Information Warfare and New Organizational Landscapes: An Inquiry into the ExxonMobil?Greenpeace Dispute over Climate Change

Brad MacKay, I Munro

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    Abstract

    A defining characteristic of the emergence of new organizational landscapes is that information is not just being used as a tool by organizations, as it is more usually understood, but also as a weapon in a ?war of position?. As organizations seek to influence public perception over such emotive issues as climate change, conflict at the ideation level can give rise to information warfare campaigns. In this article, we analyse the ways in which ExxonMobil and Greenpeace employ distinctive informational tactics against a range of diverse targets in their dispute over the climate change debate. The purpose of this article is to advance the neo-Gramscian perspective on social movement organizations as a framework for understanding such behaviour. We argue that information warfare is likely to become common as corporations and non-governmental organizations are increasingly sensitive to their informational environment as a source of both opportunity and possible conflict.
    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)1507-1536
    Number of pages30
    JournalOrganization Studies
    Volume33
    Issue number11
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - Nov 2012

    Keywords

    • climate change
    • corporate strategy
    • information warfare
    • network society
    • NGOs
    • social movement organizations

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