Ethos, logos, pathos: Strategies of persuasion in social/environmental reports

Colin Higgins and Robyn Walker

Accounting Forum, 2012, vol. 36, issue 3, 194-208

Abstract: We demonstrate how persuasive strategies activate the ‘middle ground’ discourses of responsible and sustainable business constructed in three social/environmental reports. Drawing on insights from impression management and communication studies, and Kenneth Burke's understanding that rhetoric is all pervasive, we focus on Aristotle's rhetorical ‘proofs’: ethos (credibility), logos (reason), and pathos (emotion). We study the social/environmental reports produced by three New Zealand companies during a wider discursive struggle over the ‘proper’ role of business in society. We argue that persuasive strategies facilitate the social effects of ‘middle ground’ discourse by making business-centred understandings of social responsibility and sustainability appear reasonable and business organisations appear trustworthy in their pursuit of sustainable development. This study complements discourse analyses of social/environmental reporting by providing a finer-grained picture of how language use influences how social actors think, feel and act.

Date: 2012
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (16)

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DOI: 10.1016/j.accfor.2012.02.003

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