CSR communication on corporate websites compared across continents

Abstract

About Emerald www.emeraldinsight.comEmerald is a global publisher linking research and practice to the benefit of society. The company manages a portfolio of more than 290 journals and over 2,350 books and book series volumes, as well as providing an extensive range of online products and additional customer resources and services.Emerald is both COUNTER 4 and TRANSFER compliant. The organization is a partner of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive preservation. AbstractPurpose -The purpose of this paper is to evaluate how the 106 largest banks in the world use their corporate websites for corporate social responsibility (CSR) communication, identifying CSR communication patterns by continent. Design/methodology/approach -An analysis of the location of CSR information on the banks' corporate websites, a longitudinal analysis of the publication of CSR reports by the banks from 2000 to 2012, and a content analysis of the most current CSR reports in the recent period of study were undertaken. Findings -Three-quarters of the banks communicate on CSR issues on their corporate websiteeither located in the section "About Us" or under a separate "CSR" heading which is directly accessible on the front homepage. Company reports published on the website are the most important vehicle for CSR communication. Their publication increased from six for the publication year 2000 to a peak of 63 reports for the year 2011. The reports' titles are most commonly linked to the concepts of "responsibility" or "sustainability" and refer to ten main stakeholders and topics. In a comparison between continents there is a difference in the use of titles: European banks prefer the title "Sustainability Report", while Asian and American banks in particular prefer the title "CSR Report". Research limitations/implications -The paper focuses on corporate communications, and therefore does not address perspectives on CSR communication from other disciplines. Within CSR communication, sources of CSR-related information other than the corporate websites have not been considered. Originality/value -This paper gives the first comprehensive picture of the trend in CSR communication on corporate websites in the global banking sector. CSRccw as part of communication and stakeholder managementCompanies operate under the observation of their primary and secondary stakeholders, interact with them through stakeholder management and are dependent on positive stakeholder behaviour in order to achieve company goals (Schmid and Lyczek, 2008). This means that companies must not only respect legal legislation but also the expectations and demands of their stakeholders and society (Steyn and Niemann, 2010). Stakeholders must be made aware of the company's respect through corporate communications, and this task is integrated into the practice of communication management.Communication management has been defined in many ways and the term has often been used synonymously for public relatio...

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