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Frontline paranoia: Employees’ emotional responses to media stigmatization.

Frandsen, Sanne LU ; Morsing, Mette and Enrico, Fontana (2022) European Group for Organization Studies
Abstract
In this study, we focus on frontline employees’ perceptions and reactions to stigmatizing media coverage, including media narratives stigmatizing frontline employees themselves. In our paper we reveal the rarely studied backstage and dark-side dynamics of media stigmatization, as we show how frontline employees’ perceptions and reactions to media stigma trigger them to develop paranoid beliefs and paranoid safety behaviors. We refer to this as frontline paranoia. Our study also reveals how such frontline paranoia is amplified by management’s media appearances during frontstage stigma repair work. We discuss the implications of frontline paranoia for employees’ engagement in changing their stigmatized position.
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author
; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to conference
publication status
unpublished
subject
conference name
European Group for Organization Studies
conference location
Vienna
conference dates
2022-07-06 - 2022-07-10
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
91b3b5e8-8afa-4590-ac0d-fbae06350515
date added to LUP
2022-09-28 14:18:13
date last changed
2022-09-30 09:38:38
@misc{91b3b5e8-8afa-4590-ac0d-fbae06350515,
  abstract     = {{In this study, we focus on frontline employees’ perceptions and reactions to stigmatizing media coverage, including media narratives stigmatizing frontline employees themselves.  In our paper we reveal the rarely studied backstage and dark-side dynamics of media stigmatization, as we show how frontline employees’ perceptions and reactions to media stigma trigger them to develop paranoid beliefs and paranoid safety behaviors. We refer to this as frontline paranoia. Our study also reveals how such frontline paranoia is amplified by management’s media appearances during frontstage stigma repair work. We discuss the implications of frontline paranoia for employees’ engagement in changing their stigmatized position.}},
  author       = {{Frandsen, Sanne and Morsing, Mette and Enrico, Fontana}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  title        = {{Frontline paranoia: Employees’ emotional responses to media stigmatization.}},
  year         = {{2022}},
}