The exercise of informal influence through intra-organizational impression management

Purpose - This paper examines the use of intra-organizational impression management (IOIM) by internal units in a governance structure which does not rely on formal bureaucracy alone. We examine if and how these units use rhetorical IOIM to potentially ensure their internal legitimacy in a context where such legitimacy is not formally assured. Design/methodology/approach - Drawing on several decades of internal reports of two cooperative banks and utilizing the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count semantic analysis software, we conduct an explorative quantitative study to identify instances of IOIM and their relation to internal units’ alternative sources of influence. Findings - We provide evidence for IOIM and identify several rhetorical IOIM profiles, which are complementary or supplementary to alternative sources of internal influence, such as bargaining power and religious and cooperative discourse. Our findings suggest that IOIM may be attuned to audience characteristics. Consequently, we consider IOIM a “soft control” – a source of informal influence for internal units that lack the formal authority associated with more traditional governance forms. Originality/value - To our knowledge, no form-oriented studies of IOIM, focusing on linguistic style characteristics, have been conducted. It is important to address this lacuna in our understanding of the informal ways in which organizational units can influence their internal legitimacy, considering the current interest in “soft” controls, alternative organizational forms and intra-organizational accounting communication.