The spirit of sauna: legitimating the Finnish place brand
Résumé
Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to investigate inhabitants of Finland and their continuing efforts to
narrate a national identity within the constraints imposed by discursive meanings of Finnish culture through
the experience of sauna.
Design/methodology/approach – Data collection comprised semi-structured interviews with Finnish
local residents and entrepreneurs; these were supplemented with secondary data including books, articles,
advertisements and documents referencing sauna in the context of Finland.
Findings –The analysis and interpretation by the authors show that the symbolic resource of sauna
constitutes the legitimation of Finnish nation branding discourses at three levels: regulative, normative and
cultural-cognitive; we label these sauna governance, communal identity creation and mythmaking, respectively.
Originality/value –The research contribution reveals that nation branding discourses are also forms of
legitimation work. Finnish nation branding discourses are interwoven with sauna as the symbolic resource of
“Finnishness”and become conduits for the expression of discursive meanings. This demonstrates that
institutional legitimacy is an intrinsic aspect of the ways place branding discourses can be used as a mode of
governance (i.e. a policy instrument).