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Sensegiving and Sensemaking of Highly Disruptive Issues: Animal Rights Experienced Through PETA YouTube Videos

ISBN: 978-1-78769-124-7, eISBN: 978-1-78769-123-0

Publication date: 25 November 2019

Abstract

This study examines how highly disruptive issues cause profound dissonance in societal members that are cognitively and emotionally invested in existing institutions. The authors use PETA’s (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) entrepreneurial advocacy for animal rights to show how this highly disruptive issue interrupted and violated taken-for-granted interpretations of institutions and institutional life. The authors compare 30 YouTube videos of PETA’s advocacy to explore pathways to effective sensegiving and sensemaking of highly disruptive issues. The findings augment the analytical synergy that exists between sensemaking and institutional analysis by unpacking the micro-level dynamics that may facilitate transformational institutional change.

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Acknowledgements

Acknowledgments

We gratefully acknowledge the insightful guidance of Editor Jost Sieweke and one reviewer. We also thank PETA employees in Los Angeles and Norfolk for their generative comments and insights. This chapter is part of a larger project on PETA. We gratefully acknowledge helpful comments from Marlys Christianson, Sally Maitlis, Mike Pratt, and Tim Vogus on an earlier version of a manuscript from the project. We acknowledge with gratitude the financial support provided by the Ivey Business School, Canada. The authors declare no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this chapter.

Citation

Hu, Y. and Rerup, C. (2019), "Sensegiving and Sensemaking of Highly Disruptive Issues: Animal Rights Experienced Through PETA YouTube Videos", Haack, P., Sieweke, J. and Wessel, L. (Ed.) Microfoundations of Institutions (Research in the Sociology of Organizations, Vol. 65A), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 177-195. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0733-558X2019000065A018

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited