All, Nothing or a Reasonable Share: A Study on Swedish Civil Servants' Enactment of Communication Responsibility During a Process of Election Administration

This article explores communication responsibility enacted by civil servants working with election administration and the challenges they experience when making decisions on strategic communication during different phases of an election process. Communication responsibility is understood as a boundless concept which needs to be limited in practice. In their work, the respondents encircle their communication responsibilities through decisions on communication related to their task. To explore the dynamic process of communication responsibility, a methodology of serial interviews with representatives responsible for election administration from five organizations was chosen. Interviews were conducted before, during and after the elections. The data was analyzed through qualitative content analysis. The findings show that civil servants enact an extensive communication responsibility that involves balancing organizational mandates and democratic values with the increased demands for communication in a rapidly changing media landscape and that they invest themselves by assuming responsibilities for communication. The study contributes to enhance research in strategic communication by analyzing communication behavior by ordinary organizational members who enact important communicative roles without formal communication training.