Inventing a past: Corporate heritage as dialectical relationships of past and present

Abstract

In this commentary, we focus on invented corporate heritage, where organizations present falsified accounts of a corporate past. The extant corporate heritage literature has highlighted how the time frames of the past, present, and future (omni temporality) are merged in those organizations where there is trait constancy. Focusing on invented corporate heritage, we argue that this represents an extreme case of these dialectics, where present and future precede “the past,” or more appropriately “invented past.” Although lacking in authenticity, an invented corporate heritage may still be attractive to consumers since it can construct an aura of authenticity by delivering an enchanting experience to consumers, irrespective of its substantive genuineness. However, such inventions carry considerable risk since they represent a fabrication of the past.