Extended Abstract: The Construction of the Archetypes, Tripartite Self and Corporate Culture in Small Stories of China's Corporate Social Media

Social media has emerged as a platform for Chinese banks to shape corporate identity and culture. This study, grounded in the research paradigm of small story, the concept of archetype, the tripartite-self theory, and cultural constructionism, aimed to explore theme development, archetypes and self building and culture construction in small stories of Chinese banks' Weibo posts. Using a self-compiled corpus of posts from five major banks, the findings show that banks mainly post content under corporation-oriented, relation-oriented, and society-oriented themes, represented by sub-themes [Market analysis], [Entertainment], and [CSR]. These themes correspond to archetypes {Sage}, {Pursuer}, and {Hero}, reflecting the construction of authority, fandom, and heroism in corporate culture. This study enhances our understanding of corporate communication via social media.