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Rhetorical construction of political leadership in social media

Rhetorical construction of political leadership in social media PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to analyze how political leaders can rhetorically use social media to construct their leadership, with a special focus on character – rhetorical ethos.Design/methodology/approachThe authors used a qualitative case study which consisted of two political leaders’ activities on Twitter. The leaders were chosen on the basis of similarity – both foreign ministers in Scandinavian countries and early adapters to ICT. All tweets, including photos, for selected period were analyzed qualitatively with the classical rhetorical concept of ethos.FindingsSocial media is the virtual square for political leadership. The two political leaders studied use social media similarly for rhetorical means and aims, with ethos as rhetorical strategy. The rhetorical ethos they constructed differs radically though: busy diplomat vs a super-social Iron man. There is no single constructed ethos that political leaders aim for.Research limitations/implicationsEven though this is just one qualitative case study, it shows a variety of rhetorical means and constructs of ethos in political leadership.Practical implicationsThe study shows a possibility for political leaders to construct their own image and character through social media, for a potentially large audience of voters, without being filtered by political parties or media.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the evolving area of rhetoric in leadership/management and it adds to knowledge about how political leaders use social media. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Journal of Organizational Change Management Emerald Publishing

Rhetorical construction of political leadership in social media

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References (43)

Publisher
Emerald Publishing
Copyright
Copyright © Emerald Group Publishing Limited
ISSN
0953-4814
DOI
10.1108/JOCM-10-2016-0204
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to analyze how political leaders can rhetorically use social media to construct their leadership, with a special focus on character – rhetorical ethos.Design/methodology/approachThe authors used a qualitative case study which consisted of two political leaders’ activities on Twitter. The leaders were chosen on the basis of similarity – both foreign ministers in Scandinavian countries and early adapters to ICT. All tweets, including photos, for selected period were analyzed qualitatively with the classical rhetorical concept of ethos.FindingsSocial media is the virtual square for political leadership. The two political leaders studied use social media similarly for rhetorical means and aims, with ethos as rhetorical strategy. The rhetorical ethos they constructed differs radically though: busy diplomat vs a super-social Iron man. There is no single constructed ethos that political leaders aim for.Research limitations/implicationsEven though this is just one qualitative case study, it shows a variety of rhetorical means and constructs of ethos in political leadership.Practical implicationsThe study shows a possibility for political leaders to construct their own image and character through social media, for a potentially large audience of voters, without being filtered by political parties or media.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the evolving area of rhetoric in leadership/management and it adds to knowledge about how political leaders use social media.

Journal

Journal of Organizational Change Management – Emerald Publishing

Published: May 8, 2017

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