Green organizational identity: Socio-semiotic analysis of why organizations appear green

Yıl 2025, Cilt: 15 Sayı: 1, 181 - 226, 23.03.2025

Salih Arslan , Hakan Olgun

https://doi.org/10.48146/odusobiad.1423343

Öz

The study is about the relationship between organizations' green organizational identity building efforts and their strategies for using colors. The study aims to reveal how organizations use colors in the process of redesigning their organizational identities centered on green thought. The study was designed with a qualitative multiple case studies. As data, images on the official websites of seven companies selected from the Turkish iron and steel industry using purposeful sampling technique were used. Images were analyzed with the color analysis technique of social semiotics. Findings show that the color green is used intensively in the images and is associated with the factory or administrative building that represents the company. It is especially common in all images to frame the factory or administrative building that represents the company in a green frame and to allow the viewer to look at the symbolic objects that represent the company through a green window. The conclusion of the study is that the use of green color as a background in the official website designs of companies and the related and interconnected display of symbolic objects representing the company in green serve a transforming function in the meaning of concrete material objects. It can be said that companies are trying to produce a meaning and perception that they have internalized green thought in their corporate environment and made it the central determinant of their practices through this transformation in their organizational identities by using the ability of the color green to represent environmentalism or ecologism.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Organizational Identity, Green Thought, Environmentalism, Green Organizational Identity, Socio-Semiotic Analysis

Yeşil örgütsel kimlik: Örgütlerin niçin yeşil göründüklerinin sosyo-semiyotik analizi

Öz

Çalışma örgütlerin yeşil örgütsel kimlik inşa çabaları ile renkleri kullanma stratejileri arasındaki ilişkiyi konu edinmektedir. Çalışmada örgütlerin örgütsel kimliklerini yeşil düşünce merkezli yeniden tasarlama sürecinde renkleri nasıl kullandıklarının ortaya çıkarılması amaçlanmaktadır. Çalışma nitel çoklu örnek olay deseniyle tasarlanmıştır. Veri olarak Türkiye demir-çelik sektöründen amaçlı örneklem tekniği ile seçilen yedi firmanın resmi web sitelerindeki görseller kullanılmıştır. Görseller sosyal semiyotiğin renk analizi tekniği ile çözümlenmiştir. Bulgular görsellerde yeşil rengin yoğun ve firmayı temsil eden fabrika ya da yönetim binası ile ilişkili bir şekilde kullanıldığını göstermektedir. Özellikle firmayı temsil eden fabrika ya da yönetim binasının yeşil bir çerçeve içine alınması ve izleyicinin yeşil renkte bir pencereden firmayı temsil eden sembolik nesnelere bakmasının sağlanması bütün görsellerde yaygındır. Çalışmanın ulaştığı sonuç, firmaların resmi web sitesi tasarımlarında yeşil rengin arka plan olarak kullanılması ve yeşil renkle firmayı temsil eden sembolik nesnelerin ilişkili ve iç içe gösterilmesi somut maddi nesnelerin anlamını dönüştürücü bir işlev görmektedir. Firmaların yeşil rengin çevrecilik ya da ekolojizmi temsil yeteneğini kullanarak örgütsel kimliklerinde gerçekleştirdikleri bu dönüşüm aracılığıyla kurumsal çevrelerinde yeşil düşünceyi özümsedikleri ve pratiklerinin merkezi belirleyicisi haline getirdikleri şeklinde bir anlam ve algı üretmeye çalıştıkları söylenebilir.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Örgütsel Kimlik, Yeşil Düşünce, Çevrecilik, Yeşil Örgütsel Kimlik, Sosyo-Semiyotik Analiz

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