Giving Coronavirus a Face: Municipal Storytelling as Discursive Legitimation
2026 (English)In: Scandinavian Journal of Public Administration, ISSN 2001-7405, E-ISSN 2001-7413, Vol. 30, no 1Article in journal (Refereed) In press
Abstract [en]
While storytelling has become widely used in organizational communication, the mechanisms through which it shapes legitimacy remain insufficiently understood. This study addresses this gap by applying linguistic methods to analyze three stories from Swedish municipal communication campaigns during the Covid‑19 pandemic. The aim is to deepen understanding of the mechanisms of organizationally crafted storytelling and how they may shape discursive legitimation in local government. Drawing on narrative linguistics and multimodal discourse analysis, we examine how meaning is produced in these narratives. The analysis identifies three intertwined mechanisms structuring municipal storytelling: personification, values, and a shared narratorship. These mechanisms foster emotional engagement, construct images of responsible and caring municipalities, and invite readers into communities of action. At the same time, we show the complex – and at times paradoxical – nature of storytelling: while stories can clarify information and enhance accessibility, they may also obscure or blur understanding by allowing municipalities to promote themselves subtly, make strategic selections about which aspects to emphasize, and communicate organizational interests without clearly revealing themselves as the sender. The study contributes to a more critically informed perspective on discursive legitimation and underscores the need for reflexivity when public authorities use storytelling to reach out to citizens.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Göteborgs universitet, 2026. Vol. 30, no 1
Keywords [en]
discursive legitimacy, narrative linguistics, multimodal discourse analysis, public sector communication, storytelling
National Category
Media and Communication Studies
Research subject
Business Studies
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-579076DOI: 10.58235/sjpa.40318ISI: 001735912800002OAI: oai:DiVA.org:uu-579076DiVA, id: diva2:2037799
Projects
Offentliga organisationer som nyhetsproducenter
Note
Practical Relevance
➢This study identifies and examines a set of central underpinning mechanisms of storytelling in municipal legitimation processes. It thereby offers a broader understanding of the narrative format and its inherent characteristics–an understanding that is essential for practitioners who wish to apply storytelling in a public sector context in a conscious, deliberate, and responsible manner.
➢By grounding its analysis in linguistic examination of concrete municipal narratives, the study keeps its theoretical reasoning closely connected to empirical, text-based evidence.This approach demonstrates how insights, concepts, and methods from both linguistics and organization studies can be brought together to support a nuancedand reflective understanding of narrative legitimation processes.
➢The study highlights the need to critically examine narrative formats in public sector communication. By showing how stories convey values, construct identities, invite identification and foster community-building, it offersan understanding of how narrative choices shape processes of municipal legitimationas well as how their implications in terms oftransparency, clarity, and accountable governance.
2026-02-112026-02-112026-04-28Bibliographically approved