The Simple Truth: Ambiguity Works. Discursive Strategies by Swedish Public Authorities During the 2008 Financial Crisis

Abstract

The global financial crisis that broke out in 2008 affected a large number of governmental, public, and private organizations. This article explores communication of public authorities in Sweden during the crisis, and highlights their discursive strategies between 2008 and 2010, analyzing press releases. As an analytical point of departure, complexity theory is combined with theory on strategic ambiguity in order to analyze which communication strategies were employed by the authorities. Results show that the public authorities embraced complexity and ambiguity differently in their communication, and consequences of their different approaches are discussed. The study also confirms that the different roles of significant actors during a crisis influence the selection of possible message strategies.