ABSTRACT
Growing attention has been paid to the role of rhetorical justifications in the diffusion of management practices across time and space (Abrahamson and Fairchild 1999; Brown, Ainsworth, and Grant 2012; Green 2004; Suddaby and Greenwood 2005). The main premise of this research is that institutional entrepreneurs influence the (non)adoption/abandonment rates of management practices by (de)legitimating them through the instrumental use of language to persuade audiences (i.e., rhetorical strategies) (Abrahamson and Fairchild 1999; David and Strang 2006; Green 2004). Aristotle's three rhetorical strategies—pathos, which appeals to the emotions of individuals, logos, which appeals to the desire for efficient/effective action, and ethos, which appeals to socially accepted norms and mores—have received the greatest attention (Brown, Ainsworth, and Grant 2012). Green (2004: 660) suggested that these three types of rhetoric follow a specific sequence for highly diffused management practices, such as corporate takeover and TQM in North America, starting with pathos (with its emotional emphasis capturing potential adopters' limited attention), followed by logos (appealing to the values of efficiency and effectiveness more admired by management), and ending with ethos (justifications attaching a normative value to the practices that have already lost their logical and emotional appeals).
