Research Information System
4th Current Issues in Business and Economic Studies Conference, CIBES 2024, Rome, Italy, 20 - 22 June 2024, pp.45-71, (Full Text)
This study focuses on the Turkish Red Crescent (Kizilay), Turkey’s largest emergency response organization, to explore how post-truth narratives drive organizational transformation. By examining Kizilay’s evolution amid neoliberal deregulation, we attempt to demonstrate how strategic ignorance and manipulated truths affect organizational legitimacy and restructuring. We approach post-truth from the standpoint of strategic ignorance to assess the harm done to a crucial emergency response organization following a societal crisis. We highlight the key legitimating discourses employed by Kizilay, which ultimately fail to secure the intended public acceptance and legitimacy. The sequence of events ending with the resignation of Kizilay’s then president underscores the disconnect between the organization’s strategic communications and public perception. We contend that studying post-truth without denigrating its creators and consumers offers significant benefits, including the formulation of evidence-based social policies and an improved ability to recognize and address strategic ignorance.