When a nation’s leader is under siege: Managing personal reputation and engaging in public diplomacy

In 2015, Malaysia’s investment vehicle, 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), came under international scrutiny after it amassed a debt of US$11 billion (€10.3 billion) (Wright & Clark, 2015), which it had difficulty repaying. More disturbingly, investigators found that US$700 million (€658 milli...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: PANG, A., DAMAYANTI, Ratna, WOON, Yong-Sheng Eugene
Format: text
Language:English
Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2017
Subjects:
Online Access:https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/lkcsb_research/6069
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Institution: Singapore Management University
Language: English
id sg-smu-ink.lkcsb_research-7068
record_format dspace
spelling sg-smu-ink.lkcsb_research-70682019-02-07T09:42:08Z When a nation’s leader is under siege: Managing personal reputation and engaging in public diplomacy PANG, A. DAMAYANTI, Ratna WOON, Yong-Sheng Eugene In 2015, Malaysia’s investment vehicle, 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), came under international scrutiny after it amassed a debt of US$11 billion (€10.3 billion) (Wright & Clark, 2015), which it had difficulty repaying. More disturbingly, investigators found that US$700 million (€658 million) was transferred into the personal bank account of Malaysia’s prime minister, Najib Razak, founder and chairman of 1MDB’s advisory board (Wright & Clark, 2015). Najib was also accused of embezzling state money (Reuters, 2015) and damaging the image of the country (“Najib tried to bribe me”, 2015). This chapter aims to examine the strategies used by the Malaysian prime minister to repair his image in the 1MDB scandal, the effectiveness of these strategies, and how these impacted Malaysia’s public diplomacy efforts in restoring the country’s image and reputation. Findings showed that the prime minister denied wrongdoing, and simultaneously bolstered his position and promised to turn 1MDB around. In contrast to the current explication of Benoit and Pang’s (2008) image repair strategies, Najib’s way of attacking the accusers sheds light into how image repair strategies may be operationalized in the Asian context. A new image repair strategy – diversion – is proposed to be added to the existing framework. 2017-01-01T08:00:00Z text https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/lkcsb_research/6069 info:doi/10.1108/S2398-391420170000002003 Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business eng Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University Reputation Public diplomacy Nation Leader Human Resources Management Organizational Behavior and Theory
institution Singapore Management University
building SMU Libraries
continent Asia
country Singapore
Singapore
content_provider SMU Libraries
collection InK@SMU
language English
topic Reputation
Public diplomacy
Nation
Leader
Human Resources Management
Organizational Behavior and Theory
spellingShingle Reputation
Public diplomacy
Nation
Leader
Human Resources Management
Organizational Behavior and Theory
PANG, A.
DAMAYANTI, Ratna
WOON, Yong-Sheng Eugene
When a nation’s leader is under siege: Managing personal reputation and engaging in public diplomacy
description In 2015, Malaysia’s investment vehicle, 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), came under international scrutiny after it amassed a debt of US$11 billion (€10.3 billion) (Wright & Clark, 2015), which it had difficulty repaying. More disturbingly, investigators found that US$700 million (€658 million) was transferred into the personal bank account of Malaysia’s prime minister, Najib Razak, founder and chairman of 1MDB’s advisory board (Wright & Clark, 2015). Najib was also accused of embezzling state money (Reuters, 2015) and damaging the image of the country (“Najib tried to bribe me”, 2015). This chapter aims to examine the strategies used by the Malaysian prime minister to repair his image in the 1MDB scandal, the effectiveness of these strategies, and how these impacted Malaysia’s public diplomacy efforts in restoring the country’s image and reputation. Findings showed that the prime minister denied wrongdoing, and simultaneously bolstered his position and promised to turn 1MDB around. In contrast to the current explication of Benoit and Pang’s (2008) image repair strategies, Najib’s way of attacking the accusers sheds light into how image repair strategies may be operationalized in the Asian context. A new image repair strategy – diversion – is proposed to be added to the existing framework.
format text
author PANG, A.
DAMAYANTI, Ratna
WOON, Yong-Sheng Eugene
author_facet PANG, A.
DAMAYANTI, Ratna
WOON, Yong-Sheng Eugene
author_sort PANG, A.
title When a nation’s leader is under siege: Managing personal reputation and engaging in public diplomacy
title_short When a nation’s leader is under siege: Managing personal reputation and engaging in public diplomacy
title_full When a nation’s leader is under siege: Managing personal reputation and engaging in public diplomacy
title_fullStr When a nation’s leader is under siege: Managing personal reputation and engaging in public diplomacy
title_full_unstemmed When a nation’s leader is under siege: Managing personal reputation and engaging in public diplomacy
title_sort when a nation’s leader is under siege: managing personal reputation and engaging in public diplomacy
publisher Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University
publishDate 2017
url https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/lkcsb_research/6069
_version_ 1770574544028827648