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Impression management performances in a Brazilian mining company: The researcher as audience

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 February 2015

Fernanda P Duarte
Fernanda P Duarte*
Affiliation:
School of Management, University of Western Sydney, Penrith, NSW, Australia
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Abstract

Writing from an autoethnographic perspective, in this paper I re-visit Erving Goffman's ideas to examine impression management tactics used by staff from a large Brazilian mining company. The analysis is based on a 6-week fieldwork trip to Brazil in 2008 for the purpose of gathering qualitative data for a study on corporate social responsibility in the extractivist sector. Post-fieldwork reflections prompted the insight that during the data gathering phase of my research, I was subject to a series of impression management ‘performances’ by my corporate informants, carried out to foster a positive image of their company. In the paper I juxtapose data obtained during fieldwork and my personal reflections with selected excerpts from Goffman's The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life.

Keywords

impression managementcorporate social responsibilityCSRsustainabilityorganizational culture
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Management & Organization , Volume 17 , Issue 2 , March 2011 , pp. 179 - 193
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press and Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management 2011

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