A GENRE-BASED STUDY OF ABOUT US PAGES OF PAKISTANI BANKS:COMMUNICATIVE MOVES, INSTITUTIONAL IDENTITY, AND DISCOURSE COMMUNITY

Abstract

This research aims to examine the communicative move structure of 'About Us' pages of three Islamic and three conventionally functioning commercial banks in Pakistan with a view to studying the rhetorical composition of institutional identity and trustworthiness. The 'About Us' page is an ignored research site on the construction of digital genres wherein advertisement, presentation of information and identity construction converge. Its social- institutional significance is substantiated with a South Asian scenario where both the Islamic and conventionally functioning commercial banks are placed within one regulatory regime but in differing normative orders. The present study, drawing on Swales' (1990) move-step model, Bhatia's (1993, 2004) model of promotional genre and Hyland's (2005) theory of metadiscourse, attempts a qualitative corpus-based genre analysis of nearly 4200 words in 14 subpages. 5 communicative moves: Establishing Credentials, Introducing the Offer, Establishing Incentives, Articulating the Institutional Values and Vision and Soliciting the Interaction were identified, wherein 3 moves were obligatory, 1 semi-obligatory and 1 optional. The micro linguistic analysis exhibited that both the sub corpora varied systematically: While the conventionally run commercial bank texts relied on historical recounting, quantitative facts and external market verification to achieve the creation of trustworthy identity, Islamic bank texts were based on invoking the religious legitimacy and community building strategy. The proposed research develops an empiricism-based 5-move generic schema of an under-studied institutional digital genre of a South Asian context and develops Bhatia's (2004) register mixing hypothesis by exploring a third register of religion-based legitimacy in Islamic banking.