PurposeThis study aims to use a theoretical-based case study of two distinct ownership groups of the Jack Daniel's brand to explore how rhetorical history (i.e. malleability of the past for strategic goals) may evoke and capitalize on different forms of nostalgia. Within, the authors configure four forms of nostalgia (i.e. personal, historical, collective and cultural) from the individual or collective interaction and level of direct experience one has with the past as lived or happened.Design/methodology/approachThis study uses an historical research approach which involved the identification of primary and secondary sources, facility tour, source criticism and triangulation to create themes of rhetorical history infused with nostalgic narratives using compelling evidence through rich description of this fusion.FindingsThe findings reveal how nostalgia-driven narratives reflecting different collective longing for the re-creation of an American Paradise Lost used by Jack Daniel (i.e. the man) and later but differently by Brown-Forman. This study uncovers how the company's inherited past was used rhetorically throughout its history, beginning with the nostalgic story of Jack Daniel and the distillery's nostalgically choreographed location in Lynchburg, Tennessee. This study delves into this setting to highlight the importance of symbols, details, emotional appeals and communications for collective memory and identity development and to showcase the ways in which they are influenced by different types and forms of nostalgia.Originality/valueThis study adds to a limited number of studies focused on understanding the impact of founders on an organization's brand and how that is malleable. This study responds to scholarly calls to study the influence of sequenced historical rhetoric on an organization and highlight the relevance of social emotions such as nostalgia for rhetorical history. Finally, the theoretical contribution involves the advancing and construction of a theory typology of nostalgia previously proposed by Havlena and Holak in 1996.

In this article, we refine and extend the conceptualization of collective leadership by examining how institutional work can play a central role in the emergence of collective leadership success or failure through conflict. Specifically, based on historical traces collected from the first African American town in Mississippi, Mound Bayou, which was founded and led by a group of ex-slaves, we conceptualize collective leadership as a compilational process and elucidate the development of collective leadership amid the relational and inspirational aspects of conflict that arose among this cadre of historical collective leaders. We selected the case of Mound Bayou because the specifics of the case allowed us to explore how collective leadership emerged, and over time, led to conflict engendered by issues that arose within the institutional processes of formation, maintenance, and transformation of the town. We used interpretivist epistemology into which we incorporated and utilized historiometric methodology to code and interpret salient archival data. Based on this analysis, we inductively theorize the process by which the leaders of Mound Bayou collectively forged and led, in both cooperative and conflicting manner, the first African American community in the Mississippi Delta.

In this paper, we conceptualize collective leadership as institutional work. We interpret this phenomenon based on the historical evidence collected from the first African American town in Mississippi, Mound Bayou, which was founded by freed slaves. We use interpretivist epistemology into which we incorporate and utilize historiometric methodology to code and interpret archival data. We used archival data to inductively theorize the process by which the leaders of Mound Bayou collectively forged and directed a functional community in the Mississippi Delta.

The rugged and individualistic reputation of Samuel Colt and the Colt Company is the stuff of legend in the American psyche. Largely constructed from themes aligned with American exceptionalism and the taming of the Western frontier, this firearm maker built a powerful and pervasive image. In this study, we examine how the Colt Company used rhetorical history in an agentic, proactive way to appropriate history and tradition for strategic purposes. Specifically, we apply a genealogical method to analyze the ways that rhetorical history was used by Colt in order to augment our understanding of rhetorical history and its utilization as a competitive image-enhancing practice.