Accessible Communication of Corporate Social Responsibility: Development and Preliminary Evaluation of an Online Module

Abstract

Communicating clearly about their socially responsible activities is becoming increasingly important for companies, as a growing number of stakeholders with different goals, knowledge, and language skills seek information on corporate social responsibility (CSR). Furthermore, the ability to communicate clearly is particularly appreciated in the workplace. To fill a gap in CSR communication training, this article describes the development and preliminary evaluation of an interdisciplinary and multimodal online module whose goal is to train Dutch-speaking business students in the production of accessible CSR content in English. After presenting our module, we discuss its implications for future training and for corporate communication.

It's not just a phase: Investigating text simplification in a second language from a process and product perspective

“…It is important to mention that the Inputlog process graphs represent an important component of our analysis of writing phases and are described in detail in section Criteria for identifying writing phases. A more detailed description of the experimental module is available in Rossetti and Van Waes ( 2022 ). The training that the control group received did not contain any reference to text simplification, nor to the revision process.…”

“…Additionally, the modules were multimodal as they contained theoretical content in textual and audiovisual formats. A preliminary usability evaluation had shown that multimodality was appreciated by the students (Rossetti and Van Waes, 2022 ).…”

“…Concretely, we first examined the impact of our (online and multimodal) text simplification training (Rossetti and Van Waes, 2022 ) on product quality (text readability), and combined this with a process-oriented approach to L2 writing by taking into account (potential) differences between writing phases (specifically, first draft and second draft). Secondly, we investigated the relationship between text readability and the students' pausing behavior during different writing phases, when simplifying already existing texts.…”

The Rhetorical Function of Corporate DEI Reports

“…Even so, some stakeholders and even general publics might not value what they perceive as an “aggressive” corporate stance on social issues, according to Rossetti and Van Waes (2022). We have witnessed that, for example, companies such as Target, Bud Light, and even Disney are on the receiving end of public and political backlash after standing up for LGBTQIA rights.…”

Feature on Teaching: Bringing an Entrepreneurial Lens to the Business Communication Course

“…Pressure to incorporate new areas of study into the course continues to mount, with the perfect storm created by rapid technological innovation, desires to decrease time to graduation by compacting the curriculum, and the demands of the multimodal global marketplace. For example, recent curricular suggestions have included adding corporate social responsibility (Rossetti & Van Waes, 2022), social media communication (Sharma, 2022), and coverage of artificial 1 West Virginia University, USA intelligence (Getchell et al, 2022) to the curriculum. The eclectic topics covered in BPC are also addressed by instructors in a myriad of ways and through many pedagogical approaches.…”