Corporate Social Responsibility Communication Through Corporate Websites

Abstract

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a discourse constructed through the constant dialogue and negotiation between corporations and their different stakeholders. This article examines how leading corporations in the United States and China discuss the rationales, themes, and practices of CSR on their corporate websites through a quantitative content analysis. The results, based on data collected in 2008, indicate that leading U.S. companies demonstrate a higher level of comprehensiveness and standardization in their CSR communication, while Chinese companies in different industries take distinctive approaches to CSR. However, the differences between the CSR discourses of leading Chinese and U.S. companies have greatly diminished since 2008. Updated data collected in 2012 show that the Chinese companies have adopted an all-inclusive and homogeneous approach in CSR communication, which is very similar to the approach taken by their U.S. counterparts. Such convergence is attributed to the process of institutionalization, especially to the forces of coercive and mimetic isomorphism.

Rethinking corporate social responsibility in the age of climate change: a communication perspective

“…Recent CSR scholarship is emerging from Scandinavia (e.g., Morsing et al 2007), Asia (e.g., Whelan 2007), Singapore (e.g., Sriramesh et al 2007), Mexico (e.g., Chavarria 2007), New Zealand (e.g., Lawrence 2007), and South Africa (e.g., Samkin and Lawrence 2007). Recent articles appearing in communication journals which focus on CSR have investigated informational technology companies in India (Chaudhri and Wang 2007); corporate websites (Tang et al 2015), media discourse (Tang 2012), and social media (Yin et al 2015) as they relate to CSR in China; CSR in Romania (White et al 2011); CSR campaigns in Turkey (ÖztÜrk 2012); health literacy as an example of CSR in Europe (Sørensen and Brand 2011); ways to strengthen volunteerism in Germany's Deutsche Post DHL (Gupta 2011); and water conservation appeals in Thailand tourism resorts (Morgan and Chompreeda 2015). Coupling CSR research with the research on sustainability-related global supply chains (see Allen 2016) in developing countries provides us with a way to look at how various power dynamics influence how CSR is operationalized around environmental and social issues.…”

Does CSR Influence Firm Performance Indicators? Evidence from Chinese Pharmaceutical Enterprises

“…The dilemma of CSR promotion is more evident in corporate China, where economic motives are highly emphasized in CSR-related decision making [12]. Based on the analysis of 1533 media reports concerning food safety scandals, Zhang and Xue [13] exposit that economically motivated frauds were a serious and emerging food safety issue in China.…”

A cross‐national comparison of transparency signaling in corporate social responsibility reporting: The United States, South Korea, and China cases

“…In contrast, Asian countries have a relatively short CSR history. CSR practices are often compared between these two areas (e.g., Baughn & McIntosh, ; Tang et al, ), suggesting that the scope and emphases of CSR may vary significantly between the two. Notably, CSR also varies considerably among Asian countries.…”

“…For developing countries such as China, CSR is a relatively new concept (Kuo et al, ). China has undergone about three decades of social and economic shift and is still at an early stage of CSR development (Tang, Gallagher, & Bie, ), yet catching up the western countries (Kim & Ji, ). Notably, China's commercial institutions and practices are largely influenced by the Communist Party, public policy, and the prevalence of state‐owned enterprises (Noronha et al, ).…”