The Development of Swedish Business Journalism Historical Roots of an Organisational Field
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Företagsekonomiska institutionen Department of Business Studies The Development of Swedish Business Journalism Historical Roots of an Organisational Field Maria Grafström Doctoral Thesis at Uppsala University 2006 ABSTRACT Grafström, M., 2006, The Development of Swedish Business Journalism: Historical Roots of an Organisational Field. 209 pp. Distributor: Uppsala University, Department of Business Studies, Box 513, SE-751 20 Uppsala, Sweden. ISSN- 1103-8454. Contemporary Swedish business journalism is an established organisational field with shared practice within and across organisations. Using a historical perspective, this dissertation investigates the early formation of this field and the formation of a shared meaning system for business journalism. Addressing the question of how and why the field emerged, the study contributes to institutional approaches in organisational analysis and theories about field development. Drawing on a qualitative longitudinal study, the analysis explores the source of today’s field of business journalism and examines the individuals, organisations, and activities that, during the 1960s and 1970s, laid the groundwork for subsequent field development. Five Swedish newspaper organisations are examined in detail: two business weeklies, Affärsvärlden and Veckans Affärer; the business daily, Dagens industri; and two general dailies, Dagens Nyheter and Svenska Dagbladet. In particular, the study analyses the competencies that was considered necessary for producing business news; the models that functioned as positive examples for business journalists; and the accepted ways of selecting and presenting business news. The study concludes that nascent field formation developed through institutional entrepreneurial processes in the interplay among individuals, organisations, and societal developments. As individuals carried institutional logics from their previous affiliations in business or journalism, they contributed to the nascent field formation – not by breaking with their past, but by continuing, in a new setting, previous ways of approaching their work. The two institutional logics of business and journalism also permeated the newspaper organisations in which these individuals were active. The organisations functioned as platforms that enabled the early practice while setting boundaries for its development. The results suggest that fields develop incrementally and that institutional entrepreneurial processes embody greater continuity and stability than previous research in the area has suggested. Maria Grafström, Uppsala University, Department of Business Studies, Box 513, SE-751 20 Uppsala, Sweden ISSN-1103-8454 © Maria Grafström Printed in Sweden 2006 by Universitetstryckeriet, Ekonomikum, Uppsala. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I am indebted to many people for helping me with this dissertation. To everyone who gave of their time, during local and long-distance conferences, at seminars, meetings, and coffee breaks: Thank you sincerely for engaging in discussions and for sharing your thoughts, suggestions, and questions with me. Without the encouragement of my supervisors, I may not have even thought of entering academia. It all began with a master thesis about “the pink press” – the topic of this dissertation – in which I had the pleasant opportunity to work for and collaborate with Kerstin Sahlin-Andersson and Lars Engwall. From that day onward, both Kerstin and Lars have supported and guided my research with their helpful and thoughtful comments and advice. Thank you. I am equally grateful to Stefan Jonsson, my third supervisor, who entered the process after it had begun, but quickly became a valuable contributor in our discussions and debates. Thank you for your inspiration and for challenging me with your tricky questions. I am grateful for the encouragement and general friendship of the many colleagues in the department – both inside and outside the organisation theory group: Christina, David, Eva, Helena, James, Josef, Karolina, Katarina, Linda, Pauline, Sofi, Åse, and others. I owe special thanks to many of you for reading and commenting my work at various stages. I appreciate the discussions with and comments by research colleagues at the many meetings and seminars in the GEMS- project. The co-operation in the Nordic Bizpress-project has also been inspiring for this work. In addition, my opponent at the final seminar, Peter Kjaer, provided me with insightful feedback and questions that helped me to clarify my ideas and finalise this dissertation. A special thank you goes to my “roommate” from our first day as doctoral students: Karolina. Thank you for your patient support, your astute comments, and your willingness to engage in never-ending discussions! I also want to thank Emma and Jenny – and again Helena, Karolina, and Pauline – for invaluable “get- togethers”. Whether in the archipelago of Stockholm or in the sunny coast of Spain, our trips have offered me support and amity and our discussions have been a great source of inspiration and impetus for me to move on with the project. Much empirical research is dependent on the engagement of practitioners. I am indebted to the many business journalists, editors in chief, and “newspaper makers” who consented to be interviewed and to share their experiences with me. Many of you kindly contributed with reviews and comments on earlier drafts of this dissertation, particularly Hasse Olsson, Lennart Låftman, Olle Rossander, Ragnar Boman, and Ronald Fagerfjäll. A special thank you goes to Sören Larsson for graciously sharing his private archival data with me. Invaluable editorial help came from Nina Colwill and Dennis Anderson, to whom I owe many thanks. They not only helped to improve my writing in this dissertation, but have also significantly improved my understanding of the structure and many quirks of the English language. And last on this page, but certainly not last in my thoughts, I would like to express my gratitude to family and friends for your care and support along the process. Special thanks go to my parents, my sister, and Juha. Stockholm in August 2006 CONTENTS CHAPTER 1 THE CONTEMPORARY FIELD OF BUSINESS JOURNALISM .......................................... 1 THE EXPANSION AND CHARACTER OF CONTEMPORARY BUSINESS JOURNALISM.................. 1 THE ORGANISATION OF CONTEMPORARY BUSINESS JOURNALISM ............................................ 6 CONTEMPORARY BUSINESS JOURNALISM AS AN ORGANISATIONAL FIELD ............................. 8 BUSINESS JOURNALISM AS A HISTORIC PRODUCT ......................................................................... 10 EXPLORING THE HISTORICAL ROOTS OF FIELDS............................................................................. 13 OUTLINE OF THE DISSERTATION ......................................................................................................... 14 CHAPTER 2 INSTITUTIONAL ENTREPRENEURS AND THE CONSTRUCTION OF FIELDS.......... 17 THE CONCEPT OF ORGANISATIONAL FIELDS ................................................................................... 17 THE CONSTRUCTION OF NEW ORGANISATIONAL FIELDS............................................................. 19 Institutional entrepreneurs creating new fields .................................................................................. 20 Existing fields as historic products ..................................................................................................... 22 Institutional entrepreneurs and agency .............................................................................................. 25 CONCLUSIONS: FRAMEWORK FOR STUDYING NASCENT FIELD FORMATION ......................... 28 CHAPTER 3 DATA AND RESEARCH METHOD ......................................................................................... 31 HOW TO STUDY FIELD ORIGINS – AN INSTITUTIONAL RESEARCH DESIGN .............................. 31 First part of the study: Expansion of the field of business journalism................................................ 33 Second part of the study: Nascent business journalism ...................................................................... 35 MULTIPLE SOURCES OF DATA.............................................................................................................. 36 Interviews with key individuals in business journalism ...................................................................... 37 Qualitative content analysis................................................................................................................ 40 Additional data sources ...................................................................................................................... 42 DATA ANALYSIS AND PRESENTATION............................................................................................... 47 CHAPTER 4 THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE FIELD OF BUSINESS JOURNALISM......................... 49 THE EMERGENCE OF A FIELD OF BUSINESS JOURNALISM ............................................................ 49 The expansion of business journalism in Sweden ............................................................................... 50 The increasing number of business journalists ...................................................................................53 The popularisation and personalisation of business news content ..................................................... 54 Interaction, mobility, and the development of common norms ........................................................... 67