cultural Persistence”, in Powell W.W., Dimaggio P.J., The New Institutionalism in Organizational Analysis, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago.

Downloads

Published

2020-03-26