Sociopolitical Consequences of Organizational Expression

This paper reports on a content analysis of newspaper accounts of the sociopolitical opposition encountered by the head of a large state government agency who was forced to publicly apologize after attempting to control the external communication of an agency staff member with a widespread reputation for organizational dissent. Results of the analysis support hypotheses based on institutional theory that propose significant relationships, as illustrated in these press accounts, (a) between the staff member's dissent, favorable legitimacy assessments of him, and external opposition to the agency; and (b) between the agency head's lack of sociopolitical legitimacy and external opposition. The study underscores the importance of better specifying the institutional character of organizations in interaction with their social environments. It also discusses the academic and applied implications of these findings for the emerging topic of freedom of expression in organizations.