Different studies have proved the importance of language and vocabularies in structuring shared perceptions among stakeholders within an industry. Little is known about the discursive work involved in the evolution of these vocabularies. The use of corpus linguistics provides insights in the process through which an industry stabilises itself and how incumbents engage in discursive work to maintain their interests. We explore the jolt the Internet provoked in the French recorded music industry between 1988 and 2008. We argue that one major explanation for the industry inertia is that the technology of the Internet and the new distribution channels it opened up were framed by discourses, characterized by a relatively stable vocabulary which repeated established words such as right and artistic work. The discursive work of incumbent actors supports the stabilization of this vocabulary. When new words appeared, they were incorporated into existing vocabulary. This dual process of repetition and incorporation was facilitated by the fact that many of the words central to the debate were relatively empty and ambiguous floating signifiers. This paper represents a promising avenue to better account for the place of words in the institutional work and more specifically institutional maintenance.

Introduction

Institutions are usually defined as relatively taken-for-granted and enduring sets of practices (Greenwood, Oliver, Sahlin, & Suddaby, 2008). In recent years, researchers have begun to emphasize the fact that even deeply institutionalized practices and social relations require significant deliberative and conscious work to keep them running (Angus, 1993; Zilber, 2002, 2009). In that vein, there has been an emerging interest in the notion of institutional maintenance, referring to efforts ‘supporting, repairing and recreating’ (Lawrence & Suddaby, 2006 p230) existing institutions. This recognizes the agentic side of institutional stability. One way researchers have tried to get grips with institutional maintenance is by considering the role of language. Zilber (2009), for example, analysed how narratives which establish fixed meanings, are key to maintaining institutions. Others have looked further at the component parts of stories, such as the very words they are made up of are an important aspect of maintaining institutions. For instance institutional vocabularies (Suddaby & Greenwood, 2005) and key words (Jones & Livne-Tarandach, 2008) in articulating and manipulating institutions. While we know language more generally and the words we use in particular are an important part of stabilizing institutions, we do not really understand exactly how words evolve in an institutional field and what is the relationship between discourses at a micro level and diffused words constituting institutional vocabularies. Therefore, in this paper we explore the dynamics of words associated with institutional maintenance. This implies two interrelated levels of discourse analysis: a micro level associated with discursive work and a macro level which refers to an institutionalized vocabulary (that is, words systematically repeated among industrial actors).