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Introduction
Leadership as a practice and by its very nature is grounded in rhetoric (Dorsey, 2001). It was in the open squares of the ancient Greek city states, where political leaders performed rhetoric, that rhetoric developed as a topic, together with democracy and civil duty (Kennedy, 1994). Rhetoric of management is now an evolving scholarly area in understanding leadership and management issues. This is due to the fact that classical rhetoric has the tools to examine the persuasive and influential communication taking place in management and organizations (Bonet and Sauquet, 2010; Bonet, 2014; Lid Andersson, 2009). Because of the nature of managerial work, communication takes up the majority of time of managers and leaders (Mintzberg, 1973; Carlson, 1951; Tengblad, 2002). A focus on influential communication is specifically important for that part of management and organizations which is focused on leadership, as leaders need to communicate visions and cultural transformation (Kotter, 2013). Influential communication is also specifically important in organizations that are value driven and idea driven, such as non-profit and political organizations, where power and trust is earned rather than given. A political leader needs to be elected, and hence needs to influence voters and prove himself/herself trustworthy (Lid Andersson, 2009).
Party organizations are the cornerstones of western democracies, and political leaders are the primary representatives of these organizations (Cross and Pilet, 2014). Studies show that how political leaders communicate does matter for the party organization, for themselves, as well as for the voters (Parmelee and Bichard, 2012; Utz, 2009; Kruikemeier et al., 2013). As the way in which political leaders use social media can influence attitudes, it is connected to democracy and therefore necessary to explore. Further, politics and democracy are all about trust (Bianco, 1994; Hetherington, 2005), therefore the construct of political leaders is an important area to study.
Today political leaders are using another square to be heard and seen, the virtual square of social media. The use of social media has grown rapidly, in public in general as well as in politics (Parmelee and Bichard, 2012; Skogerbø, 2011; Lassen and Brown, 2010; Utz, 2009). Using this medium, politicians can choose how to present themselves in front of their followers (potential voters/audience), in contrast to traditional media where the space for...