In this thesis, I investigated how world-class chefs represent themselves as leaders on Instagram. I conducted a qualitative case study including quantitative insights into the personal Instagram accounts of 15 world-class chefs over a two-year
peri-od. The findings included an overview of the presence of the chefs on Instagram and details about the people behind the accounts. The accounts are very diverse in terms of follower numbers, the average number of likes, comments, and general style. The chefs are from around the world, with a focus on Latin America and Eu-rope, especially Spain. This is also reflected in the language of the Instagram ac-counts.
The research also revealed a vast difference in the frequency of posts during the two-year timeframe, as well as insights into the topics about which the chefs post-ed. The topics are very diverse, although a similar number of topics were men-tioned by each chef. Analysis of the topics showed the predominant professional theme in the most mentioned topics, although the most mentioned topics also in-cluded a topic representing the individual character of each chef.
The results of my findings also show how the transformational leadership frame-work applies to the chefs’ posts. In my understanding this provides insights into how, hence through which topics, the chefs represented themselves as leaders on Instagram. The results also highlight how the interaction between leaders and fol-lowers takes place on Instagram.
There is a divide between the different forms of interaction possible on the plat-form: likes and comments are associated with personal topics, while hashtags and the tag functions were more often applied by the chefs in the professional context.
In conclusion, this study provides insights into leadership in a digital context, spe-cifically on social media, by showing how world-class chefs represent themselves on Instagram. In my understanding my analysis and findings revealed how the world-class chefs represented themselves as leaders on Instagram, specifically from a transformational leadership perspective. Furthermore, my findings also consid-ered a process-relational component of leadership by analyzing the followers’ reac-tions and interacreac-tions with the culinary leaders on Instagram not as is, but as a de-velopment over time across the interaction points, i.e. posts.
Naturally, this study is subject to certain limitations, which include the list of chefs and specifically the source from which they were chosen, the leader-centric data, observation as a research technique, and the exclusion of the Instagram story
func-tion. The source for selecting the group of chefs to consider was The World’s 50 Best Restaurants; it was chosen because it is a prestigious and well-respected list of world-class chefs. There was not update in 2020 due to the pandemic and the top 15 therefore remained unchanged during the study timeframe. However, the list itself can be criticized, and those concerns translate into my study as well. An obvious critique is the male dominance in the ranking. In the top 15, only one female chef is represented. The discussion regarding female chefs and their missing representa-tion in culinary rankings is important and complex in itself. I will not dive deeper into this topic, but I do recognize that my data stem predominantly from a male perspective inherited from the list of research objects – the chefs. Another critique of the list is the Western focus of the selected chefs in particular, as well as haute cuisine in general. This is again a bigger and more complex issue, which should re-ceive greater reflection, but it is beyond the scope of this thesis.
The second limitation is that the data is leader centric. This resulted from the setup of the case study. Leadership research (e.g. Alvesson & Spicer, 2011; Narbona, 2016) emphasizes that leadership is more than leaders: it is equally about the fol-lowers and context. I did consider the latter two components of leadership as well and do think they are essential to the concept. Nevertheless, the data analyzed and discussed in this thesis are informed by theory and concepts that approach leader-ship from the leaders’ perspective.
A third limitation is the research technique applied. Passive data observation and collection has enabled this study to open the scope to 15 world-class chefs around the world. Still, individual insights gained from the interview research technique are an important aspect of leadership research. It is important to use a variety of different research techniques to study a phenomenon such as leadership while rec-ognizing the limits and benefits of each technique.
A fourth limitation is that one feature from Instagram was not considered, alt-hough it is publicly available and a distinctive feature of the Instagram platform.
This is the story function that enables accounts to share content—mostly snap-shots—which are only available for 24 hours and then disappear unless saved as highlights. It is certainly a distinctive form of communication between an account
and its followers, but a coherent study that made use of this data would have re-quired a completely different (and more complex) setup for observation.
The limitations in this thesis point towards further research which could provide improved insight into the concept of leadership, especially in the digital context.
Although limitations have been mentioned regarding observation and features, because social media data are uniquely stored indefinitely, an interesting research project could be built around the development of leadership and leaders on their accounts over time. One piece of information I chose not to record during the data collection process was location. There is a feature on Instagram to link a post to a location, and many of the chefs used this function frequently. These data could en-able research into how leaders travel or meet globally.
To complement my analysis and findings, further research could consider a similar research question and design a study based on the follower perspective. Consider-ing leaders and followers equally in the data collection would allow to dive deeper into understanding the process-relational perspectives of leadership in the context of social media.
In addition, the relevance of meaning construction and experience, as elements both relevant for the leadership concept and the social media context could be re-searched with a similar data set applying interpretative phenomenological analysis to its full extend. It would also be interesting to see how the findings and insights from my data might be applicable to a more diverse group of chefs. Any research on different leadership perspectives that also considers the digital context is highly relevant in today’s world. Such research could provide essential insight into the complex concept of leadership.
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Appendix
Table A.1: Code Book
Code name from the first round
of coding Description of Codes
CHARITY How they/the team are part or support in
charity events or activities.
COMMUNITY Thanking or addressing their followers
direct-ly. Also, taking their suggestions into consid-eration.
COVID 19 Comments on the Pandemic crisis risen in
2020.
CULUTURE
Any posts concerning with any form of art.
Art is very boardy understood from paintings, sculptures, music which can be historic or contemporary.
DISH Explanations or information of dishes, ranging
from specific ingredients to production and assembly of the dish as well as its history.
EDUCATION
Teaching a new generation of chefs as well as informing about different aspects regarding cooking generally, including health advice or teaching classes.
FAME
Posing together and commenting or cooking for “famous” people like actors, presidents, athletes, etc. [this code excludes chefs who might also be considered “famous”, but in this context they are part of INDUSTRY]
FAMILY Sharing insights from their personal life and
family.
FISH
When they are fishing themselves. This in-cludes also the freshly fished fish (if depicted with them), fishing gear, and them being on a fishing boat.
FOOD
Food they eats while traveling which are more than an ingredient, but not a dish or has any connection to their restaurant. This includes eating out when the restaurant is not specified [because if the restaurant in named its includ-ed in INDUSTRY]. FOOD can also be labelinclud-ed if it is a dish but not from him and not speci-fied. Generally, FOOD is more cooked, pre-pared or processed then the raw INGREDI-ENT.
FRIENDS Sharing insights of their friendships and
activ-ities with friends.
HUMOR Any funny remarks that are either jokes, but
also include sarcastic comments or parody.
INDUSTRY
Information about the food scene as well as cooking techniques of other chefs. It also in-cludes shouting out or tagging of other chefs and/or restaurants. This category generally includes producers, farmers, etc. which are part of the supply chains of the restaurants.
Further, INDUSTRY encompasses all festival, talks, competitions, etc. chefs use to exchange knowledge.
INGREDIENT
General information, but often health aspects about food (e.g., nutrition, seasonality, how they grow and get harvested or hunted. Also, general information about local and introduc-ing foreign introduc-ingredients.
INGREDIENT is considered everything raw edible which is not yet cooked or processed.
MEDIA Everything in the media, e.g., magazine
co-vers, blog posts, TV shows and appearances, but also books.
(NATIONAL) IDENTITY Identical factors and themes with their (home) country. This includes national holidays and traditions.
NATURE
General information about nature including landscapes, wildlife, nature phenomes like sunrise and the ecosystems. Additionally, NATURE encompasses their gardens which is important resource for them.
POLITICAL POSITION
In five different categories:
1. Against discrimination: Showing solidari-ty with discriminated communities; ac-knowledging and addressing grievances 2. Diversity: Promoting and addressing
di-versity issues and solutions
3. Environment: Informing and addressing problems regarding climate change, pollu-tion and generally about the ecosystems as well as environmental benefits of vegetari-an diet.
4. Politics: Addressing issues directly con-nected to politics like elections or actions of politicians that the chef opposes to
POP UP If they/their team cooks somewhere else
RECIPE
Any detailed description or explanation on how to cook or prepare something. Detailed is decisive for this category, it is not counted if a e.g. is simply described, it has to be fairly real-istic to be cookable from the post.
REFLECTION When they reflect on the past e.g., personal or professional milestones
RELIGION When specifically referenced or mentioned of
religion.
RESTAURANT All information regarding the restaurant e.g.,
new menu, new reservation option, opening hours, etc. (not dishes; not team)
SPORT
When the chefs themselves do or talk about sport. It was mostly applied when the chefs showcased if they are running or biking or of their sport apps, what they achieved.
SUCCESS If it is about winning something (the chef or
restaurant personally).
TEAM Everything regarding, promoting, and thank-ing his team and staff
TOOL Specific tools to use while cooking
TRAVEL
Encompasses everything around travel, such as the chefs traveling, but also sightseeing (when not specifically presenting their FAMI-LY, INGREDIENT, INDUSTRY or NATURE, which can all be part of traveling but was then assigned to the respective code)