Legitimating a Chinese takeover of an Australian iconic firm: Revisiting models of media discourse of legitimacy

Abstract

Although increasing research attention has been given to the discourse of legitimacy in assisting mergers and acquisitions in Scandinavian countries, scarce research has been done on this topic in different geopolitical contexts. This study therefore aims to investigate the discursive struggle of delegitimizing a Chinese state-owned company investment in the Australian mining sector. We used a historical critical approach to further develop the theoretical and empirical capacity for analysing legitimacy discourses. Specifically, we have extended the research on the discourse of legitimacy research in three aspects. First, we have identified political-ideological discourse as a prominent discourse in addition to the commonly acknowledged rationalistic and nationalistic discourse. Second, we have found that the use of legitimation strategies is purposive and deliberate. Moralization strategy, in particular, was extensively used in a range of discourses (rationalistic, nationalistic and political-ideological) to delegitimize the proposed merger as not being aligned with the national interest. As a result, the legitimacy discourse failed and the deal collapsed.

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