Rhetoric that wins clients: entrepreneurial firms use of institutional logics when competing for resources

Candace Jones; Reut Livne-Tarandach; Lakshmi Balachandra

doi:10.1108/S0277-2833(2010)0000021011

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Research in the Sociology of Work

ISSN: 0277-2833
Series editor(s): Lisa A. Keister

Subject Area: Sociology and Public Policy

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Rhetoric that wins clients: entrepreneurial firms use of institutional logics when competing for resources

Document Information:
Title:	Rhetoric that wins clients: entrepreneurial firms use of institutional logics when competing for resources
Author(s):	Candace Jones, Reut Livne-Tarandach, Lakshmi Balachandra
Volume:	21 Editor(s): Wesley D. Sine, Robert J. David ISBN: 978-0-85724-239-6 eISBN: 978-0-85724-240-2
Citation:	Candace Jones, Reut Livne-Tarandach, Lakshmi Balachandra (2010), Rhetoric that wins clients: entrepreneurial firms use of institutional logics when competing for resources, in Wesley D. Sine, Robert J. David (ed.) Institutions and Entrepreneurship (Research in the Sociology of Work, Volume 21), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, pp.183-218
DOI:	10.1108/S0277-2833(2010)0000021011 (Permanent URL)
Publisher:	Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Article type:	Chapter Item
Abstract:	Entrepreneurial firms such as professional service firms (PSFs) face constant challenges to acquire resources, one of the greatest of which is the challenge to win client engagements. Although rhetoric is at the center of the challenge to win client engagements, scholars have not identified what rhetorical strategies are the most persuasive to potential clients. By exploring one type of PSF, architecture firms, we argue that PSFs can compete for and legitimate themselves with clients by deploying institutional logics that provide symbolic frameworks and meaning. Since multiple institutional logics exist in society, a critical question for a PSF is which logic is most persuasive to clients. We analyze architecture firms’ written pitches to predict which rhetoric strategies win the valuable resource of a client engagement for a multiclient state project. Our results identify that rhetoric deploying a “profession” logic was most effective whereas a “business” logic was counter-productive in obtaining client engagements and securing resources for the firm.