When can resistance to a standardization policy result in destandardization? The case of corporate language implementation

Jakob Lauring, Charlotte Jonasson and Guro Refsum Sanden

International Business Review, 2025, vol. 34, issue 4

Abstract: The implementation of corporate language policies is widely regarded as a strategy for improving communication and coordination across globally dispersed organizations. However, employees who experience a mismatch between the corporate language and their competencies or job requirements may resist the policy or attempt to change it, as documented in existing language-sensitive international business research. Nevertheless, the long-term effects of resistance against a language policy initiative have yet to be explored. We applied a two-year qualitative study following the top management’s decision to use English as a corporate language in a Danish organization. Results showed that discrepancies between external job requirements and policy directions were used by employees as a source of power to legitimize reinterpretations of the policy leading to a language destandardization process with important consequences for the organization. These findings contribute to literature on language policy implementations by describing how negotiated reactions change the practice of a policy.

Keywords: Standardization; Destandardization; Power; Task functionality; Language management; Language policy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1016/j.ibusrev.2025.102446

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