THESIS LINKEDIN THE NEW PROFESSIONAL YOU

- The new professional you!

Portraying a professional identity and employing credibility on LinkedIn: A knowledge communication approach

Luisa Sadi (Pascu) - 402082

Supervisor: Constance Elizabeth Kampf

BA MMC Bachelor Thesis

Aarhus University, May 2015

No. of characters: 53.667

Luisa Sadi (Pascu) - 402082 May, 2015 Supervisor: Constance Elizabeth Kampf BA MMC

Acknowledgements

I would like to deeply thank a number of people whose support meant a lot to me in the process of

writing this thesis. I am grateful to my supervisor, Constance Elizabeth Kampf, for being a wonderful

support, and constantly inspiring confidence and courage. It has been an honor to have such a

dedicated supervisor, who managed to help me push my limits and keep focused. Also, I am indebted

to my brother, David Pascu for being there for me in my routine and for his constant empathy that

helped me move on at difficult times in the process. Moreover, I will thank Mariana Nan for her

availability and hospitality, while making me feel at home working in her office room. Furthermore,

I thank Mathias Aaen for providing me with a number of articles I had lost because of a broken device.

Last, but certainly not least, I wish to dedicate this thesis to my amazing boyfriend, Filip Vestergaard,

who has had faith in me right from the start, and gave me the affectionate and moral support needed.


LinkedIn – The new professional you!

Abstract

LinkedIn has become the world’s biggest professional network, where recruitment activities and

professionals’ online presence are continuously increasing. Moreover, the networking system

employed by LinkedIn permits greater visibility of professionals’ profiles, and takes exposure from

an organizational setting, as traditional recruitment practices, to a new level: the society. Therefore,

professionals face the challenge of self-presentation in a new environment, with broader boundaries

and less flexibility related to the different desired positions. As an aid for the self-presentation of

professionals, literature brings in personal branding, which aims to support professional identity

construction in society settings. However, the identity issue has not been approached in terms of

communicating knowledge about self in an online professional platform. This thesis aims to fill this

gap, by addressing Wenger’s identity theory with respect to linking knowledge to resources on

LinkedIn. In this thesis, the linkages determined by professionals’ choices on their profiles are treated

as nexus memberships, in Wenger’s terms, and reconciliations bridging them are observed. This will

give exploratory insights on how professionals’ choices on their profiles build coherent identities

through reconciled nexus memberships. Furthermore, effective knowledge communication is

conditioned by credibility, which is a part for the branding process. While personal branding is argued

to contribute to professional success, it has been embedded in the analysis of professionals’ credibility

discourse employed on their profiles. This has been done by adapting Isaksson’s traditional branding

related Ethos model, to Montoya’s personal branding formulation. The exploration has been carried

out as a thematic network analysis, resulting in three networks. The findings portray well-established

coherent identities by linking knowledge to various fields, and reconciliating the nexus memberships

successfully, with few exceptions. On the other hand, professionals’ credibility is found to be widely

established in the Expertise appeal. Since this appeal is argued to be the least important of the

credibility appeals, the conclusion suggests that professionals revise their credibility discourse and

employ the other appeals too. These would result in reputation and likeability, which are of great

significance in professional success.


Table of Contents

1. Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 1

1.1. Context and Overview .......................................................................................................... 1

1.2. Problem Statement ............................................................................................................... 4

1.3. Research Questions .............................................................................................................. 4

1.4. Approach and Delimitation ................................................................................................... 4

2. Theory of Science ....................................................................................................................... 6

3. Understanding LinkedIn features ................................................................................................ 6

4. Literature Review ....................................................................................................................... 8

4.1. Knowledge, Communication and Identity ............................................................................. 9

4.2. Credibility: a Personal Branding approach .......................................................................... 12

5. Theoretical framework & Method: Operationalizing the concepts ............................................. 13

5.1. Linking knowledge to Identity ............................................................................................ 14

5.2. Credibility: a rhetorical strategy for personal branding ....................................................... 15

5.3 Thematic Network Technique .............................................................................................. 19

6. Analysis .................................................................................................................................... 20

6.1. RQ1.................................................................................................................................... 24

6.2. RQ2.................................................................................................................................... 27

7. Conclusion ................................................................................................................................ 29

8. References ................................................................................................................................ 30

9. Appendices ............................................................................................................................... 35

Appendix 1: LinkedIn Resources ............................................................................................... 35

Appendix 2: Coded text ............................................................................................................. 44

Appendix 3: Networks themes ................................................................................................... 87


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1. Introduction

1.1. Context and Overview

LinkedIn, as a social networking site (SNS), is considered the world’s biggest professional network,

having over 300 million LinkedIn users across 200 countries worldwide – with a rate of 2 new profiles

per second (Nishar, 2014; Sordello, 2014). The impact of the social media in the professional world of

job hunting and recruiting has peaked with the high popularity of LinkedIn among both professionals

and companies. In the Danish context, there are over 1,5 million profiles and rising by 15.000 every

month (Tokerød, 2014). Companies have noticed the increase and the benefits of the professional use

of social networking sites, such as improved accessibility and employment quality (Bennett, 2012);

hence their online activity growth shown by a study from Konsulenthuset Ballisager 1 (Hansen, 2013).

Moreover, the recruiting process has shifted significantly from the use of classic recruitment agencies

to the use of LinkedIn2 only in the past few years (Hansen, 2013).

A demographic of particular interest in the matter of employment, in the Danish context, involves the

recent graduates, since over 45% of Danish users on LinkedIn are aged 18-34 (Hansen, 2012). They

are the newest generation of job seekers who take their first steps in building their experience and

career, and do this by approaching an unwalked path: the setting of the newest technologies, which

changes parameters (Miller-Merrell, 2012). Thus, recent graduates face the challenge of a developing

digital world where credibility has to be built in the new environment of Web 2.0 (Isaksson &

Jørgensen, 2010), by effective self-presentation (Ward & Yates, 2013).

In the classic process of recruiting (Joos, 2008; Lee, 2005), companies’ recruiters would provide their

audience with a position description, which would be responded to with careful edited Résumés,

including only highly relevant and adapted information to that certain position. Therefore, candidates

would build their personal brand and communicate credibility within the boundaries set by the

organization through the position description. Because of the person to company communication, they

1 According to the study conducted, the companies posting their job announcements on LinkedIn have risen from 3% to 23% in only 2 years. Moreover, the LinkedIn presence of the private companies has risen by 57% in only one year. 2 The same study shows that 30% of private companies have used LinkedIn for their last recruitment, while only 18% have used recruitment agencies.


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would respond privately to each company, in turn, and therefore could refine their Résumé according

to each different position application, as recommended by Holm (2015). Through their response to the

recruiter, candidates would create a representation that would fit that position description only, staying

within its boundaries.

However, the shift to what Castells (2007) calls mass self-communication, that occurs with the

horizontal network of communication on Web 2.0 (Castells, 2007) - specifically looking at LinkedIn -

changes the terms of recruiting practices and job hunting, because of the increased transparency (Dutta,

2010; Ward & Yates, 2013). Namely, candidates have their Résumé already posted and built within

their LinkedIn profile, as a continuously updated web presence (Schawbel, 2013), which makes it less

adaptive to different position descriptions at the same time. Due to the increased visibility that occurs

on the platform at all times, professionals are required to have a new set of skills in order to re-establish

and manage their personal brand (Labrecque, Markos, & Milne, 2011) in broader boundaries. For

example, Stutzman and Hartzog (2012) talk about a “broader range of group contexts” which

eventually merge together in social media. These group contexts represent the various audiences that

are brought together by the online platform. The merger occurs due to LinkedIn’s networking system,

which implicitly makes others’ connections into 2nd degree connections.

Consequently, the effectiveness of the way users present themselves on LinkedIn relies on how they

communicate credibility to the broader audience. Furthermore, it relies on how they communicate

knowledge in order to fit their identity to their mission statement and career goals, rather than to a mere

position description. Peters (1997) argues that personal branding requires professionals to let go of the

traditional Résumé, and aim instead for a marketing effort in order to bring to life their skills and

accomplishments, and build what Peters (1997) calls “the brand You” while pursuing their mission

statement. In terms of the LinkedIn platform, Kampf, Broillet and Emad (2014) argue, “the action of

posting a professional summary” as part of a LinkedIn profile, “can be considered as a form of

constructing a professional brand.” (p. 2). As Kampf et al. (2014) observe, a few significant goals

regarding the use of LinkedIn as a personal branding strategy, are “looking for a new position, new

business opportunities, or professionals with common interests to build one’s network” (p. 3). As a

part of the branding process, credibility plays an essential role in persuading the audience of one’s

brand identity and ultimately build a strong brand (Aaker, 1996). In the same vein, professionals with

a LinkedIn profiles can be understood to be “actively engaging in building their professional ethos, or

credibility, especially in the summary section” (Kampf et al., 2014, p. 3).


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With the sudden technology twist in the past few years, where LinkedIn becomes “one of the most

effective ways to demonstrate your expertise” (Kantsø, 2015); professionals face the challenge of a

higher level of recruiting (Lee, 2005). They need to build their personal brand credibility in front of a

much wider audience. Instead of being exposed to the organization, they end up being viewed and

analyzed as they appear in the society (Ward & Yates, 2013). This is exactly what LinkedIn does: it

brings together entire networks from the society to which every public profile information is visible.

The transparency occurs as the professionals’ validity of information, prior positions, background,

network, and recommendations are available to be analyzed by recruiters, influential people and

unintended audiences (Stutzman & Hartzog, 2012).

Therefore, the exposure is unavoidable (Zhang, De Choudhury, & Grudin, 2014). As Stutzman and

Hartzog (2012) refer to the merging audiences on the SNSs, “Increased socio-technical mediation

challenges individuals to define and manage new boundaries” (p. 771). SNSs, such as LinkedIn,

have become more often used by employers to research their job candidates (Brown & Vaughn, 2011),

while Groskop (2008) argues “Everyone from a potential employer to a prospective blind date can

check out our brand online” (p. 28). Thus, the boundaries where knowledge is built and communicated,

experience a shift of context from the organizational level to the society level on LinkedIn: entire

businesses, influential professionals, and all sorts of other connections are now part of these networks.

This cannot be avoided (Stutzman & Hartzog, 2012) from the initial profile setup. The frightening

reality of this occurs especially since one’s network includes not only their direct connections, but also

the network of their connections, up to the 3rd degree.

The way professionals present their professional self on their LinkedIn profile, naturally influences

their networking, and eventually their position in the society. The multiple degrees of connections, as

well as the recommendation feature on LinkedIn, are important tools for social networking, and

Burdick (2010) claims that they can strongly influence one’s career. Therefore, in their effort of setting

their profile, professionals should seek to build a relevant professional identity that will take them

further in their career.

Literature discussing personal branding has evolved as an aid to help professionals support their careers

in the modern changing context (Peters, 1997; Montoya & Vandehey, 2002), including in the horizontal

networking of the online environment (see Ward & Yates, 2013; Schawbel, 2013; Groskop, 2008). As

Labrecque et al. (2011) observe, “The concept of digital branding, first popularized by Tom Peters in

his article ‘The Brand Called You’, has become increasingly important in the digital age” (p. 38).


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Furthermore, literature has also discussed the marketization of identity in terms of personal branding

(e.g. Cheney, Lair, & Sullivan, 2005; Labrecque et al., 2011). However, none of them has directly

approached the issue of identity from a knowledge media perspective, where communicating

knowledge about self in the online environment can contribute to establishing a relevant identity, in a

society context. In order to address the gap, the identity concept will be linked to the knowledge

communication process that occurs with self-presentations on LinkedIn.

1.2. Problem Statement

Based on the previous discussion, I will address the following problem statement, including both the

theoretical problem: the theory gap between the concept of knowledge communication and identity as

self-presentation, discussed at a society level; and the practical problem: the professionals’ need to

brand themselves in a new professional context so that they succeed in the emerging recruiting trend

on LinkedIn.

How does a knowledge communication approach in terms of identity provide a better

understanding on the choices that graduates make on their LinkedIn profiles in support of their

career success?

1.3. Research Questions

As objectives to the goal implied by the Problem Statement, the following research questions emerge:

RQ1: What do graduates’ choices in terms of knowledge communication tell about their

identities?

RQ2: How do graduates communicate credibility in terms of personal branding on LinkedIn in

their profiles?

1.4. Approach and Delimitation

LinkedIn employs a variety of tools to be used by professionals for career purposes, enabling them to

present themselves effectively in front of the relevant stakeholders. Moreover, professional identities

are reflected and constructed by LinkedIn members’ content choices (Kampf et al., 2014). However,

there is a general lack of literature examining LinkedIn (Kampf et al., 2014), especially regarding

identity construction in terms of communicated knowledge about self on the online platform. Wenger


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(1998) embeds the notion of knowledge communication in the identity construction process, but does

not treat it from a self-presentation perspective. Thus, for answering RQ1, I will use linking knowledge

(Kampf, 2015) in order to address how professionals link their knowledge to relevant resources while

presenting themselves on LinkedIn. This will make an exploratory approach on how the use of

LinkedIn tools as resources affects professional identities.

Furthermore, a LinkedIn profile can be understood as a personal branding form, which goes beyond

the traditional Résumé. It provides an opportunity of communicating knowledge about self effectively,

which is conditioned by the credibility professionals build in their discourse (Eppler, 2006). While

credibility is embedded in the discourse of personal branding, they have both been argued to have the

potential for professional success (see Cheney et al., 2005; Isaksson & Jørgensen, 2010). However,

credibility has only been treated in terms of traditional branding in literature (corporate branding in

Isaksson & Jørgensen, 2008). Thus, for the RQ2, I will link the relevant credibility strategies from

Isaksson and Jørgensen’s (2008) Ethos model, to personal branding concepts, in order to explore the

credibility discourse of professionals on their profiles.

A better insight on how professionals communicate credibility and identity on LinkedIn would develop

more conscientiousness and effective practices in the process, while improving professional success.

For this purpose, high achiever graduates represent a relevant area in performing the analysis. A

thematic network analysis (Attride-Stirling, 2001) will be a useful tool for gathering and interpreting

graduates’ choices on LinkedIn in terms of theory. In order to address coherent identity areas in the

thematic analysis interpretations, I will limit the scope to the graduates of the program Marketing and

Management Communication. There will be then a limited number of possibilities regarding graduates’

choices, whose profile can lean towards one of the three areas: Management, Marketing or

Communication.

This approach is limited by the fact that participation of professionals in groups in terms of forum

content is not addressed, as it is by Kampf et al. (2014). This would take the analysis beyond the

professionals’ own profile choices and cross the scope boundaries of this thesis. However, it would be

a useful follow-up in order to deepen the analysis of how professionals’ memberships affect their

identity in terms of content participation in groups, in Wenger’s (1999) terms.


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2. Theory of Science

In approaching the problem, the social constructivist perspective is employed, viewing reality as

constructed through interaction and in certain cultural and historical boundaries language (Burr, 2001).

Therefore, the contextual nature of the social practices determine and shape knowledge creation, which

occurs in interaction. In these terms, communicating professional identity within the interactive

features on social media is well fitted with the social constructivist paradigm. The platform enables

“many to many” communication (Castells, 2007, p. 246), which contributes to portrayal of professional

identities.

The employed thematic analysis method involves an interpretative stand towards the phenomenon.

Thus, the findings are not seen as discovered knowledge, but rather as knowledge constructed in an

interactive and analytical process. While the problem statement calls for exploratory and insight related

solutions, this thesis aims to approach the analysis in a qualitative manner, where knowledge is

constructed in terms of context and interaction (Petit & Huault, 2008). Such as Eppler (2006) observes,

knowledge communication is seen as not just transferable, but a process involving context and personal

background.

3. Understanding LinkedIn features

LinkedIn is emerging as a revolutionary recruiting tool for employers all over the world. It is an

“international social media space for professionals” which provides the necessary technical tools for

professionals to build an online Résumé that goes beyond the traditional one. Moreover, the platform

is used for a variety of purposes, such as searching for a new position, growing one’s professional

network by making new connections, promoting businesses, raising funds and connecting with

stakeholders (Kampf et al., 2014; Dutta, 2010).

The online tools provided by LinkedIn made personal branding become a required task for “everyday

people” (Shepherd, 2005). Such tools on professionals’ profile are (Appendix 1): the summary

embedded in their profiles; work-related experience; awards or certifications received; organizations

professionals belong to; courses they have taken; education taken; Projects they made; volunteer

experience and causes they care about; and companies they follow.


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Moreover, there are also interactive tools that contribute to an authentic presentation of professionals.

One of these is the Recommendation feature, which enables visitors to write a recommendation and

the related professional relation (Appendix 1), by clicking on the Recommend button on others’

profiles. Even though this seems like a description tool employed by others, it can be controlled by the

profile owner - who has to accept it before it appears on the profile. The same works for the Skills

endorsements tool (Appendix 1). Once a certain skill has been endorsed by a connection, other

connections will be able to endorse that professional for the same skill with a single click. Thus,

professionals have to approve only the skills that fit their mission statement, in order to display more

focused and relevant skills on their profile (Kampf et al., 2014). Furthermore, Kampf et al. (2014)

argue, “the acceptance or rejection of a recommendation [meaning Skills here] by professional

contacts is part of constructed brand identity management” (p. 4).

Another interactive feature is following Influencers on LinkedIn (Appendix 1). The label Influencer is

created by LinkedIn in order to “distinguish leaders in their field” (Kampf et al., 2014, p. 5). LinkedIn

algorithms find and identify these experts by their activity and participation on the platform (Kampf et

al., 2014). Furthermore, if professionals choose to “follow” an influencer, they will be able to stay

current in the field represented by that influencer (Kampf et al., 2014), by getting the influencer’s

postings right on their newsfeed. The newsfeed is activated by the button “Home”, and it is a section

provided for professionals to see the activity of their connections.

LinkedIn groups are seen as extended versions of blogs, which embody a discussion forum where

professionals post and reply to postings of links to other social media spaces. The area that represents

the group determines the content discussed in that group. Groups can also be extensions of existing

communities, which “are available to the members of the societies” (Kampf et al., 2014, p. 5).

Professionals choose which groups they wish to become part of, and the groups they have joined can

be seen on their profile (Appendix 1). This can be regarded as a forced self-presentation, where

professionals can choose which areas they wish to be represent by choosing the groups they join.

However, in order to become a member, all LinkedIn groups require approval of the group manager.

Professionals generally share interests with the group before they join it (Kampf et al., 2014).

Therefore, membership of groups can be regarded as an accurate representation of the professional.

Generally, the features professionals use for self-presentation on LinkedIn are built in an interactive

way in order to enhance accuracy. As a further example, the experience a professional shows on their

profile requires the affiliation to an organization and a position before it can be displayed. The increased


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transparency, both in terms of organizations and networking, makes the professionals’ self-

presentations easier to verify. This contributes to a more accurate identity and more ethical credibility

appeals.

4. Literature Review

LinkedIn, as a SNS, merges several group contexts of the society (Stutzman & Hartzog, 2012),

exceeding mere organizational boundaries. In the context of LinkedIn profiles setup, professionals do

not show their person to the company anymore, but to the global society. Therefore, a society

perspective is required in order to cover the communication of knowledge about self, practiced on the

LinkedIn platform. In this context, Castells (2007) argues that “the development of interactive,

horizontal networks of communication has induced the rise of a new form of communication: mass

self-communication” (p. 238). It is a form of mass communication, which reaches a global audience

online; and it is “self-generated in content” (Castells, 2007, p. 248) while the content is communicated

by “many to many” (p. 246). Eppler (2006) refers to knowledge media as a concept to cover the

collaboration in a community using a platform provided with IT-functionalities, common

communication norms and usage rules. However, theory has not linked the concept of identity to

professional knowledge media in terms of how it is communicated for self-presentation purposes. Thus,

I will use the linking knowledge approach by Kampf (2015) in order to connect knowledge media

communication to identity in a relevant manner.

Moreover, the knowledge concepts addressed by theorists are largely based on an organizational

perspective (Nonaka, 2000; Wenger & Snyder, 2000), and not as much at the society level that this

case requires. Therefore, this section aims to link coherent concepts of knowledge communication and

identity at a society level, in order to fit the virtual environment where SNSs are used for self-

presentations.

Montoya and Vandehey (2002) approach identity from a branding perspective, where communicated

identity is a part of one’s personal branding strategy. Therefore, communication of knowledge about

self is not only identity related, but also a significant concept in establishing a personal brand. Both

identity and personal branding are a form of communicating knowledge about self. Furthermore, the

effective communication of knowledge media occurs in an adequate environment which Eppler (2006)

argues that is enabled by the trust built while presenting “relevant skills along with previous


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professional experiences and credentials” (p. 3). Thus, credibility is essential for effective knowledge

communication about the professional self in the virtual environment. Credibility is also treated as a

significant feature in the online presence (see Isaksson & Jørgensen, 2010). However, theorists have

not approached it in terms of personal branding, which is a concept that has been addressed increasingly

for professional success purposes in literature (Peters, 1997; Cheney et al., 2005). As Cheney et al.

(2005) put it, “Personal Branding offers a programmatic set of strategies for individuals to improve

their chances at business success.“ (p. 308). Thus, following the knowledge section, I will use relevant

literature to fit the two concepts together, so that professionals’ personal branding can further be

approached in terms of credibility.

4.1. Knowledge, Communication and Identity

Eppler (2006) defines knowledge communication as not just mere information transfer, but a context-

involving process where personal insights and experiences are conveyed and co-constructed. He argues

from the audience’s perspective, that an insight, experience or skill is “reconstructed by an individual

because of the communicative actions of another” (p. 2). Furthermore, communicating knowledge

about one’s professional self on SNSs becomes, in Eppler’s (2006) terms, a transfer of know-who (the

professional’s identity) through media-based interactions.

There are several knowledge theories to be further addressed in terms of knowledge communication,

and how it affects identity. However, in order to be of relevance to the way professionals establish their

identity by communicating knowledge on LinkedIn, the concepts need to be viewed from a broader

perspective than the mere organizational level that most theorists approach (e.g. knowledge

transformation concept, by Nonaka, 2000; and developing knowledge in Communities of Practice, by

Wenger & Snyder, 2000). Therefore, I will approach concepts such as knowledge communication and

identity, from a society level perspective.

In Kampf’s (2015) terms, building a professional identity by linking one’s knowledge to relevant

resources requires an understanding of society level of culture. The resources implied are defined as

the “framing and logic systems that are public and shared” (Kampf, 2015, p. 5).

A relevant concept for using these resources for identity purposes is what Wenger (1999) calls a shared

repertoire. Wenger (1999) describes it as an amalgam of notions that have grown part of the practice

of a community, and work as ”resources for negotiated meaning” (Wenger, 1999, p. 82). Linking

knowledge to these resources by displaying them coherently, contributes to building and reifying one’s


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identity (Kampf, 2015). A relevant example would be LinkedIn involving a shared repertoire with

resources (meaningful tools, such as Influencers followed, courses taken, projects, recommendations

etc.), which professionals share in order to link their knowledge to the knowledge represented by those

resources. Linking knowledge shapes their identity in a social context, by involving a shared repertoire

of relevant resources. Identity can be seen in the results of ways in which people use the shared

repertoire for linking knowledge communication (C. Kampf, personal communication, April 2015).

Wenger (1999) treats the concept of identity at the social context level, rather than the organizational

one. His focus expands beyond what he calls Communities of Practice (CoP), “calling attention to

broader processes of identification and social structures” (Wenger, 1999, p. 145). Wenger (1999)

suggests that identity means the way one shapes the meaning of various social communities by

participation. However, he eventually broadens the perspective of the cause-effect quality by calling

identity a “pivot between the social and the individual, so that each can be talked about in terms of the

other” (p. 145). Taking a step further, identity could be approached as “the very definition of

individuality as something that is part of the practices of specific communities” (Wenger, 1999, p.

145). In these terms, identity is then given meaning and “shaped by belonging to communities” (p.

146) and their practices.

Identity has a lot to do with practice – as a part of community, as Wenger (1998) argues, “practices

deal with the profound issue of how to be a human being” (p. 149). As a result, he provides various

participation-related characterizations to the identity concept, among which: “Identity as nexus of

multimembership” (Wenger, 1999, p. 149). This means, that the way one reconciles the various

memberships into one identity, defines who they are (Wenger, 1999). While identities are not

something one can turn on and off, “various forms of participations are not merely sequences in time”

(Wenger, 1998, p. 159). Therefore, the various forms of participation at different times and in different

communities (similar to the resources to which one links their knowledge), form a nexus that builds

one’s identity through reconciliation.

Nonaka (2000) talks about knowledge creation as the result of interaction and knowledge conversion

processes. He argues that these processes have a self-transcending nature, which enables knowledge

innovation in a dynamic context. Therefore, from this perspective, communicating knowledge is a

conversion process, which results in transforming knowledge. Nonaka’s (2000) SECI model suggests

that knowledge conversion is carried out in four ways: socialization, externalization, combination, and

internalization; each of them representing a transition between tacit and explicit knowledge. This


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transformation of knowledge means that the people engaged co-construct knowledge and give way to

innovation.

As Kampf (2015) explains, the externalization phase “enables participants to realize their own tacit

knowledge and make it explicit through communication with others” (p. 4). Applied to the way

professionals present themselves on the LinkedIn platform, knowledge conversion occurs as the users

discover themselves professionally and externalize knowledge about their professional self. As all

kinds of position descriptions are available and posted on the platform by various organizations;

professionals have access to them and can reflect on the way their professional identity relates to those

terms. Consequently, they externalize the knowledge about self, and communicate it on their profile in

the same professional terms. The visitors to that profile then construct new insights about the

professional’s identity. Such as Nonaka (2000) argues, then “knowledge is crystallized, thus allowing

it to be shared by others, and it becomes the basis of new knowledge” (p. 9). In that way, they make

knowledge explicit by communicating it to the society within the platform.

Nonaka (2000) argues that the Ba where an externalization process takes place is a “Dialoguing Ba”,

where individuals’ mental processes are articulated. However, he argues that Dialoguing Ba can only

occur as face-to-face interactions, which contrasts the previous example of virtual knowledge

communication on LinkedIn. This inconsistency occurs as both a society level of context and mass self

– communication are out of focus in Nonaka’s approach.

The externalization exemplified occurs at the society level of culture, which is not consistent with the

fact that Nonaka treats the shared context for knowledge creation (named Ba) as part of the organization

space, with merely transcending boundaries (towards “customer/supplier”) (p. 13). This further limits

the operational character of the concept, leaving knowledge communication about self on SNSs out of

scope.

Knowledge communication serves thus a self-presentation purpose in this theory context. In the process

of self-presentation, identity can be approached in terms of the knowledge it is linked to by displaying

relevant resources (Kampf, 2015).


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4.2. Credibility: a Personal Branding approach

The concept of personal branding has been approached by several theorists aiming to increase

professionals’ success (Peters, 1997; Cheney et al., 2005). Cheney et al. (2005) define it as an approach

to the “marketing of persons for entry into or transition within the labor market” (p. 309). Furthermore,

I will approach the self-presentation of professionals on LinkedIn by looking at the brand identity they

establish and communicate. In terms of traditional branding practices, brand identity is defined as “how

the marketer wants the brand to be perceived” (Labrecque et al., 2011, p. 44). Aaker (1996) talks about

branding at the product level. In his brand identity model, the actively communicated part of the brand

identity is the brand position. Montoya and Vandehey (2002) argue that brand position is about being

associated with a certain unique value before anyone else. The value discussed can be defined as the

actively communicated part of the value proposition (Aaker, 1996). However, a value proposition in

Aaker’s (1996) terms would not fit with the concept of personal branding, since it is built in product

related terms, rather than describing individuals. His value proposition describes products in terms of

the benefits experienced when using them. Thus, I will approach brand position using Montoya and

Vandehey’s (2002) formulation, which is related to personal branding: communicated identity (“Who

you are”); actions (“What you do”); and differentiation (“What makes you different and how you create

value”).

The part of the personal brand position that presents most interest in this case, is credibility. Ward and

Yates (2013) argue, “Self-promotion can build credibility by having a reputation that aligns with

accomplishments” (p. 101). Isaksson and Jørgensen (2010) describe this concept as “a rhetorical and

linguistic resource for strategically improving the quality and tenor of self-presentation” (p. 120).

However, there is a lack in literature in terms of how personal brands communicate credibility. Since

personal brands are argued to be a mere logical extension of the traditional corporate brands (Cheney

et al., 2005), I will approach credibility in terms of the classical concept of branding.

The notion of credibility involves the concept of ethos which is approached in Aristotle’s (1991, p.

141) tripartite conceptualization of ethos, where persuasion occurs with communicated “intelligence,

good character and goodwill”. Isaksson and Jørgensen (2008) developed the Ethos model, which aims

to bring Aristotle’s strategies to an operational level. The model uses McCroskey and Teven’s (1999)

representation of credibility, which translates Aristotle’s (1991) intelligence to Expertise, aiming to

strengthen one’s authority; while good character is termed as Trustworthiness, aiming to enhance

Reputation; and goodwill is referred to as Empathy, which enforces Likeability. The three qualities are


13

taken to an operational level in the Ethos model, which involves appeals for: Self-promotion, Self-

characterization, and Self-sacrifice. At the operational level of the strategies, Isaksson and Jørgensen

(2008) include appeals such as: competency in terms of knowledge, skills and attributes. These resonate

to Aaker’s (1996) corporate credibility approach, where he associated competency with the expert

organization. Another relevant appeal that the Ethos model involves is truthfulness, which Aaker

(1996) refers to as a quality of being honest in communication and thus dependable. Finally, Aaker

(1996) explains his third credibility strategy in terms of the contributions brought to the community

and participation in activities, which could lead to a well-liked organization – such as Isaksson and

Jørgensen’s (2008) Empathy strategy does.

In this context, personal branding can thus be defined as a form of communicating knowledge about

self, which implies a brand identity approach. As a part of this, credibility becomes an essential

rhetorical strategy to be used for business success purposes (Isaksson & Jørgensen, 2010).

5. Theoretical framework & Method: Operationalizing the concepts

In this section, I am going to bring the relevant theoretical concepts to a more approachable level in

terms of analysis. They will be fitted to the practical case where professionals establish a coherent

identity by communicating knowledge about self via LinkedIn discourse, and at the same time

communicate credibility in their self-branding process. Such as Eppler (2006) suggests, credibility is

discussed as a natural necessity for the communication of knowledge about self to come across

effectively. Therefore, a credibility-based discourse would also lead to successful personal branding,

which is becoming a significant matter in professional success (Montoya & Vandehey, 2002).

Employing these concepts will provide better insight in terms of how professionals’ choice behavior

on LinkedIn affects their projected identity, from a knowledge communication perspective. They will

also give a better understanding on how these choices shape their personal branding, involving

credibility, which can lead to professional success. These issues form the Problem Statement together,

and give rise to the stated RQs.

Consequently, the two RQs will be addressed in terms of the relevant theoretical concepts fitted to the

case. In order use the concepts for analysis; I will systemize the data in terms of a thematic network,

as explained in the Analysis section. Attride-Stirling’s (2001) thematic network technique, functions

as an analytic tool which “allows a sensitive, insightful and rich exploration of a text’s overt structures


14

and underlying patterns” (p. 386). Therefore, the relevant concepts will be used as a framework for

coding the material in order to form thematic networks.

5.1. Linking knowledge to Identity

RQ1: What do professionals’ choices in terms of knowledge communication tell about their

identities?

The features of LinkedIn make possible the integration and linking of content to a global audience,

reaching several degrees of connections. Thus, the self-presentation of professionals on the platform

that reaches global and possible unintended audiences, leads to a network capable of influencing their

career (Burdick, 2010). LinkedIn constitutes a platform that enables professional collaboration, and

thus facilitates what Eppler (2006) calls professional knowledge media. In this context, professionals

need to carry out effective knowledge communication about their professional self, in a way that

contributes to their professional identity. Therefore, identity will be addressed in terms of knowledge

communication theory, in the light of Wenger’s (1999) concepts.

Even though Wenger (1999) initially treats the identity concept from a rather inner perspective,

meaning the way one’s self is shaped and reified by participation in communities, I have chosen to

shift it to a rather outward perspective. This enables the concept to be viewed rather as self-presentation

than self inner perception. The outward perspective is seen by Wenger (1999) as part of “the way we

live day to day” (p. 151) – which he claims is where our identity lies.

LinkedIn provides professionals with a set of tools embedded in their profiles, which they can use for

self-presentation purposes. Such as Wenger (1999) describes a shared repertoire, these tools have

become notions that give meaning to the community of LinkedIn, while professionals employ them in

their self-presentation and interact with each other in their terms. One of the way these tools work in

interaction is the use of “Give Recommendations” feature, which enables employers and professionals

recommend each other, while in the process they are required to inform their professional relationship.

In the same way, professionals are able to “Ask for recommendations” by employing the LinkedIn tool.

LinkedIn, as embodying a shared repertoire, involves “shared resources for building professional

identity” (Kampf, 2015, p. 5), such as: experience, organizations that users are/have been part of,

recommendations, courses taken, memberships of groups/communities, causes they care about, and

following Influencers (Appendix 1). When shared on LinkedIn, these notions become meaningful


15

resources that are displayed in order to communicate effective knowledge about one’s professional

identity (C. Kampf, personal communication, April, 2015). In this process, professionals link these

resources to their knowledge and thus communicate knowledge about their professional identity.

In that way, they project themselves as having acquired the knowledge characterizing those resources,

and therefore shape their professional identity. In other words, the linking knowledge is then defined

to connect to social and cultural resources in the surrounding social contexts (Kampf, 2015).

When the resources point to multiple types of belongings, Wenger (1999) talks about a nexus

membership as a part of identity. This characterization points to the way different participations of the

individual are reconciled so that they can make up a coherent identity (Wenger, 1999). Furthermore,

no matter how much the participations have been left in the past, they are still contributing to defining

professionals’ identities once displayed. Thus, they need to be reconciled so that they build the identity

coherently, reinforcing each other rather than clashing (Wenger, 1998). In these terms, a nexus

membership can be used as an operational tool to analyze how the meaningful resources present bridges

among the different memberships of professionals on LinkedIn.

Consequently, the shared repertoire involved by LinkedIn can be approached by knowledge

communication about self in terms of the resources used on professionals’ profiles. These reveal

professionals’ identity, and thus how their various memberships come together in a coherent manner.

5.2. Credibility: a rhetorical strategy for personal branding

RQ2: How do professionals communicate credibility in terms of personal branding on LinkedIn

in their profiles?

While credibility is embedded in the discourse of personal branding, theorists link it to business success

(Isaksson & Jørgensen, 2010), and thus is a relevant strategy for the professionals’ self-presentation.

The ethos-based self-presentation aims to reinforce one’s relationships with their stakeholders

(Isaksson & Jørgensen, 2010), thus contributing significantly to the network phenomenon for

professional success on SNSs (Burdick, 2010). In this way, credibility, as a part of personal branding,

plays a significant role regarding career success, and therefore addresses part of the problem stated,

namely how graduates make choices for supporting their career.

Isaksson and Jørgensen (2008) presents the Ethos model (Fig. 5.1) which has brought Aristotle’s

tripartite conceptualization of ethos to an operational level. This way, the rhetorical strategies of ethos


16

can be adopted in analyzing self-presentation on the SNSs in terms of professionals’ discourse of

credibility. Although Isaksson and Jørgensen (2008) apply the Ethos model to corporations, I will relate

relevant indicators to professionals on LinkedIn in terms of personal branding (Fig. 5.2). Supporting

this approach, Cheney et al. (2005) argue, “The phenomenon of personal brands represents the logical

extension of these previous brand forms [e.g. corporate brands]” (p. 313).

Fig. 5.1 Ethos model


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Fig. 5.2 Ethos model for professionals’ personal branding

In Isaksson and Jørgensen’s (2008) Ethos model, the rhetorical strategy matching self-promotion is

argued to imply the following credibility appeals: Entitlements/Enhancements, World knowledge,

Presence/Resources, Knowledge/Skills, Abilities/Attributes. Isaksson and Jørgensen (2008) describe

the indicators in the following manner:

1. Entitlements/Enhancements point to the achievements acquired in the past for which they “deserve

extra credit” (p. 371), including awards and rankings.

2. World knowledge displays insights in terms of professional generalities, or their professional field.

3. Knowledge/Skills include all the discourse related to skills, training, position or status, membership

of communities and organizations.

4. Abilities/Attributes refer to professionals’ “innate qualities, work-related experience and insights,

vision or human effectiveness, thoroughness” (p. 372). However, I will move the “work-related

experience” feature to the Kowledge/skills section, so that it completes and matches the “position or

status” feature embedded in that indicator. Abilities and attributes can generally refer to description of

a character rather than the professional skills and knowledge characterized by work-related experience.

Isaksson and Jørgensen’s (2008) “Presence/Resources” is an indicator that points to the ethos of

product, representing a corporation’s capabilities in terms of producing and delivering products.


18

Therefore, it is not a relevant appeal to be addressed in the professionals’ discourse on LinkedIn. The

capabilities of professionals are involved in the Abilities/Attributes appeal.

Farther in the Ethos model, Isaksson and Jørgensen (2008) introduce the appeals for self-

characterization as Integrity and Truthfulness. Integrity is a term that has its roots in the Latin adjective

“integro” meaning whole and complete (Mifflin, 2000); it points to the consistency building a wholly

coherent character, where one’s inner moral principles match their actions, resulting to a moral

uprightness (Lucaites, Condit & Caudill, 1999). Honesty and truthfulness are the bridges that lead to

such coherency. Thus, in order to avoid redundancy, I will treat Isaksson and Jørgensen’s (2008)

integrity and truthfulness as one indicator when referring to professionals’ characterization.

As a last strategy involved in the Ethos model, Isaksson and Jørgensen (2008) match self-sacrifice to

the indicator Attention. This appeal shows how one cares for others, and professionals’

“compassionate behavior, concern for society and common good” (Isaksson & Jørgensen, 2008, p

372). In a more recent research conducted by Isaksson and Jørgensen (2010), they have updated the

Ethos model by employing Enjoyment as an appeal for Self-sacrifice too. In this case, this indicator

refers to the stakeholders’ enjoyment derived from dealing with the professional.

Once brought to an operational level, the ethos strategies are capable of revealing the way credibility

is embedded in professionals’ discourse.

On the other hand, Isaksson and Jørgensen’s (2008) credibility appeals in their Ethos model are

coherent with the way Montoya and Vandehey (2002) formulate the personal brand concept - as

mentioned in the previous section. The appeals that are included in the self-strategy cover Montoya

and Vandehey’s (2002) first personal brand dimension: communicated identity. Relevant appeals for

this are entitlements, knowledge and attributes. In these terms, professionals communicate who they

are (Montoya & Vandehey, 2002) by showing their achievements, pointing to their knowledge, and

characterizing themselves. Moreover, the appeal of Attention, can relate to the actions one makes in

order to assist and empathize with the society (Isaksson & Jørgensen, 2008), which is relevant for the

second dimension of Montoya and Vandehey’s (2002) formulation: actions. By employing this appeal,

professionals can make use of LinkedIn tools such as “Causes you care about”, and “Volunteer

experience”, which communicate one’s concern for society in terms of concrete actions and values.


19

This way, Montoya and Vandehey’s (2002) personal branding formulation is brought to the operational

level, and therefore personal brand identity can be approached in the analysis of credibility as an

implicit indicator in terms of ethos.

5.3 Thematic Network Technique

The concepts included in the methodology will be employed in forming a thematic network. Attride-

Stirling (2001) argues that thematic networks work as an analytic tool, which enables “systematization

and presentation of qualitative analyses” (p. 385). They enable an exploration of insights in an issue,

representing it as “web-like illustrations” (p. 386), and of underlying patterns in the data.

In order to reveal themes from the raw text, a first step of coding is necessary. For this purpose, I will

use the resources embedded in the shared repertoire of LinkedIn, in answering RQ1. For RQ2, I will

use credibility appeals as codes.

As Attride-Stirling (2001) describes, the web-like maps depict salient themes on three different levels.

There are basic themes, which summarize the data in ideas, and the organizational themes, which are

formed by groupings of basic themes, revealing salient themes or issues underlying relevant patterns

among the basic themes. As an example, in answering RQ1 I will look at the concepts related patterns

revealed by the basic themes, in terms of reconciliation of different nexus memberships. This will give

an insight on how professionals employ resources in order to portray memberships, and how they

reconciliate unrelated memberships in order to build a coherent identity.

Eventually, the organizational themes form a network when they are all connected to a global theme,

which “encapsulate the principal metaphors in the text as a whole” (Attride-Stirling, 2001, p. 388). As

Attride-Stirling (2001) argues, there can be several global themes, each forming its thematic network,

depending on how the organizational themes hang together under each global theme.


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6. Analysis

In order to build a relevant thematic network for analysis purposes, I have used theoretical concepts

when coding the data. The text on professionals’ profiles has been dissected according to the codes

established. However, to maintain coherency regarding the content belonging to each professional, the

chunks of data are organized each under their author’s names in every coded section (Appendix 2).

I have collected data from 18 different LinkedIn public profiles identified by the faculty as high

performing BA MMC graduates, as a snowball sample across several graduation years. This will give

a more relevant exploration in terms of the problem established, which refers to success in one’s career.

I predefined three separate networks, according to the narrowed fields shown by the BA MMC

graduates in the shared content, and the MMC program main fields as global themes, namely:

Management, Marketing, and Communication; and they will be addressed in terms of both Identity

reconciliation and Credibility discourse.

I will analyze the first network in depth (Fig. 6.1), in order to explore the patterns that underlie the

discourse on professionals’ profiles in terms of knowledge communication for identity and success

purposes. However, the two remaining networks will be only briefly displayed (Fig. 6.2; Fig. 6.3),

since the in-depth analysis has been found similar to the first one, and would not provide significant

new insights if repeated. The only differences that lead to three different global themes forming three

networks lie mainly in the fields of knowledge professionals focus on. However, the credibility and

identity reconciliation findings tend to follow similar patterns, so a rigorous exploration for every

network would be redundant.


21

Fig. 6.1 Network 1 – Management focused


22

Fig. 6.2 Network 2 – Marketing focused


23

Fig. 6.3 Network 3 – Communication focused


24

6.1. RQ1: What do graduates’ choices in terms of knowledge communication tell about

their identities?

The discourse displayed on LinkedIn is treated as a shared repertoire, which embodies meaningful

resources. The shared resources contribute to communicating a professional identity (Kampf, 2015) in

terms of linking knowledge. Therefore, I have used the typical LinkedIn shared resources in order to

code the data. This will lead to an exploration of the way knowledge communication contributes to

building a professional identity. The codes are the following: Experience, Skills, Publications,

Education, Courses, Interests, Volunteer & Causes, Projects, Awards, Recommendations, Groups,

Influencers, News, and Companies & Organizations.

The basic themes underlying the identity coherence in the nexus membership, involve different fields

to which professionals belong according to the coded data. By belonging to certain fields in terms of

Education, Groups following, Skills and others; they display a knowledge membership, and link their

knowledge to that represented by those resources; such as “Sustainia” pointing to environment

sustainability knowledge. This way they shape their portrayed identity in terms of communicated

knowledge. Professionals’ participations to different professional fields appear under the various

resources on their profile. They portray so-called “nexus memberships”, which Wenger (1999) argues

need to be reconciled in order to form a coherent identity.

Within the Management network, the coded segments in terms of resources on professionals’ profiles,

have given rise to a number of 11 basic themes (Fig. 6.1) out of which 10 form the Organizational

theme 1: General management membership successfully reconciled with communication and

unrelated nexus memberships.

The basic themes: Management communication with a leadership focus; and Project leadership

and management:

The skills and recommendation resources are interactive features, which in this case point to the

management field, such as: “a committed manager”; “exhibits many of the qualities that are essential

to business managers”. Although they show content written and suggested by other connections, it still

reflects the professional’s choices, because it needed approval before appearing on their profile. As

Kampf et al. (2014) argue, “the acceptance or rejection of a recommendation [meaning Skills here] by

professional contacts is part of constructed brand identity management” (p. 4). Moreover, the


25

professional owning the profile inspired that content themselves through their behavior in business

settings.

The management notion is reflected in most of the resources, being nuanced widely as “project

management”, “project coordinator” or “project leader” under Experience and Skills. Certain instances

portray knowledge in project management also in the online environment as “Web project

management”.

Apart from the project theme, there are also appearances of “Event management” several times under

Skills, but also in the Groups resource “Event planners and coordinators”. The notion is reflected in

terms of communication as well: “Organizational communication” under Education, and with a

leadership knowledge bias, such as the course “Leadership and communication”, or following news on

“Leadership & Management”. The leadership notion is given positive characteristics, such as

“approachable and generous to her team” as a recommendation, and “with a good sense of

collaboration”, both referring to professionals in their managing positions.

Professionals can use intermediate notions or activities that can make bridges between the contrasting

memberships of knowledge, and thus reconciliate them. Such an example is the basic theme: Spanish

culture and dance, which is shown in several resources, including Education, and the Award “Salsa

Team Champions at New Zealand Salsa Dance Association”. However, it has been reconciled with the

management membership, since the owner of the profile brings in the retail industry as a bridge,

“Combining my passion for Dance, Footwear by importing Latin dance shoes and selling them online

and from my shop at our dance studio, Salsa Latina in Christchurch.” while being a “Owner and director

at Dance Addiction”, which is part of a salsa dance studio. Being a “Dance instructor” also strengthens

the leadership focus and reconciliates dance memberships with leader related knowledge.

Another basic theme that involves bridges between different memberships is Environment

sustainability awareness, which involves sustainability knowledge such as “Climate change” or

“Sustainia” reflected in Interests. It also involves sustainability related notions appearing as Groups the

professional belongs to, Companies he follows, Skills, Experience, and Publications. These are

reconciled with the management related knowledge by linking to the Experience “Project manager for

Climate Solutions & Green Growth”.

The basic theme Tourism and international relations is included in Skills, Education “Aalborg

University: MA Tourism” and Groups, and reconciled by courses such as “Globalisation of business”;


26

“Globalisation and communication”, and Publications such as “Projects initiatives and technologies in

various parts of the world”.

The management focused BA MMC professionals have a slight marketing bias, including “marketing

communication”, especially with a social media focus; which gave rise to the basic theme Online

Marketing Communications. There is also the Public Relations basic theme, which appears

especially under Skills. In the Awards resource, public relations appears as a reconciliation bridge

between the business area and the naval achievement medal “Outstanding performance as

administration and public relations officer” in the U.S. Navy.

Other related themes are nuancing the management notion rather than contrasting it, such as

Recruitment and HR coupled with internal communications, which also related to mentoring and

training managers.

Another basic theme worthy of mentioning is that all the Management focused professionals are

displaying on their profiles the BA MMC education, and do not manipulate the program name to fit

their biases.

Overall, the 10 themes portray a knowledge linkage to management related fields, especially via

communication notion, such as in Recruitment and HR, or in Online Marketing; while linking

knowledge to unrelated fields as well. The unrelated memberships of knowledge, such as of Spanish

culture, tourism and environment related knowledge are successfully reconciled to the management

related knowledge by using appropriate and effective bridges. Thus, the organizational theme emerges

as an issue regarding the exploration of how linking knowledge to various memberships contributes to

building a coherent identity by reconciliation.

Only one basic theme suggests membership of knowledge in an unrelated field whose reconciliation

with management memberships has not been approached. It involves Sports, and appears under the

Interests code, as “football, tennis”; “running marathons; yoga & meditation; mountain biking”.

Because of the lack of reconciliation, this basic theme forms in its turn Organizational theme 2:

Unsuccessful reconciliation of sports field with the other nexus memberships.

However, it is clear that professionals involved in this network generally manage to link their

knowledge across various fields by using resources on LinkedIn, and thus communicate their

knowledge by displaying the resources, as Kampf (2015) suggests. Therefore, they do not simply tell

what they know, but they show it by the resources employed on their profile, such as belonging to


27

groups that are knowledgeable in “event management”, and “marketing communications” etc.

Moreover, professionals succeed in reconciliating the various memberships as well, thus portraying a

coherent identity strongly based in management knowledge.

6.2. RQ2: How do graduates communicate credibility in terms of personal branding on

LinkedIn in their profiles?

In terms of credibility discourse, I have used the Ethos model developed by Isaksson and Jørgensen

(2008) as a framework for analysis. The Ethos strategies are divided in several credibility appeals,

which function as codes for the communicated credibility on professionals’ profiles. Small adjustments

have been made to the appeals (Fig. 5.2), as discussed in the Method section, in order to fit a personal

brand perspective, as opposed to the traditional branding perspective adopted by Isaksson and

Jørgensen (2008). The appeals reveal the brand position formulation as well, as part of personal brand

identity; and together have the potential to contribute to professional success (Montoya & Vandehey,

2002; Isaksson & Jørgensen, 2010).

The devised codes are the following: for the Expertise appeal: Entitlements/Enhancements, World

knowledge, Knowledge/Skills, Attributes/Abilities; for the Trustworthiness appeal:

Integrity/Truthfulness; and for the Empathy appeal: Attention, Enjoyment.

The coded data in terms of the Ethos model gave rise to 9 basic themes, which form Organizational

theme 3: Credibility established largely on management and leadership expertise,

communication biased.

The basic themes (Fig. 6.1) are strongly rooted in the coding framework and portray the fields

employed by professionals in their credibility appeals. It is clear from the basic themes that the

expertise appeal – including mostly the indicators Entitlements/Enhancements and Knowledge/Skills

– is the most used appeal in the data gathered regarding management professionals, and it is widely

linked to management knowledge, as expected. Basic themes related to this are Management

Entitlements; Skilled and knowledgeable in management, leadership and business development;

and Skilled and knowledgeable in event & project management and project leadership. Such

instances are “Relation management”; “Event design and management”, even “digital business

development” which can indicate new media; but also leadership focus in the instances “leadership”,

“born leader”, while employing project knowledge related to management, with instances like “project

leadership”; “project management”, “project coordinator”, “project leadership”, “project initiative”,


28

being displayed under most expertise related codes. The Attributes indicator is part of the expertise

appeal, but does not include enough specification regarding the knowledge field it relates to. However,

the main attributes found as “curiosity”, “opportunist” and “passionate”, just as one Recommendation

states, are qualities “essential to business managers” and complete the management knowledge picture.

Moreover, there are communication notions crossing the themes, such as in Skilled and

knowledgeable in Marketing communication and online branding as external communication, or

in Skilled and knowledgeable in Training mentoring and HR, internal communications and

Entitlements in mentoring and coaching, which suggests communication along mentoring and

coaching practices. All of these completed the management related knowledge with an overwhelming

communication focus under World knowledge and Knowledge/Skills codes, where the instances

“online communication”, or “communications – responsible for implementing new web platform”

bring the new media in the picture as well.

Trustworthiness represents the least employed credibility appeal among the management professionals.

This can make a huge lack in professionals’ reputation or dependability, which are argued by Isaksson

and Jørgensen (2008) to be the outcomes resulting from this appeal. To have a good established

reputation and to inspire dependability, are some relevant features that a management professional

could adopt, and therefore they should not be neglected. The few instances of this appeal are “honest

and reliable” and “passionate [..] for what I do and for what I value”, which give rise to the theme

Established trustworthiness with honesty, reliability and passion for values.

The last theme derived from the data expresses the Empathy appeal, employed by being responsible,

approachable, collaborative and supporting.

Overall, in the last organizational theme, the management related knowledge, which has been coded in

credibility terms, is nuanced by leadership and has several communication instances in the data.

Moreover, the credibility discourse is relying widely on the Expertise appeal, which Isaksson and

Jørgensen (2008) argue to result in authority and competency. These are significant appeal outcomes

in terms of management practices, but the other appeals resulting in reputation and likability should

not be neglected either, when pursuing a career success. Although, McCroskey and Teven (1999) argue

that no one dimension of the credibility appeals is particularly important, they have found that “the

expertise makes the least of contributions” (p. 101). Therefore, the finding regarding professionals’

wide use of expertise appeal at the expense of the other appeals can be understood as an encouragement


29

for putting effort in communicating the Trustworthiness and Empathy appeals in their discourse as

well.

7. Conclusion

A rise has been shown in the recruiting practices employing LinkedIn (Hansen, 2013). Moreover, the

interactive features on the platform, together with the unavoidable networking, lead to increased

transparency. In these conditions arises the issue of portraying a coherent identity by employing

knowledge communication about self on the platform. However, to contribute to one’s professional

success, personal branding also has to be involved in the process. This can be done by communicating

credibility, and therefore enabling effective knowledge communication about self.

The analysis carried out in these terms involved BA MMC high achiever graduates, each of them

naturally belonging to one of the three thematic networks: Management, Marketing and

Communication. The graduates belonging to all three networks have been generally found to

reconciliate successfully the various nexus memberships they employ across the LinkedIn resources,

by linking their knowledge to relevant areas and building bridges (see Wenger, 1999). In terms of

credibility, they rely widely on the Expertise appeal, which has been found to be the least important of

the three appeals (McCroskey & Teven, 1999). This further gives insight on the personal branding gaps

they could work on filling by employing the other credibility appeals, which would bring as outcomes

reputation and likeability (see Isaksson & Jørgensen, 2008).


30

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http://serg.aau.at/pub/AndreasBollin/WebHome/LINKEDIN.png

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LinkedIn profile sources used for analysis:

Anders Justesen Jensen https://www.linkedin.com/in/andersjustesenjensen

Andy Grantham https://www.linkedin.com/in/andygrantham

Christian Eika https://www.linkedin.com/in/christianeika

Christopher Kjærulff https://www.linkedin.com/in/christopherkjaerulff

Corey Morris https://www.linkedin.com/in/johncoreymorris

Helene Nordenskov https://www.linkedin.com/pub/helene-nordenskov/2a/256/56

Lara Mulady https://www.linkedin.com/in/laramulady

Lise Aakjaer https://www.linkedin.com/pub/lise-aakjaer/5/6b4/67a

Lise Okkels Hansen https://www.linkedin.com/in/liseokkels

Marianne Livijn https://www.linkedin.com/pub/marianne-livijn/1/b98/b53

Mia Sørensen https://www.linkedin.com/pub/mia-s%C3%B8rensen/16/75b/b10

Michael Lambarena https://www.linkedin.com/pub/michael-lambarena/22/22/271

Mikkel Olesen https://www.linkedin.com/pub/mikkel-olesen/1/a61/75b

Sophie S. T. Martinussen https://www.linkedin.com/pub/sophie-s-t-martinussen/4/541/226

Stine Horsbøl https://www.linkedin.com/pub/stine-horsb%C3%B8l/3b/247/a3b

Thea Friborg https://www.linkedin.com/pub/thea-friborg/10/584/9a5

Theresa Pedersen https://www.linkedin.com/in/theresapedersen

Trine Nielsen https://www.linkedin.com/in/trinenielsen

https://www.linkedin.com/in/andersjustesenjensen

https://www.linkedin.com/in/andygrantham

https://www.linkedin.com/in/christianeika

https://www.linkedin.com/in/christopherkjaerulff

https://www.linkedin.com/in/johncoreymorris

https://www.linkedin.com/pub/helene-nordenskov/2a/256/56

https://www.linkedin.com/in/laramulady

https://www.linkedin.com/pub/lise-aakjaer/5/6b4/67a

https://www.linkedin.com/in/liseokkels

https://www.linkedin.com/pub/marianne-livijn/1/b98/b53

https://www.linkedin.com/pub/mia-s%C3%B8rensen/16/75b/b10

https://www.linkedin.com/pub/michael-lambarena/22/22/271

https://www.linkedin.com/pub/mikkel-olesen/1/a61/75b

https://www.linkedin.com/pub/sophie-s-t-martinussen/4/541/226

https://www.linkedin.com/pub/stine-horsb%C3%B8l/3b/247/a3b

https://www.linkedin.com/pub/thea-friborg/10/584/9a5

https://www.linkedin.com/in/theresapedersen

https://www.linkedin.com/in/trinenielsen


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9. Appendices

Appendix 1: LinkedIn Resources

Source: Andy Grantham https://www.linkedin.com/in/andygrantham (April, 2015)

Experience

https://www.linkedin.com/in/andygrantham


36

Skills


37

Education and Interests


38

Courses


39

Volunteer Experience & Causes and Publications


40

Awards and Projects


41

Recommendations


42

Groups and Influencers


43

News and Companies


44

Appendix 2: Coded text

2.1. Network 1 - MANAGEMENT focused

Resources – RQ1

1. Experience

Lise Aakjaer: Area Manager at Overland Footwear: Liaising with Head Office, Store Managers and

customers (Area Manager); Recruitment and Performance Management (Area Manager); Training and

Mentoring Store Managers, Training and Mentoring Managers (Area Manager); Manager: Sales &

Product Knowledge Training; Owner&Director at Dance Addiction: Combining my passion for

Dance, Footwear and Branding by importing latin dance shoes, and selling them at our Dance Studio;

Dance Instructor: several latin styles + competing and performing; Model; Sales assistant; Mentor.

Mia Sørensen: project coordinator, sales coordinator, assistant at the commencement of study fair.

Corey Morris: alumni relations manager; teacher’s assistant; project leader; value added coordinator;

aerographer’s mate 2nd class; co-founder and chair for the case europe nordic summit.

Christian Eika: Senior project manager; project manager, brand experience; manager, research and

development – sustainability; business developer – market and regulatory design; project manager –

climate solutions & green growth; research analyst – copenhagen climate council; assistant

communicaitons – responsible for implementing new web platform; teaching assistant, Dept of

Business Administration – Management; Sales supporter; Student assistant, administration and

accounting.

Mikkel Olesen: account director, Partner; account manager; owner at golfland; owner and CEO at

communicaiders; communications intern at Energi Horsens.

Marianne Livijn: organizational consultant & business researcher; external lecturer & examiner;

manager, HR & communications; communications consultant & management assistant; board member

& sponsorships; instructor in organisational behavior; student counsellor in modern languages and

business communication.


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2. Skills

Lise Aakjaer: Marketing Communications, Training, Social Networking, Management, social media

marketing, event management, dance, retail, event planning, customer service, corporate

communication, public relations, sales management, online advertising, online marketing, public

speaking, press releases, strategic communications, internal communications, copywriting, recruiting,

coaching, footwear, dance shoes, microsoft office, fashion, leadership.

Mia Sørensen: customer service, marketing communications, event management, project coordination,

event planning, sales, project management, online marketing, social media, social networking,

hospitality, marketing strategy, tourism, public relations.

Corey Morris: Marketing communications, corporate communication, public relations, event

management; public speaking; social media; strategic communications; project management; writing;

alumni relations; teaching; journalism; business strategy; management; branding; graphic design.

Christian Eika: sustainability; strategic communications; project management; policy; public relations;

stakeholder management; knowledge management; business strategy; international relations;

stakeholder relations; knowledge sharing.

Mikkel Olesen: digital strategy, corporate communication, digital marketing, strategic

communications, digital media, marketing communications, online advertising; marketing strategy;

entrepreneurship; online marketing; public relations; web project management; account management;

digital business development; web project management; e-commerce; corporate branding.

Marianne Livijn: corporate communication; organizational development; business strategy; internal

communications; employer branding; recruiting; management; management consulting; strategy,

human resources; personnel management; strategic planning; project planning; training; employee

engagement; talent management.


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3. Publications

Lise Aakjaer: -

Mia Sørensen: -

Corey Morris: the networking journey; what’s happening in denmark; don’t try to beat facebook;

danish rocked my world; a home away from home; chika anyanwu: homeless and hungry; foreign

students more positive about ASB; the good the bad and the ugly: students and faculty speak out on

the use of english at ASB; protrait of a contender.

Christian Eika: Sustainia100: projects initiatives and technologies in various parts of the world;

Fremtidsbilleder – Pictures from the future – on sustainability.

Mikkel Olesen: -

Marianne Livijn: -

4. Education

Lise Aakjaer: Aarhus University: BA MMC, Spanish Language and Culture studies at Castila.

Mia Sørensen: Aarhus University: BA MMC, Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne;

Aalborg University: MA Tourism.

Corey Morris: West Jones High School; Aarhus University: BA MMC GPA 10; MA Corporate

communication, strategic communication, branding, GPA: 10

Christian Eika: Copenhagen Business School – MSc in Business Administration and organizational

communication; Aarhus University BA MMC; bachelor thesis on knowledge management; Aarhus

Business college; American field service ecuador – as exchange student.

Mikkel Olesen: Aarhus University BA MMC; MA Corporate commuincations; NVH.

Marianne Livijn: Probana Management HR Counselling education; Aarhus University BA MMC; MA

corporate communication.


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5. Courses

Lise Aakjaer: -

Mia Sørensen: -

Corey Morris: Marketing management; project management; public relations; social marketing;

corporate journalism; managerial accou nting.

Christian Eika: Leadership and communication; strategy and communication, organization and

communication, globalisation and communication, globalisation of business; media strategy and media

planning; knowledge sharing and capabilities building; discourse analysis; oral communication; visual

communication; written communication; managerial accounting; marketing management; social

marketing; organizational theory and HRM; organizational psychology; media studies.

Mikkel Olesen: Hyper Island Digital Strategy Master Class

Marianne Livijn: recruitment, assesment & selection; employee development; employment law;

employee policies & administration; compensation and rewards; dismissals & layoffs.

6. Interests

Lise Aakjaer: -

Mia Sørensen: -

Corey Morris: Branding, digital marketing, leadership, strategy, communications, american, football,

tennis.

Christian Eika: business, leadership, communication, finance, political and social sciences, innovation,

technology, climate change, south america.

Mikkel Olesen: -

Marianne Livijn: Running – 3 marathons; yoga & meditation; mountain biking.


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8. Volunteer and Causes

Lise Aakjaer: -

Mia Sørensen: volunteer assistant at the SICEF Career fair.

Corey Morris: co-founder and chair for the CASE europe nordic summit; causes: education, children,

environment, health, science and technology.

Christian Eika: exchange student & volunteer at AFS intercultural programs.

Mikkel Olesen: -

Marianne Livijn: -

9. Projects

Lise Aakjaer: -

Mia Sørensen: -

Corey Morris: video promo for aarhus case competition; aarhus university career festival; welcome to

my world; executive lounge.

Christian Eika: Video of me; Radioclip with me; Sustainia100 – on sustainability, green business; GOR

prototype – big thing in the making.

Mikkel Olesen: -

Marianne Livijn: -

10. Awards

Lise. Aakjaer: 2x Manager of the year at Overland Footwear; 2x Annual Gold Star League Achiever

at Overland; 2x Salsa Team Champions at New Zealand Salsa Dance Association; 2x South Island

Salsa Champion at South Island Salsa Competitions

Mia Sørensen: -


49

Corey Morris: administrative employee of the year; naval achievement medal- outstanding

performance as administration and public relations officer; sailor of the year.

Christian Eika: Alumni achievement award.

Mikkel Olesen: -

Marianne Livijn: received moment talent’s scholarship for MA thesis; nominated student of the year;

nominated instructor of the year.

11. Recommendations

Lise Aakjaer: approachable and generous to her team.

Mia Sørensen: -

Corey Morris: alumni relations manager: a committed manager; born leader; creative energy;

motivating; creative enthusiasm; attention to details; a natural on the statge; a professional;

inexhaustible knowledge; open and curious attitude; head-cheerleader.

Christian Eika: outstanding organizational and academic skills; flexible and friendly way as a

tutor, organisation theory and hrm; with a good sense of collaboration; Christian exhibits many of the

qualities that are essential to business managers and business students; Christian is theoretically very

strong and has an intuitive understanding of the interaction with students.

Mikkel Olesen: -

Marianne Livijn: great personal friend, but also as an extremely dedicated and skilled student;

dedicated, hard working, passionate and knowledgeable. She manages the skill of being able to focus

on every single detail while never loosing the overall perspective to perfection. Furthermore, she is a

team player that is easy-going and fun to be around.


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12. Groups

Lise Aakjaer: -

Mia Sørensen: SICEF Career Fair; travel & tourism industry professionals worldwide; dansk turisme

og overnatning; aarhus university alumni; event planners and coordinators; event planning & event

management; center for culture & experience economy.

Corey Morris: aarhus university alumni; higher education marketing and communications; alumni

relations professionals at danish universities; social media – impact on todays businesses; corporate

communication; aerographer’s mates.

Christian Eika: CSR Denmark – green business; aarhus university alumni; au alumni business and

social sciences; harvard business review; public affairs ERFA gruppe; regulation & policy – energy

and utilities network; DONG energy alumni; CLEAN innovating green solutions; sustainia;

Mikkel Olesen: Lean UX; Corporate communication; kultur & kapital; harvard business review; future

trends; digital frontrunners; future social media; aarhus university alumni; digital account management;

digital works; TED ideas worth spreading; client services professionals in digital marketing; digital

strategy consultants.

Marianne Livijn: Search engine watch; employee engagement; berlin marathon finisher; talent HQ;

HR in denmark; aarhus university alumni.

13. Influencers

Lise Aakjaer: Richard Branson - founder; James Caan - entrepreneur; Guy Kawasaki - chief evangelist;

Pete Cashmore – founder and CEO; Rachel Zoe – founder and CEO; Liz Ryan – founder and CEO.

Mia Sørensen: Pete Cashmore – founder and CEO

Corey Morris: -

Christian Eika: David Edelman – McKinsey partner leading digital Marketing strategy practice; Toby

Cosgrove – CEO and president at cleveland clinic.

Mikkel Olesen: -

Marianne Livijn: -


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14. News

Lise Aakjaer: Entrepreneurship & Small Businesses; Leadership & Management; Big Ideas &

Innovation; Professional Women; Marketing & Advertising; Social Media

Mia Sørensen: -

Corey Morris: -

Christian Eika: -

Mikkel Olesen: sales strategies

Marianne Livijn: -

15. Companies and Organizations

Lise Aakjaer: ECCO Shoes; Mindshare – Marketing and Advertising; Two Ten Footwear; Overland

Footwear – Retail; Aarhus Universitet.

Mia Sørensen: Management co

nsulting MANTO; Turbinehallen - Events services; VisitSkanderborg – Hospitality.

Corey Morris: grundfos; aarhus bss; trustpilot; apple; vestas; IT minds; AU career; Council for the

advancement and support of education (CASE).

Christian Eika: Novo Nordisk; SustainAbility; Designit; McKinsey Company; Carlsberg group.

Mikkel Olesen: grudfos; duval guillaume; magic people voodoo people; creuna; think! Digital DK;

business aarhus.

Marianne Livijn: Harvard Business review; Impakt; Ukon management consulting.


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Credibility – RQ2

Expertise Appeal

1. Entitlements / Enhancements

Entitlements/Enhancements point to the achievements acquired in the past for which they “deserve

extra credit” (Isaksson & Jørgensen, 2008), including awards and rankings (in the method link these

to LinkedIn tools);

Lisa Akjaer: Fostering and maintaining a Best Work Place in a multi-site business (Area Manager),

ranked as a top manager at annual awards, ‘store manager of the year’, ‘values winner’, Elite individual

sales awards 3x (recommendation letter)

Mia Sørensen: -

Corey Morris: Administrative Employee of the Year at Aarhus university – one of 500 employees,

demonstrating excellence in job and a strong sense of teamwork; sailor of the year at U.S. Navy, naval

achievement medal- outstanding performance as administration and public relations officer,

established a mentor program together with local elementary schools; nominated for Commerciel

Award for outstanding accomplishments by a student; nominated for teacher’s assistant of the year;

have built what is arguably the most innovative alumni relations program in Denmark.

Christian Eika: Alumni Achievement Award 2013 At Aarhus University.

Mikkel Olesen: -

Marianne Livijn: prince 2 foundation, project management; thomas personal profile analysis –

Thomaonal; EMCC Certified organisational coach, senior practitioner; Moment talent’s scholarship

for the thesis; nominated student of the year and instructor of the year.

2. World knowledge

World knowledge displays insights in terms of professional generalities, or their professional field

(Isaksson & Jørgensen, 2008).

Lise Aakjaer: -

Mia Sørensen: -


53

Corey Morris: areas in the theory used as a teacher’s assistant in Organizational Behavior: motivation,

leadership, organizational culture, organizational growth, organizational change; relation management;

marketing communications; business development, Branding, Event design and management, Project

leadership, Cross-media promotion, Strategic planning and development, Graphic design, Voice overs,

Info & motion graphics, Project management, Journalism, Public relations, Video production, Public

Speaking, Conference hosting, his knowledge and grasp of integrated marketing,

Christian Eika: specialties: team work, project management, technology, innovation, business

development, strategy, communication, stakeholder relations, sustainability. Recommendations:

especially difficult and complexed -subjects regarding Organisation Theory and HRM; strategy,

organization, leadership and communication; globalisation; business development; innovation;

knoweldge sharing; strategic alliances; employer branding; corporate communication; networks; media

planning; projects initiatives and technologies in various parts of the world

Mikkel Olesen: Hyper Island Digital Strategy Master Class

Marianne Livijn: Specialties: Strategy process & planning; Organizational development & design;

Workshops & process consultation; Training & development; Personality assessment (certified in

Thomas International’s PPA/JKA tools); Coaching (EMCC certified); Talent management;

Recruitment assesment & selection; employee development; employment law; employee policies &

administration; MA thesis: the role of corporate branding in the danish management consulting

industry.

4. Knowledge / Skills

Knowledge/Skills include all the discourse related to skills, training, position or status, membership of

communities and organizations and work-related experience.

Lise Akjaer: My strong inter- and intrapersonal skills; Strong People Skills; Entrepreneurial Skills;

Area Manager position for 6 months; Marketing Communications, Training, Social Networking,

Management, social media marketing, event management, dance, retail, coaching, footwear, dance

shoes, fashion, leadership; Training and Mentoring Store Managers, Training and Mentoring Managers

(Area Manager); Manager: Sales & Product Knowledge Training


54

Mia Sørensen: project coordinator, sales coordinator, waiter, Customer service, marketing

communications, project coordination, event management, event planning, project management.

Corey Morris: joined the U.S. Navy, meteorology and oceanography specialist, travelled the world; I

can rally stakeholders inside and outside of the company plus effectively lead a cross-departmental,

multi-faceted effort; as an Alumni relations manager: strategical, tactical, and operational decision

making aimed at helping AU achieve its overarching goals; Building and maintaining an active

community of over 10K alumni via online and offline engagement; Marketing communications:

Spearheading, crafting and executing inspiring multimedia campaigns that ignite awareness and

interest in our activities + developing, integrating and managing our social media plan; Event design

and management: Pioneering innovative concepts, conducting research and overseeing the production

process from idea to output; teacher’s assistant; project leader for internationalization of employees;

strategical and communicative tasks and branding;value added coordinatog in textiles and retail;

training of new personnel; recommendations: Corey is a born leader ,expertise in alumni relations;

effortlessly motivate us in every situation. His communication skills, flair for visual aesthetics and

natural grasp of integrated marketing communications; Corey’s creativity, graphical design skills

Christian Eika: hrough my professional experience in multiple sectors - think tanks, large cap business

and media - I have developed skills that enable me to structure large amounts of information,

understand technological issues and convey essential content to multiple audiences; leading projects;

senior project manager; brand experience; manager, research and development, sustainability, business

developer – market & regulatory design; project manager – climate solutions and green growth;

research analyst – copenhagen climate council; assistant, communications – responsible for

implementing new web platform; teaching assistant at Management; sales supporter; student assistant

– administration & accounting; sustainability; strategic communications; project management; policy;

public relations; stakeholder management; knowledge management; business strategy; international

relations; stakeholder relations; knowledge sharing. Recommendations: organizational and academic

skills as teaching assistant for management; Christian is theoretically very strong and has an intuitive

understanding of the interaction with students; outstanding teaching assistant.

Mikkel Olesen: digital strategy, corporate communication, digital marketing, strategic

communications, digital media, marketing communications, online advertising; marketing strategy;

entrepreneurship; online marketing; public relations; web project management; account management;

digital business development; web project management; e-commerce; corporate branding.


55

Marianne Livijn: HR Manager in the IT industry and external lecturer in organizational behavior, I

have great experience in working with people in organizational settings. I work as an advisor, facilitator

and researcher on projects that deal with organizational and leadership development, change and

implementation processes, and organizational design; Organizational consultant & business researcher;

externalt lecturer & examiner in Organizational behavior and corporate strategy; Manager and HR

communications – coordinate develop and execute HR strategy, support managers in their daily work,

and manage strategic projects across the organization. HR strategy and budget; Recruitment (technical

profiles, specialists and managers); People reviews, performance management & PDP; Training and

development; Advising, coaching and supporting managers; Employee surveys; Internal

communication; Employee exit; Leading strategy processes. Communications consultant and

management assistant - strategic planning and execution of all communication activities to internal and

external stakeholders; and online communication, online branding; coordinated strategic projects.

Board member & in charge for sponsorships: plannin and coordination, marketing, PR, advertising,

new media and communication planning, negotiation; instructor in organisational behavior; student

counsellor in modern languages and business communication: academic and personal counselling,

planned and executed events and information sessions for up to 700 people. the skill of being able to

focus on every single detail while never loosing the overall perspective to perfection.

5. Attributes / Abilities

Abilities/Attributes refer to professionals’ “innate qualities and insights, vision or human effectiveness,

thoroughness” (Isaksson & Jørgensen, 2008, p. 372).

Lise Akjaer: Fast Learner; identifying new opportunities for the business and/or individual stores (Area

Manager); able to identify strengths in others (recommendation letter)

Mia Sørensen: -

Corey Morris: Personable - I'm outgoing, curious and have networker DNA; PASSIONATE; I've been

told that this enthusiasm often spreads throughout the organization infecting others and creating an

almost palpable buzz; PROACTIVE - Call it a curse, but I'm constantly looking for opportunities to

improve virtually everything I see. Blind spots become chances to take initiave and stay ahead of the

curve; Recommendations: Corey’s positive can do-attitude, creative thinking, attention to details


56

Christian Eika: I am passionate about solutions and an expert when it comes to communicating complex

issues and scoping concepts; My social nature and innate curiosity; I am very open-minded and always

ready for change. I enjoy engaging with new environments and learning new perspectives;

Recommendations: flexible and friendly way as a tutor, he has developed highly efficient ways to

communicate - especially difficult and complexed –subjects; Christian exhibits many of the qualities

that are essential to business managers; Christian is extremely dedicated and resourceful and achieved

to work both independently and with a good sense of collaboration and a clear sense of the task ahead;

Mikkel Olesen: -

Marianne Livijn: highly motivated by making people and organizations grow and perform; very

dedicated, hard working, passionate.

Trustworthiness Appeal

6. Integrity / Truthfulness

Inner moral principles match their actions, honesty and truthfulness

Lise Akjaer: honest and reliable (recommendation letter);

Mia Sørensen: -

Corey Morris: PASSIONATE - I live and breathe for what I do and for what I value.

Christian Eika: -

Mikkel Olesen: -

Marianne Livijn: -

Empathy Appeal

7. Attention

Causes and volunteer experience; empathic behavior and concern for others and for good. By

employing this appeal, professionals can make use of LinkedIn tools such as “Causes you care about”,


57

and “Volunteer experience”, which communicate one’s concern for society in terms of concrete actions

and values.

Lise Akjaer: I am known for taking responsibility for personal as well as common goals; inter and

intrapersonal skills to interact and collaborate with different people, and in difficult situations; Ensuring

Customer satisfaction (Area Manager). approachable and generous to her team (recommendation

letter),

Mia Sørensen: volunteer assistant at the SICEF Career Fair

Corey Morris: I work with establishing, cultivating, and maintaining lifelong relationships between

AU and its former students (alumni); International alumni relations: Facilitating national and

international networks to extend the reach of the brand and engage alumni in aiding their personal and

professional development; I helped students link theory to a pragmatic setting and thereby enhance

their learning experience; branding SL as an international friendly student organization; Volunteer

experience: co-founder and chair for the CASE europe nordic summit – a brilliant committee of alumni

and fundraising professionals from all Nordic countries - excellent opportunity for peers to network

with others in the region to share ideas, challenges and best practice as well as expanding their

professional network, offering alumni relations and fundraising professionals with the insights, tools

and networks needed to succeed in the Nordic region; Causes: children, education, environment, health,

science and technology; recommendations: feels a huge responsibility when standing in front of a

crowd; Corey is the kind of manager that gives free hand and full control over the project one is working

on, nevertheless he is there for support in the difficult times

Christian Eika: put myself in the shoes of multiple stakeholders; Volunteer as Exchange student at ASF

intercultural programs.

Mikkel Olesen: -

Marianne Livijn: Dedicated to developing people and organizations in alignment with business goals!

8. Enjoyment

Lise Akjaer: Ensuring Customer satisfaction (Area Manager), we are grateful (recommendation letter)

Mia Sørensen: -


58

Corey Morris: recommendations: absolute pleasure to work with him during my time at AU Alumni;

there’s never a dull day in the office when you work with Corey!

Christian Eika: I take pride in helping my colleagues and clients succeed and I am passionate about

working with people. Recommendations: I have had the pleasure of working together with Christian as

teaching assistant – management;

Mikkel Olesen: -

Marianne Livijn: -


59

2.2. Network 2 - MARKETING focused

Resources – RQ1

1. Experience

Stine Horsbøl: Social media consultant at JUGEL&CO; Bartender; Production Assistant; Promoter;

Sales advisor in Hugo Boss

Sophie S. T. Martinussen: Sales coordinator at DanBolig; Marketing Event coordinator; PR

coordinator; corporate assistant; sales administrator; account manager; proofreader; market researcher;

sales and marketing assistant; project manager; telemarketing salesman.

Lise Okkels Hansen: Global events coordinator, member at KOM! KBH – branding marketing and

communications; brand manager; eu careers ambassador; scandinavian communication assistant;

events & marketing assistant; sales & marketing students aid.

Trine Nielsen: International project manager, branding; senior account manager and creative strategist

at Naked Communications for Nike, Sony, Coca-Cola, Telenor, Lego, involved with integrated

marketing communications; creative idea development; market research; project management; account

coordinator at kaleidoscope marketing communications; trade promotions, brand experiences, brand

loyalty activation; all stages of a marketing campaign development and implementation with primary

and secondary research, project management and client accounts; Dataconsultant: optimising data

quality and database; market surveillance; developing and editing consumer guides; sponsorship and

event management; student assistant at Marketsdata; assistant store manager.

Anders Justesen Jensen: account manager consultant; graduate at peoplegroup agency; content &

community manager for marketing initiative on social media; account and project assistant;

communication consultant; planner; journalist; freelance event manager; office asistant.

Theresa Pedersen: Online Marketing Manager; Online Marketing course; digital communication

assistant; blogger; project manager; head of PR and marketing; project employee: communication for

online communication strategy; text production on website and press releases; phoner; waitress.


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2. Skills

Stine Horsbøl: Corporate communications, public relations, social media marketing, marketing,

corporate social responsibility, intercultural communication, crisis communications, social marketing,

storytelling, VIP services, strategic communications, corporate branding.

Sophie S. T. Martinussen: Social Media, Marketing, Social media marketing, marketing

communications, management, public relations, microsoft office, project management, social

networking, corporate communications, business strategy, B2B, Event planning.

Lise Okkels Hansen: Marketing communications; public relations; marketing management; event

management; strategic communications; corporate communications; marketing strategy; market

research; innovation management; internal communications; strategy; project management;

international marketing; corporate branding; english; international relations; congress management;

medical diagnostics; intercultural relations.

Trine Nielsen: Integrated marketing; marketing strategy; social media marketing; project management;

digital marketing; digital strategy; marketing; social media strategist; connections planning; strategy;

advertising; digital project management; event management; creative strategy; creative concept

development; online advertising; nation branding; tourism marketing; destination marketing.

Anders Justesen Jensen: marketing communications; strategic communications; social media

marketing; online marketing; corporate communications; social media; press releases; marketing

strategy; advertising; blogging; media relations; facebook; work outs; public relations; integrated

marketing; strategy.

Theresa Pedersen: corporate communicaitons, social media marketing, marketing communications,

strategic communications, online advertising, public relations, marketing strategy, integrated

marketing social media, corporate branding, marketing, digital marketing, digital strategy, digital

media, digital communication, blogging, press releases.

3. Publications

Stine Horsbøl: -

Sophie S. T. Martinussen: -


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Lise Okkels Hansen: -

Trine Nielsen: -

Anders Justesen Jensen: -

Theresa Pedersen: -

4. Education

Stine Horsbøl: Aarhus University, BA MMC; MA Corporate Communication; Viborg Handelsskole:

Marketing, Innovation & IT.

Sophie S. T. Martinussen: Aarhus School of Business, BA MMC, Branding, PR, Marketing; HA-

international, Finance and Financial Management Services.

Lise Okkels Hansen: Aarhus School of Business BA MMC; Swinburne University of Technology: BA

Marketing & HR; London Metropolitan University: MA Events marketing management; Copenhagen

Business School: MA Organizational innovation and entrepreneurship.

Trine Nielsen: University of Technology, Sydney – Business; Aarhus School of Business – BA MMC;

Macquarie University – MA of Commerce in Marketing

Anders Justesen Jensen: University of Westminster: BA exchange branding advertising and human

resource management; Aarhus university: BA MMC; MA Corporate communications.

Theresa Pedersen: Queensland University of technology: exchange student BA marketing and

advertising; Aarhus university: BA MMC; MA corporate communication, marketing communication.

5. Courses

Stine Horsbøl: Corporate Communication, Stakeholder relations, social media in corporate

communication, Integrated Marketing Communication, Marketing, Social Marketing, Knowledge

communication, project management, textual and visual semiotics, multimodal discourse analysis, new

media, storytelling, corporate internet rhetoric.



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Trine Nielsen: International Marketing; Brand Management; Consumer Behavior; Customer

Relationship Management; Business Internship; Managing Cultural Diversity in Business; Media

Management; Tourism and hospitality Management; Business Marketing; Economics for Business;

International Marketing; Events Management;

Anders Justesen Jensen: corporate communication and stakeholder relations; strategic management of

organisations in a communicative perspective; corporate communication in change and crisis

situations; integrated marketing comunicaitons; online communicaiton; marketing communications on

social media.

Theresa Pedersen: indesign; photoshop, sales course; online marketing with thomas bigum.

6. Interests

Stine Horsbøl: -



Trine Nielsen: Travelling, running, music, innovative tech/digital solutions, baking, cooking, tennis.

Anders Justesen Jensen: communication, marketing, branding, journalism.

Theresa Pedersen: -


Stine Horsbøl: Member of the communications team at WAWCAS International: support Nepalese

women living in poverty to develop and run their own businesses. supports the women and their

children by means of education and supervision.



Trine Nielsen: -


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Theresa Pedersen: -

9. Projects

Stine Horsbøl: Bachelor Thesis: The power of perception: crisis communication in social and

traditional media for supporting brand image.



Trine Nielsen: The open song project: Nokia and Spleen United music band – involving videoclips;

Nokia amazing everyday documentary project involving video, PR and social media; the zoom project


Theresa Pedersen: -

10. Awards

Stine Horsbøl: -



Trine Nielsen: Vice-Chancellors commendation of academic excellence at Macquarie University;

Webby Award Nomination and Honoree for: Consumer electronics & services AND Best use of online

media; FWA 2nd January for nokia the open song project; google creative sandbox for nokia; danish

internet awards: best telecom campaign for nokia everyday documentary project; creative circle

awards: best digital campaign for nike takeCPH


Theresa Pedersen: -


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11. Recommendations

Stine Horsbøl: -



Trine Nielsen: takes good care of things; control of details; thorough; one of the best and most

competent project managers i have come across; structured, dedicated; handling a task with no

guidelines; goes extra mile to deliver the project; positive mindset focused on solution; deliver on time;

always with a smile; hard working; using her smarls; loyal, team spirited; account handling; project

management; production; strategy, influencer outreach; general trouble shooting; work ethic;

dedication to her work.

Anders Justesen Jensen: Anders was brought into our marketing team to take full responsibility for our

social media program. This meant developing and driving our social media strategy as well as

executing this strategy and maintaining the program on a daily basis; Account & Project assistant at

Mindjumpers; Anders focus at Mindjumpers where to support on various clients and to approach new

possible clients. While Anders held the position Mindjumpers started collaboration with Ben & Jerry´s

Denmark (Unilever) and Anders where primarily responsible for this account.

Theresa Pedersen: -

12. Groups

Stine Horsbøl: Aarhus University Alumni, Marketing and Management, Danmark.

Sophie S. T. Martinussen: Connect to Ukraine; Connect to France; Social media advisors; London

Advertising & Designing Group; Happy to connect – ONA; Mississippi job & career network.

Lise Okkels Hansen: Heyrobics, Future trends, Luxury marketing, Aarhus university alumni,

eMarketing association, creative beijing.

Trine Nielsen: future trends; innovative marketing, PR & sales; marketing & communication;

macquarie university; place branding and marketing; digital marketing; marketing innovations,

creative advertisements, brand campaigns and cutting edge business strategy.


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Anders Justesen Jensen: MA in corporate communicaitons; aarhus university alumni; carestream

dental; social media marketing; social media forum for marketing; nordic social media group.

Theresa Pedersen: marketing and management; digital works; corporate communication; social media

marketing.

13. Influencers

Stine Horsbøl: -

Sophie S. T. Martinussen: Richard Branson.


Trine Nielsen: -

Anders Justesen Jensen: richard branson; conan o’brien CEO; sir martin sorrell CEO.

Theresa Pedersen: -

14. News

Stine Horsbøl: -



Trine Nielsen: -


Theresa Pedersen: -


Stine Horsbøl: Grundfos, Danmarks radio, Unilever – Consumer Goods, Dansk Supermarked – Retail,

Studenterlauget – Nonprofit Organization Management.


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Lise Okkels Hansen: Kunde & Co; Copenhagen Business school, Luxury marketing and branding,

ventana medical systems, novo nordisk.

Trine Nielsen: emirates; visitdenmark; wonderful copenhagen; visit nordjylland; SAS; visitaarhus;

visitnordsjaelland.

Anders Justesen Jensen: Bosch rexroth; mindjumpers; relations people marketing and advertising;

marketing and advertising 7 more groups; manchester united.

Theresa Pedersen: stickyeyes – marketing and advertising; egmont – media production.

Credibility – RQ2

Expertize Appeal




to LinkedIn tools);

Stine Horsbøl: -



Trine Nielsen: Vice-Chancellors commendation of academic excellence at Macquarie University;

Webby Award Nomination and Honoree for: Consumer electronics & services AND Best use of online

media; FWA 2nd January for nokia the open song project; google creative sandbox for nokia; danish

internet awards: best telecom campaign for nokia everyday documentary project; creative circle

awards: best digital campaign for nike takeCPH; Recommendations: Trine has been an instrumental

part of the majority of work coming out of the Naked office in Copenhagen, Her ef-forts have produced

high quality results to the benefit of our com-pany;

Anders Justesen Jensen: creative mindset, which surely played a vital part in the setting up and running

of Bet24's social platform


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Theresa Pedersen: -

2. World knowledge



Stine Horsbøl: I have learned a lot about the internal processors in a small manufacturing company;

being a sales advisor taught me a lot about the retail industry as such and about being a good salesman

in general.


Lise Okkels Hansen: useful insights by being challenged in navigating organizations.

Trine Nielsen: -

Anders Justesen Jensen: Integrated Marketing Communications, Advertising and Digital/Social Media;

recommendations: deep understanding of social media; impressive understanding of different

communication tools;

Theresa Pedersen: our blog Readmymind.dk is a place where readers can follow our thesis process and

read about findings from our research. Besides, we post and comment on inspiring real life examples

that illustrate how new technologies and cross media communication can help connect and interact

with consumers.


Knowledge/Skills include all the discourse related to skills, education, training, position or status,

membership of communities and organizations and work-related experience.

Stine Horsbøl: I work with quality control as Production Assistant. Bartender at Klubben - I am

responsible for the V.I.P.’s during all major events. Promoter: deliver one-to-one marketing through

distributing product samples; very adaptable because potential customers whose interests you need to

catch, are never the same. Fulltime sales advisor at Hugo Boss in London: General customer assistance


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and generating additional sales, ordering goods, being responsible for great sums of money;

strengthened my language skills; communication across national and cultural boarders.

Sophie S. T. Martinussen: sales coordinator: Liaising and coordinating with builders, architects and

contractors, organising and executing meetings with clients and partners, preparing marketing material;

Marketing event coordinator; coordinating communication flow; brand activation; PR coordinator:

communicating with concert venues, external marketing and PR agencies; branding and promoting

artists through media channels, preparing PR material; planning release events. Corporate assistant;

arranging arranging meetings, drafting sales documents; account manager: creating online promotional

campaigns; consultancy services; proofreader; project manager; Telemarketing salesman; Sales and

Marketing Assistant.

Lise Okkels Hansen: Innovation Management; Event Marketing & Management, Communications,

Intercultural communication; Global events coordinator; member at KOM! KBH: branding, marketing,

communications and sales based on knowledge sharing; brand manager, EU careers Ambassador,

Scandinavian Communications Assistant; Events and marketing assistant; Sales & Marketing student

aid; Marketing communications; public relations; marketing management; event management;

marketing strategy, market research; internal communications.

Trine Nielsen: good at navigating among various stakeholders and ensuring alignment for everyone

involved; international project manager, branding; senior account manager and creative strategist:

insights & strategy, creative idea development, integrated marketing communications, market research,

events and workshops. Moreover, my role has been to project manage both internally at Naked Cph as

well as externally; account coordinator: Customer Relationship Management, I was involved with all

stages of a marketing campaign development and implementation such as conducting primary and

secondary research, attending client meetings, development of concepts, project management and

client accounts.; dataconsultant: optimising data quality and verification; market surveillance;

developing and editing consumer guides for internal sales system; sponsorship and event management;

marketing ad hoc tasks; Student assistant; assistant store manager at Blockbuster; integrated marketing;

marketing strategy, social media marketing; project management; digital marketing; digital strategy;

marketing; social media strategist; connections planning; strategy; advertising; digital project

management; event management; creative strategy; creative concept development; online advertising;

nation branding; tourism marketing; destination marketing. Recommendations: one of the best and

most competent Project Managers I have come across in my 15 years as Marketeer. ;


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Anders Justesen Jensen: social media experience; marketing strategies designed to hit their audience

through numerous platforms. I have experience from some of the top agencies in Denmark within

advertising, PR and social media and a slight preference for the latter; account manager consultant:

leading full service agency, strategic consulting, campaign planning and development as well as

building lasting client relations and sales; graduate at peoplegroup: finest and biggest integrated house

of agencies; traditional media: print, tv and direct marketing; digital and social media marketing;

strategic communication, traditional PR, media relations, digital communication, monitoring and social

media. Content& community manager: launching a marketing initiative on social media across all

markets including communicating with community; writing articles and sales texts; planning and

collecting content from our strategic partners. Account & project assistant: Project Management;

Budget-planning; Strategic consulting; Sales; Planning and execution of sales meetings; Pitching in on

new assignments ; Research; Planning and execution of workshops. Communication consultant:

writing press releases, blogging; presenting at conferences; planner: promote event, plan programme,

Journalist: innovating site; social media; writing articles; interviews; freelance event manager; office

assistant; marketing communications; strategic communications; social media marketing; online

marketing; corporate communications; social media; press releases; marketing strategy; advertising;

blogging; media relations; facebook; work outs; public relations; integrated marketing; strategy.

Theresa Pedersen: Project management; Strategic development, planning and implementation of

marketing campaigns and strategies; Strategic digital communication on social media platforms and

websites; Online advertising and marketing; head of PR and Marketing; Project employee:

communication: text production – website and press releases; communication on LinkedIn and website;

phoner: interviews and customer satisfaction sheets; waitress at musikhuset.




Stine Horsbøl: good eye for detail and I always strive to be efficient without compromising on the

quality of my work; ability to work independently; I have proved that I am very adaptable. As a

bartender: I can work very fast and with great precision too, in spite of the great pressure there might


70

be during peak periods. As V.I.P. responsible I have proven that I am able to keep my head cold and

that I have good coordination skills.

Sophie S. T. Martinussen: Competence, Development, Ambition, Vision and Strategy.


Trine Nielsen: Finding new approaches and solutions to what appears to be impossible, motivates me;

I strive towards the best solution to any given challenge or task by questioning the existing and

exploring the opportunities; though a pragmatic approach; great deal of flexibility and diplomacy.

Recommendations: She is in control of every little detail, she is thorough, she asks the right questions

and finds a way of handling task with no guidelines; Trine is structured, dedicated and always goes

that extra mile to deliver the project. Trine always has a positive mindset and will focus on the solution,

fixing issues you as a client will hardly know existed and handling sub vendors to deliver on time;

taking on every challenge with a structured, service-minded, strategic & imaginative

approach. conscientious and energetic individual. Trine has consistently dem-onstrated a strong work

ethic and a dedication to her work. She is outgoing and sociable.

Anders Justesen Jensen: Recommendations: positive attitude; a great spirit; quick learner. He is

ambitious and willing to dig deep when needed. He is a quick thinker and dedicated to whatever

assignment he is handed; very outgoing and a pleasant a person to be around; energetic, enthusiastic

and curious employee!

Theresa Pedersen: I am independent, positive and a creative team player with personal ambitions. I

value humour and an informal tone in an otherwise professional work environment. I thrive working

in a busy and dynamic workplace with a high performance culture, as I like facing new challenges and

having responsibility; high professional standard, a result oriented mind-set and an extrovert and

positive personality; Online marketing course: SEO marketing; Conversion and implementation of

CMS and blogs (Wordpress); Conversion optimization - development of user-friendly websites;

Campaign optimization (Google AdWords); Tracking of online-traffic (Google Analytics); Strategic

communication on social media; E-mail marketing; online advertising as digital communication

assistant; coordinating online marketing campaigns and activities; customer relationship initiatives;

project management; blogger;


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6. Integrity / Truthfulness


Stine Horsbøl: -



Trine Nielsen: -


Theresa Pedersen: -

Empathy Appeal

7. Attention




and values.

Stine Horsbøl: Volunteering as member for the communications team for WAWCAS International:

supporting Nepalese women living in poverty to develop and run their businesses, and their children

to have education.

Sophie S. T. Martinussen: Building, developing and maintaining customer relations and loyalty


Trine Nielsen: The zoom project – charity for causes; Volunteer experience: marketing &

communication strategy at Masanga project Sierra Leone. Recommendations: loyal; highly respected

by her co-workers for her willingness to help anyone anytime she can.



72

Theresa Pedersen: -

8. Enjoyment

Stine Horsbøl: As a bartender in Klubben, my most important job is to make sure that our guests are

having a great time.



Trine Nielsen: I have had the pleasure of working with Trine; she is simply a joy to work with; I have

had the pleasure of knowing Trine Nielsen; always liked by everyone she meet.

Anders Justesen Jensen: Anders always brings a positive attitude to work and was appreciated by all

stakeholders, internal as well as external

Theresa Pedersen: -


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2.3. Network 3 - COMMUNICATION focused

Resources – RQ1

1. Experience

Lara Mulady: Digital Copywriter and Owner; Online Communications Manager; Digital Project

Manager; Online Communicator at Designit; Communications Assistant; Strategic Analyst B2B;

Andy Grantham: International student recruiter at Business Academy Aarhus; Alumni relations

manager; Alumni relations officer: social media management; strategic brand development; integrated

marketing communications; development of multimedia campaigns; project management; digital

managing editor – creation and editorial role for online communications; communications consultant

and Media Manager at the Danish Rugby Union; planning of external marketing and communication;

implementing these with large events in sports; senior representative at Aarhus Rugby Club;

Marketing Communications coordinator: management reporting and cross functional communications;

project assistant; student assistant; corporate communication intern; cafe assistant; Freelance translator.

Thea Friborg: -

Michael Lambarena: Communication coordinator at Pharma medico international; student employee

for Language at work magazine; communications intern; student assistant at aarhus unviersity for

translation services.

Helene Nordenskov: Marketing & Conference Coordinator at two different companies; PR

coordinator; project manager; communicator; marketing assistant; commercial assistant: writing and

editinc news and editorials; proofreading; writing news for brochure and the web; translations; writing

and editing texts for the web; promotional literature; coordinating with marketing, sales and customer

service.

Christopher Kjærulff: social media junior consultant – group communications; online & social media

intern – group communications grundfos: advertising, publishing; content coordination; support and

training; online and social media intern: business development marketing: content creation, community

management; stakeholder relations; data analysis; sales advisor at pro golf; exchange student tutor.


74

2. Skills

Lara Mulady: Social Media, Digital Marketing; Marketing Communications, Digital Media,

Copywriting; Online Advertising; Integrated Marketing; Corporate Communications; Public

Relations; New Media; Transcreation, Proofreading, Strategic Planning, Web Content, Digital

Strategy, Google Analytics, B2B, Craft Beer.

Andy Grantham: Corporate communications, marketing communications, strategic communications,

internal communications, social media, online marketing, public relations, integrated marketing, event

management; business communications, copywriting, crisis communications, communications

planning, sports marketing, digital media, project management, corporate branding.

Thea Friborg: Creative writing, directing, video production, social media, editing, film, acting, event

management, corporate communications, photography, marketing communications.

Michael Lambarena: Danish, strategic communications, intercultural communications, proofreading,

corporate communications, internal communications, public relations, translation, editing,

management.

Helene Nordenskov: marketing communications; strategic communications; corporate

communications; public relations; marketing; project management; event management; social media;

marketing strategy; event planning; copywriting; online marketing; qualitative research; social media

marketing.

Christopher Kjærulff: social media; marketing communications; public relations; corporate

communications; social media marketing; english; integrated marketing; online advertising; facebook;

danish; crisis communication; content management; intercultural communication.

3. Publications

Lara Mulady: Pulse 2010

Andy Grantham: Coming to Denmark – Our stories: description of what it’s like to be an international

employee in Denmark.

Thea Friborg: -

Michael Lambarena: -


75

Helene Nordenskov: -

Christopher Kjærulff: instagram is a marketplace; get more customers with responsive design; the fight

against the dark side; free marketing – or is it?.

4. Education

Lara Mulady: Aarhus Universitet - Bachelor Marketing Management grade 10; Masters Corporate

Communication grade 12.

Andy Grantham: Aarhus School of Business BA MMC; MA Corporate Communication grade 12;

Aberdeen College: Sports coaching and sports development.

Thea Friborg: Aarhus University BA MMC grade 12; MA Corporate communication; Masterclass in

creative writing, The Animation Workshop.

Michael Lambarena: Washington statey university – International Businesses; Aarhus School Business

– BA MMC; MA Corporate communication.

Helene Nordenskov: Aarhus School of Business: BA MMC; Aarhus University: MA Corporate

communication; UNSW International management and business communication.

Christopher Kjærulff: aarhus university BA MMC; summer school programme; MA corporate

communications.

5. Courses

Lara Mulady: -

Andy Grantham: Corporate communication and stakeholder relations; Strategic Management of

Organisations in a Communicative Perspective; Corporate Communication in Change and Crisis

Situations; Integrated Marketing Communication and Public Relations; CSR Communication.

Thea Friborg: -


Helene Nordenskov: project management


76

Christopher Kjærulff: accounting, academic writing, basic english grammar, communicative grammar,

communication theory & reception analysis, corporate internet rhetoric, integrated marketing

communications, introduction to business organisation, introductory economics, knowledge

communication, multimodal discourse analysis, marketing, new media & business, organisational

bejavior, persuasion, public relations, project management, storytelling, textual and visual semiotics,

theory of scientific methods; business digital innovation and social media; corporate communication;

corporate ocmmunication in change and crisis situations, educational stay, investor relations, process

consultation and relations, scientific methods, social media in corporate communication, stakeholder

relations, strategic management of organizations in a communicative perspective; introductory pump

course, project management foundation.

6. Interests

Lara Mulady: Advertising, branding and brand communication, external and internal communication,

new media, technology, music, film, social trends.

Andy Grantham: communication, marketing, branding, advertising, new media, social media, sport,

rugby, football, skiing, snowboarding.

Thea Friborg: -

Michael Lambarena: Languages, travel, branding, technology.


Christopher Kjærulff: socil media, social business, public relation, corporate communication,

stakeholder management; crisis communication, issues management, golf, running, training.


Lara Mulady: Looking for Skills-based volunteering; Causes: Civil Rights and Social Action;

Education; Science and Technology.

Andy Grantham: -

Thea Friborg: -


77



Christopher Kjærulff: junior coach at skanderborg golf club; festival journalist – communications team.

9. Projects

Lara Mulady: -

Andy Grantham: Masters dissertation – Do you know rugby?: on brand awareness.

Thea Friborg: -


Helene Nordenskov: Service desk; communication; e-commerce; big data; master data management;

mobile apps; enterprise mobility; back office; harbour; stafet for livet at Danish Cancer society.

Christopher Kjærulff: modernism or postmodernist: a case study of the BBC’s crisis communication

on the Jimmy Savile crisis; social media @ grundfos; video project for grundfos installers; video

project for grundfos engineering.

10. Awards

Lara Mulady: -

Andy Grantham: 2x Danish Rugby Union Superliga Champion.

Thea Friborg: -

Michael Lambarena: Full Scholarship at Aarhus University for the Masters Degree in Corporate

communications.


Christopher Kjærulff: -


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11. Recommendations

Lara Mulady: Online Communications Manager – journalistic and conceptual copywriting, agile in

switching between genres; great sense of humor; technical nerdiness; complete copywriter; one of best

online communicators; born social; builds communities around brands; brings energy and drive;

working with her is fun, inspiring and extremely productive; independent project coordinator; self-

motivated; goal-oriented; creative; commitment and high spirits.

Andy Grantham: Alumni relations manager – online management, social media, communication with

stakeholders, strategy. Marketing communications coordinator: social media marketing, natural flair

for communication, both in person and online, a real team player. Corporate communication intern:

communicating right with the target group.

Thea Friborg: -



Christopher Kjærulff: hristopher, whom I have had the pleasure of working with the past year at

Grundfos, is a highly skilled professional within the realm of social media and communications.

Christopher has a very thorough understanding of the complexities of a large organisation and he has

managed to simplify processes and achieve considerable results for the campaigns I managed; had the

pleasure of working with Christopher over a year, where he was an intern in our social media

department. He took an active role in finding new angles for articles that we produced for other

channels and retargeting them for our Facebook and LinkedIn channels. He was not only skilled at

seeing the possibilities, but acting upon those, finding the experts internally, following up on readers'

comments 24/7, meeting deadlines - and then just being a great guy to work with and have in the office.

With his deliveries in his team, Christopher has been responsible for putting Social Media on the

Grundfos landscape – ensuring a high level of quality in his deliveries making sure that we track the

behavior of our Social media campaigns. Christopher is the perfect asset to any marketing team who

needs to strengthen their SEO/Social Media strategy, lifting you -or your client’s presence on the Social

Media landscape to a completely new level. Christopher is outgoing, positive, solution-oriented and

communicative, and can establish good working relationships with all project participants

strengthening our internal knowledge of the true value of Social Media in marketing.


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12. Groups

Lara Mulady: Online Copywriting Collective; Digital Works; Advertising Copywriting; Copywriting

& Copyediting; Copywriting Training; Community Conference; Search Engine Land.

Andy Grantham: The social effect – the conversational marketing community; social media – impact

on todays businesses; the rugby business network; aarhus university alumni; studenterlauget alumni.

Thea Friborg: Aarhus University Alumni; Film, TV & Crossmedia; Filmmakers.

Michael Lambarena: Aarhus University alumni.

Helene Nordenskov: Malaysian business network; network for digital communicators; asian and global

business network.

Christopher Kjærulff: maarhus university alumni; social media strategies; marketing communication;

social media marketing; corporate communication; internet week denmark; social media news & tech;

pump engineers; public relations and communications professionals.

13. Influencers

Lara Mulady: Richard Branson

Andy Grantham: Gary Vaynerchuk – Entrepreneur; Penelope Trunk – Founder and CEO; Rachel Sklar

– Founder and CEO.

Thea Friborg: -




14. News

Lara Mulady: Technology; Marketing & Advertising; Social Media.


80

Andy Grantham: Technology; Best Advice; education; leadership and management; editor’s picks; big

ideas and innovation; social media.

Thea Friborg: -



Christopher Kjærulff: technology, big data, leadership and management; big ideas & innovation;

marketing & advertising; social media.


Lara Mulady: Vizeum – Marketing & Advertising; Textlocal LTD – Telecommunications; Freespee –

Marketing and Advertising; Bysted – public relations and communications.

Andy Grantham: DevonConsult – professional training & coaching; f.reklame – Marketing and

advertising; BRO Kommunikation – Public relations and communications; Arla foods ingredients;

premiership rugby.

Thea Friborg: -


Helene Nordenskov: Basico – Rekruttering; Ministry of foreign affairs of denmark; UNSW Australia;

Danish Cancer Society; Beyond budgeting institute; Aarhus Universitet.

Christopher Kjærulff: pro golf scandinavia; ben & jerry’s, djøf; linkedin; department of business

communication.


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Credibility – RQ2

Expertise Appeal




to LinkedIn tools);

Lara Mulady: -

Andy Grantham: Danish Rugby Union Superliga Champion; Recommendations: has brought our

online engagement levels to new heights; managed to use social media to elevate our brand and

engagement levels to unprecedented heights - in particular by helping our alumni network sustain a

40% annual growth rate; ensured that budgets were met with excellent results and fast turnarounds;

helped to elevate areas of the business that had previously not benefitted from a professional marketing

approach; investigated and started Google Adwords campaigns; As a result of Andys work, Arla have

moved from eight dairies using infoscreens to more than 20 in Denmark alone, which helps corporate

messages to get even closer to the employees

Thea Friborg: -

Michael Lambarena: Full Scholarship at Aarhus University for the Masters Degree in Corporate

communications.

Helene Nordenskov: as commercial asistant at ministry of foreign affairs of denmark: Five percent

increase in sales of subscriptions (six months); New newsletter design; A more professional and

readable newsletter.

Christopher Kjærulff: created A new framework for reporting and A series of videos for our social

channels as a social media junior consultant, gruop communications at grundfos.

2. World knowledge




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Lara Mulady: My background is in transcreation, copywriting, online communication, planning and

executing digital campaigns, online advertising and marketing and creative planning.

Andy Grantham: A retired international rugby player, I'm into sport, tech and new media, and would

love the opportunity to be able to work with a combination of these three things one day; corporate

communications; integrated marketing communication, csr communication, human resource

management; Masters dissertation about brand awareness.

Thea Friborg: -


Helene Nordenskov: project management

Christopher Kjærulff: theoretical and practical knowledge of corporate communication;

recommendations: strengthening our internal knowledge of the true value of Social Media in

marketing.


Knowledge/Skills include all the discourse related to skills, education, training, position or status,

membership of communities and organizations and work-related experience.

Lara Mulady: Campaign planning, concept and ide development, research, copywriter, produced

presentations, I write copy, from translation of entire websites (Danish - English), to individual pieces

of conceptual copy, resulting in simple, powerful and accurate communication. I also proofread, and

can help companies create a strong social media presence; Online communications manager; digital

project manager; communications assistant; strategic analyst; Recommendations: amazing range

between journalistic and conceptual copywriting; technical nerdiness; one of the most complete

copywriters; one of the best online communicators Mikal Hallstrup worked with; knows how to build

communities around brands; extremely competent

Andy Grantham: student recruitment and marketing for Business Academy Aarhus' international

educations; integrated marketing and social media; Integrated marketing communications; project

management; digital managing editor; social media management; relation building among alumni and

the university; planning of external marketing and communication; management reporting and cross


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functional communications; freelance translator; Recommendations: very skillful at both finding and

promoting relevant content and inspiring comunication with our target groups; excellent people skills.

Thea Friborg: Activities and Societies: Board member and promotion manager at the Danish Marketing

Forum.

Michael Lambarena: Strategic communications, proofreading, corporate communications, internal

communications, english, danish; translation, editing; Communication coordinator at Pharma medico

international; student employee for managing website, proofreading and editing material, writing

articles; Internship at Vestas as communication intern: creating communication strategy for business

unit, generating interviews and articles for the intranet, managing internal info screens; student

assistant: translation services; international office introduction week tutor.

Helene Nordenskov: great communicator, orally and in writing; as well as I have a talent for tasks,

which rely on the ability to coordinate and plan; marketing & conference coordinator; PR coordinator;

writing web content and press releases; project manager: design conference agenda; writing and editing

texts for brochure and web; coordinating with speakers and sponsors; cooperation with marketing sales

and customer service; communicator: promotional literature, translations, writing news for the web;

commercial assistant: writing and editing news and editorials; proofreading; customer service;

updating social media channels; writing and editing texts for the web; preparation of project proposal;

delivery management.

Christopher Kjærulff: SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGY Providing input, support and guidance to a

number of stakeholders in the development and execution of Grundfos' social media activities &

strategy while maintaining the corporate identity. COMMUNITY MANAGEMENT I manage 5 online

communities across different Social Media platforms. CONTENT EXECUTION I have experience in

a range of content based tasks i.e. creating content & texts, planning, execution and coordination across

campaigns and platforms. I also have extensive experience with the advertisement options offered by

Facebook. DATA HANDLING I have experience with collecting and interpreting data for the purpose

of i.e. campaign evaluation, platform evaluation, content improvement and reporting; Training and

support; coordinate content creation and content planning; Input on content alignment between

Marketing and Communications goals, and Social Media; Gather data for different social media

reports; Responsible for community management across our different corporate channels; Input to our

Social Media strategy processes; publishing and advertising on Facebook, support and training of local

markets in our Social Media processes and our Social Media management tool; support and training;


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monitoring; response management; reporting; content coordination; online and social media intern in

business development marketing at grundfos: online stakeholders relations; community management

on social media; social media activities; content creation; data analysis; ad-hoc tasks; sales advisor;

exchange student tutor; social media; marketing communications; public relations; corporate

communications; social media marketing; english; integrated marketing; online advertising; facebook;

danish; crisis communication; content management; intercultural communication.




Lara Mulady: I focus on the subtleties, nuances and personalities of companies and brands, attention

to detail Recommendations: super agile in switching between genres; genuine interest for

communication and the next big thing; born social; she brings experience, energy and drive to any

collaboration, always enthusiastic, self-motivated, goal-oriented person with great sense of humor,

full of initiative, efficient, creative

Andy Grantham: Recommendations: very pleasant and good-humored guy to work with; down-to-

earth, constructive and open-minded approach to his tasks and projects he’s involved; levelheaded; he

has energy and commitment.

Thea Friborg: -


Helene Nordenskov: structured, detail-oriented and keeping perspective. I am very dedicated and

extroverted. I am a team player, but also comfortable working independently being responsible.

Christopher Kjærulff: I’ve learned to channel that adversity into motivation. And channel that

motivation into learning new things; recommendations: outgoing, positive, solution-oriented and

communicative, and can establish good working relationships with all project participants.


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6. Integrity and truthfulness


Lara Mulady: I went to university and had a lot of fun. Maybe too much (signals honesty); I was at

two boarding schools where I definitely had too much fun

Andy Grantham: -

Thea Friborg: -




Empathy Appeal

7. Attention




and values.

Lara Mulady: Skills-based volunteering, civil rights; did workshops with clients; I was involved as a

true member of the team, Recommendation: committed person

Andy Grantham: Andrew is a real team-player; cares about causes: Education, health, science and

technology.

Thea Friborg: -


Helene Nordenskov: I am a team player; involved in the project Stafet for Livet at Danish Cancer

Society and PR coordinator.


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Christopher Kjærulff: volunteer as junior coach for skanderborg golf club; festival journalist.

8. Enjoyment

Lara Mulady: My clients include Starbucks, Eurovision, Philip Morris, Libratone, Isobar, Endomondo,

and HOWE, among others; Recommendations: working with her is fun, inspiring and extremely

productive; a delight to work with

Andy Grantham: very pleasant; have very much enjoyed working with him; Colleagues previously

sceptical to the marketing department were suddenly enthusiastic and willing to work with Andy.

Thea Friborg: -



Christopher Kjærulff: I had the pleasure of working with Christopher; being a great guy to work with

and have in the office.


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Appendix 3: Networks themes

Network 1 – Management focused

Organizational Theme: General management membership successfully reconciled with communication and unrelated nexus memberships

- Management communication with a leadership focus

- Project leadership and management

- Recruitment and HR coupled with internal communications

- Spanish culture and dance

- Environment sustainability awareness

- Online Marketing communications

- Training and mentoring

- Tourism and international relations

- Public relations (“administration and public relations officer in U.S. Navy army”)

- BA MMC education displayed in all cases

Organizational Theme: Unsuccessful reconciliation of sports field with the other nexus memberships

- Sports

Organizational Theme: Credibility established largely on management and leadership expertise and values, communication biased

- (Expertise) Management entitlements

- (Expertise) Entitlements in mentoring and coaching

- (Expertise) Skilled and knowledgeable in Event & project management and project leadership

- (Expertise) Skilled and knowledgeable in Management, leadership and business development

- (Expertise) Skilled and knowledgeable in Training, mentoring and HR, internal communications

- (Expertise) Skilled and knowledgeable in Marketing communication and online branding

- Attributes of curiosity, opportunism and passion.

- Established trustworthiness with honesty, reliability and passion for values

- Empathic by being responsible, approachable, collaborative and supporting


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Network 2 - Marketing focused

Organizational Theme: General marketing nexus membership successfully reconciled with communication and unrelated fields

- Online marketing communications social media PR

- Intercultural communication, tourism marketing and nation branding (reconciliation of marketing with tourism, plus “international marketing”)

- Marketing strategy and research + campaign development

- Music and video (reconciled by managing music related video projects)

- Project management and account coordination

- BA MMC education displayed in all cases

Organizational Theme: Unsuccessful reconciliation of non-business fields with the marketing nexus memberships

- Bartender

- Sports (“running” and “tennis”)

- Cooking (“cooking” and “baking”)

Organizational Theme: Credibility established largely on marketing and relations expertise, communication biased.

- (Expertise) Skilled and knowledgeable in marketing communications with a strong social media bias

- (Expertise) Skilled and knowledgeable in public relations and communication coordination

- (Expertise) Skilled and knowledgeable in project management and event marketing

- (Attributes) Positive and dedicated attitude, with a structured mindset

- Communication focused empathy, through loyal and helpful behavior in relation settings


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Network 3 – Communication focused

Organizational Theme: General communication nexus membership successfully reconciled with social media presence and unrelated fields

- Communication and external marketing in sport events (e.g. media manager at sports union)

- Sports (“football”, “rugby”, “skiing”, “snowboarding”, “golf”, “running”)

- Strategic and crisis communication coupled with public relations and CSR communication

- Intercultural communication and international management

- Social Media marketing and online communication

- Copywriting, creative writing and online journalism

- BA MMC education generally displayed

Organizational Theme: Unsuccessful reconciliation of communication nexus membership with unrelated media fields

- Video production, music, photography, film and acting (e.g. TV & Crossmedia, Filmmakers)

Organizational Theme: Credibility established largely on expertise in communication, slightly marketing related.

- (Expertise) Entitlements in marketing and organizational social media communication

- (Expertise) Skilled and knowledgeable in copywriting, online text production, and journalism

- (Expertise) Skilled and knowledgeable in social media strategy, public relations and online campaign planning

- (Expertise) Skilled and knowledgeable in CSR communication and brand awareness

- Social attributes, coupled with humor and energy

- Trustworthiness signaled by tough honesty

- Empathic team-player characteristics

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