This paper aims to present a multi-theoretic model that explains how global organizations use ethical narratives to legitimize the algorithmic authority. The framework shows how ethical storytelling can enhance stakeholder trust, confer institutional legitimacy and offer competitive advantage.
The conceptual study uses a logic-based theorization process using the existing literature. It integrates institutional theory, behavioral economics and the resource-based view into a unified explanatory framework. It proposes a tripartite model in which ethical framing functions as a mechanism that links theoretical logics to organizational outcomes. It includes propositions and metaphoric examples to ground abstract concepts.
The study identifies three core mechanisms of ethical strategic framing: normative legitimation, cognitive alignment and resource positioning. These mechanisms help organizations in translating opaque algorithmic systems into trusted, norm-aligned and strategically positioned tools. The framework clarifies how ethical narratives humanize algorithms and shape public perceptions of fairness, answerableness and innovation.
The paper is conceptual and untested empirically. Future research should validate the framework through experimental, qualitative and computational methods. They should test its proposition by using experimental, qualitative or computational approaches.
Organizations can use the framework to design tailored ethical communication strategies around AI and algorithmic system. The findings offer actionable insights for global firms to deal with regulatory complexity and stakeholder scrutiny. The framework also offers policymakers a lens to assess the earnestness and strategic function of corporate AI ethics narratives.
This paper reconceptualizes ethical discourse as a strategical framing device that integrates legitimacy-seeking, cognitive persuasion and resource mobilization. It advances a multi-theoretical model of algorithmic authority. The model offers a novel explanation of how algorithmic authority is socially build and sustained.
