Values advocacy: Enhancing organizational images, deflecting public criticism, and grounding future arguments

Abstract

In this article, the authors argue that organizations today routinely engage in values advocacy—or the appeal to shared cultural values—in order to perform three distinct functions: (1) to enhance the organization's image; (2) to deflect criticism of the organization and/or its policies, products, and services; and (3) to establish value premises that can be used in later discourse.