How Executive Rhetoric Shapes Internal Power Dynamics and Sustainability Resource Allocation

• Abiodun Okunola

  Ladoke Akintola University Technology

  Author

Executive rhetoric is increasingly recognized as a governance mechanism through which corporate sustainability commitments are either substantively enacted or symbolically performed, yet the precise pathways by which rhetorical framing reshapes internal power configurations and redirects sustainability resource flows remain undertheorized. This study addresses the gap by developing and validating a Rhetorical Power-Allocation Framework (RPAF) that models how executive narrative strategies—specifically framing intensity, temporal anchoring, and identity congruence—influence intra-organizational authority distribution and subsequent sustainability budget allocation decisions. Drawing on a mixed-methods design combining computational text analysis of CEO communications from 127 publicly listed firms with retrospective budget allocation data and expert-coded power-dynamic assessments, the study tests the RPAF against conventional structural contingency models. Results demonstrate that the RPAF achieves 89.4% classification accuracy in predicting substantive versus symbolic sustainability resource allocation, substantially outperforming baseline governance-structure models (71.2%). Feature importance analysis identifies framing intensity (β = 0.41) and temporal anchoring (β = 0.33) as the dominant predictors, while identity congruence moderates the rhetoric–allocation relationship under conditions of institutional fragility. The findings advance a performative theory of executive rhetoric that treats language not as epiphenomenal to power but as constitutive of the authority structures that determine which sustainability initiatives receive material commitment. Practically, the framework offers administrators a replicable diagnostic for assessing whether rhetorical commitments are likely to translate into resource allocation, and provides policymakers with indicators for distinguishing substantive from symbolic corporate sustainability governance.

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Copyright (c) 2026 Abiodun Okunola (Author)

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