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Intersecting liminalities and transition rites: Non-disclosure agreements and misconduct in organizations

Lookup NU author(s): Dr Victoria PaganORCiD

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Abstract

For what reasons may NDAs continue to be an attractive measure to conceal severe misconduct in organizations, despite high-profile criticism? I theorize severe misconduct as a critical moment of separation of victim-survivor, perpetrator, and the social order of the organization. This provokes liminalities and I read Giesen's four liminal phenomena (victims, monsters, garbage, and seduction) as imagination devices in the analysis of the accounts of those who have experienced severe misconduct. In doing so, I show that the multiplicative effects of these liminal phenomena intersect in such a disruptive manner that NDAs offer an attractive ceremony towards transition; a seductive way for organizational actors to transform/adjust the presence of victims and monsters, hiding and/or recycling their garbage. I contribute by theorizing meta-liminality and intersecting liminal phenomena emerging from severe misconduct in organizations, showing empirically examples of why NDAs may be used to ceremonially manage the transition in these cases.

Publication metadata

Author(s): Pagan V

Publication type: Article

Publication status: Published

Journal: Culture and Organization

Year: 2025

Volume: 31

Issue: 2

Pages: 143-161

Online publication date: 11/10/2024

Acceptance date: 17/09/2024

Date deposited: 27/09/2024

ISSN (print): 1475-9551

ISSN (electronic): 1477-2760

Publisher: Routledge

URL: https://doi.org/10.1080/14759551.2024.2413075

DOI: 10.1080/14759551.2024.2413075

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