Hur och varför media konstruerar ledarskap - Ett kliv in på redaktionen för att utvärdera tänkbara förklaringsmekanismer
In modern leadership research, leadership is often viewed as a social construction, and under this paradigm various researchers let the media play a central role in constructing leadership. Meanwhile, the question of how the media actors do this is left unanswered. We explore the question of how and why the media construct leadership, from the vantage point of the media actors themselves, and the conditions they work under. Different mechanisms for media construction of leadership are identified in previous research. Through interviews with business journalists at Veckans Affärer, we find recognition for some of the explanatory mechanisms: namely that personification of a CEO facilitates the work of journalists (and sells papers), that personal drama captures reader demand, and that the CEO of a listed company consciously cultivates his or her personal parallel self. We propose one new mechanism, namely that the stock market drives both journalists and readers toward a more CEO-oriented format.