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The Art of Strategic Invisibility: Normative Shadowing and Legitimacy Construction at BAE Systems

Qvist, Hannah LU and Deboussard, Nathalie LU (2026) SKOK11 20261
Department of Strategic Communication
Abstract
Organisations operating in controversial industries face persistent legitimacy challenges due to the morally controversial nature of their core activities, making communication essential for maintaining stakeholder support and justifying organisational existence. This study examines how BAE Systems constructs legitimacy through corporate communication in its 2025 Annual Report, with particular focus on how visibility and invisibility function together as an integrated communicative mechanism conceptualised as normative shadowing. Grounded in social constructivism and applying Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) through Fairclough’s three-dimensional framework, the study draws upon legitimacy theory, framing theory and strategic silence to... (More)
Organisations operating in controversial industries face persistent legitimacy challenges due to the morally controversial nature of their core activities, making communication essential for maintaining stakeholder support and justifying organisational existence. This study examines how BAE Systems constructs legitimacy through corporate communication in its 2025 Annual Report, with particular focus on how visibility and invisibility function together as an integrated communicative mechanism conceptualised as normative shadowing. Grounded in social constructivism and applying Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) through Fairclough’s three-dimensional framework, the study draws upon legitimacy theory, framing theory and strategic silence to analyse how language shapes organisational reality. The findings show that legitimacy is constructed through four interrelated communicative acts: naturalising necessity, replacing identity, selectively managing agency and performing bounded responsibility. BAE Systems systematically foregrounds normatively accepted activities such as innovation, security and corporate social responsibility, while backgrounding the violent and ethically controversial dimensions of weapons production. The study demonstrates that visibility and invisibility operate as structurally interdependent mechanisms that shape stakeholder perceptions and sustain organisational legitimacy. Furthermore, the thesis contributes theoretically through the development of the concept of normative shadowing. The concept highlights how organisations strategically construct legitimacy by emphasising socially accepted aspects of their operations while concealing morally controversial ones, and how broader sociocultural conditions enable these communicative strategies to function effectively. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Qvist, Hannah LU and Deboussard, Nathalie LU
supervisor
organization
course
SKOK11 20261
year
type
M2 - Bachelor Degree
subject
keywords
strategic communication, legitimacy, critical discourse analysis, framing theory, strategic silence, controversial industries, normative shadowing
language
English
id
9229737
date added to LUP
2026-06-25 11:05:30
date last changed
2026-06-25 11:05:30
@misc{9229737,
  abstract     = {{Organisations operating in controversial industries face persistent legitimacy challenges due to the morally controversial nature of their core activities, making communication essential for maintaining stakeholder support and justifying organisational existence. This study examines how BAE Systems constructs legitimacy through corporate communication in its 2025 Annual Report, with particular focus on how visibility and invisibility function together as an integrated communicative mechanism conceptualised as normative shadowing. Grounded in social constructivism and applying Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) through Fairclough’s three-dimensional framework, the study draws upon legitimacy theory, framing theory and strategic silence to analyse how language shapes organisational reality. The findings show that legitimacy is constructed through four interrelated communicative acts: naturalising necessity, replacing identity, selectively managing agency and performing bounded responsibility. BAE Systems systematically foregrounds normatively accepted activities such as innovation, security and corporate social responsibility, while backgrounding the violent and ethically controversial dimensions of weapons production. The study demonstrates that visibility and invisibility operate as structurally interdependent mechanisms that shape stakeholder perceptions and sustain organisational legitimacy. Furthermore, the thesis contributes theoretically through the development of the concept of normative shadowing. The concept highlights how organisations strategically construct legitimacy by emphasising socially accepted aspects of their operations while concealing morally controversial ones, and how broader sociocultural conditions enable these communicative strategies to function effectively.}},
  author       = {{Qvist, Hannah and Deboussard, Nathalie}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{The Art of Strategic Invisibility: Normative Shadowing and Legitimacy Construction at BAE Systems}},
  year         = {{2026}},
}