Doing well by doing good? Normative tensions underlying Twitter’s corporate social responsibility ethos

Busch, Thorsten; Shepherd, Tamara

doi:10.1177/1354856514531533

Cited by 18 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 55 publications

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“…In addition, forums provide a space for platform providers-particularly firms which prioritize corporate social responsibility-to observe technical features and social processes that prompt ethical debates. Conflicts between the civic or social values firms espouse publicly and the values they act upon may alienate core users (Busch and Shepherd 2014). The values lever framework helps us recognize the technical and social features of platform environments that prompt ethical debates, and can help managers spot potential flashpoints before they develop into full-blown conflicts.…”

Section: Discussion: Work Practices Matter To Ethical Deliberationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Linking Platforms, Practices, and Developer Ethics: Levers for Privacy Discourse in Mobile Application Development

Shilton

Greene

2017

J Bus Ethics

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Privacy is a critical challenge for corporate social responsibility in the mobile device ecosystem. Mobile application firms can collect granular and largely unregulated data about their consumers, and must make ethical decisions about how and whether to collect, store, and share these data. This paper conducts a discourse analysis of mobile application developer forums to discover when and how privacy conversations, as a representative of larger ethical debates, arise during development. It finds that online forums can be useful spaces for ethical deliberations, as developers use these spaces to define, discuss, and justify their values. It also discovers that ethical discussions in mobile development are prompted by work practices which vary considerably between iOS and Android, today's two major mobile platforms. For educators, regulators, and managers interested in encouraging more ethical discussion and deliberation in mobile development, these work practices provide a valuable point of entry. But while the triggers for privacy conversations are quite different between platforms, ultimately the justifications for privacy are similar. Developers for both platforms use moral and cautionary tales, moral evaluation, and instrumental and technical rationalization to justify and legitimize privacy as a value in mobile development. Understanding these three forms of justification for privacy is useful to educators, regulators, and managers who wish to promote ethical practices in mobile development.

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Section: Discussion: Work Practices Matter To Ethical Deliberationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Linking Platforms, Practices, and Developer Ethics: Levers for Privacy Discourse in Mobile Application Development

Shilton

Greene

2017

J Bus Ethics

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“…One of the factors which has made it easier to use Twitter for CSR communication, is the perception of democratic participation linked to larger possibilities of social activism, digital citizenship and free discourse which had not been possible by means of one-way media [64], due to the greater accessibility, which generates a larger demand for information, leading to the creation of a social media practice in which stakeholders interact with companies on matters that affect them [65,66], achieving results that cannot be readily obtained via traditional means of communication, which are viewed as both expensive and static [67].…”

Section: Twitter As An Innovatory Medium Of Communicationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring Twitter for CSR Disclosure: Influence of CEO and Firm Characteristics in Latin American Companies

2018

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Social networks, which are characterised by accessibility and interactivity, offer great potential for dialogue between companies and stakeholders, for example as platforms for publishing information on aspects of corporate social responsibility (CSR). In this paper, we use a synthetic index to analyse levels of CSR disclosure via Twitter, and identify explanatory variables of this disclosure by studying the demographic characteristics of the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and of the company. This synthetic index was based on data for 93 companies located in the four countries of the Pacific Alliance (Chile, Colombia, Mexico, and Peru), using categories based on the 2016 Global Reporting Initave (GRI) Standards. The tweets were compiled during a period of two months in 2017, immediately before and after the publication of each CSR report. The synthetic index was taken as the dependent variable and used as the basis for multivariate regression analysis to identify the relationship between the level of CSR disclosure on Twitter and the characteristics of the firm and its CEO. The results obtained show that firms operating in environmentally-sensitive industries present higher levels of CSR disclosure on Twitter than those in other sectors. By country of origin, the Colombian and Chilean companies offered higher levels of disclosure than those in Mexico and Peru. The regression analysis revealed a positive relationship between the firm operating in a sensitive industry and its level of CSR disclosure on Twitter, and an inverse relationship between the latter variable and the tenure of the CEO.

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“…Whether this should already be in itself is sufficient to be considered "editorial control" is a question that academic research has so far failed to address adequately.5 From the few existing studies on the motivations and self-perceptions of search engine engineers (Van Couvering, 2007), or providers of social networks ( (Busch & Sheperd, 2014) it becomes clear that they place little importance on public responsibility or diversity -even though they may use social responsibility as a marketing tool.…”

Section: Indirect-editorial Influencesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For example, this can refer to the impact of personalization and targeting strategies on user freedom and autonomy (Zarsky, 2003), shared cultures and values (Schoenbach, 2007), democratic participation (Sunstein, 2007) and diversity of media consumption (the filter bubble argument) (Pariser, 2011), but also social sorting and discrimination (Zarsky, 2003). Concerns have also been raised with regard to social networks that these are the property of companies which may act as "quasi-governmental regulators" who "govern citizenship rights in their respective online territories" and can exclude specific users or user groups (Busch & Sheperd, 2014).…”

Section: Wider Influences On Structure and Practice Of Media Marketsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Regulating the new information intermediaries as gatekeepers of information diversity

Helberger

Königslöw

Noll

2015

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Purpose -The purposes of this paper are to deal with the questions: because search engines, social networks and app-stores are often referred to as gatekeepers to diverse information access, what is the evidence to substantiate these gatekeeper concerns, and to what extent are existing regulatory solutions to control gatekeeper control suitable at all to address new diversity concerns? It will also map the different gatekeeper concerns about media diversity as evidenced in existing research before the background of network gatekeeping theory critically analyses some of the currently discussed regulatory approaches and develops the contours of a more user-centric approach towards approaching gatekeeper control and media diversity. Design/methodology/approach -This is a conceptual research work based on desk research into the relevant and communications science, economic and legal academic literature and the relevant laws and public policy documents. Based on the existing evidence as well as on applying the insights from network gatekeeping theory, this paper then critically reviews the existing legal/policy discourse and identifies elements for an alternative approach. Findings -This paper finds that when looking at search engines, social networks and app stores, many concerns about the influence of the new information intermediaries on media diversity have not so much their source in the control over critical resources or access to information, as the traditional gatekeepers do. Instead, the real bottleneck is access to the user, and the way the relationship between social network, search engine or app platforms and users is given form. Based on this observation, the paper concludes that regulatory initiatives in this area would need to pay more attention to the dynamic relationship between gatekeeper and gated. Research limitations/implications -Because this is a conceptual piece based on desk-research, meaning that our assumptions and conclusions have not been validated by own empirical research. Also, although the authors have conducted to their best knowledge the literature review as broad and as concise as possible, seeing the breadth of the issue and the diversity of research outlets, it cannot be excluded that we have overlooked one or the other publication. Practical implications -This paper makes a number of very concrete suggestions of how to approach potential challenges from the new information intermediaries to media diversity. Social implications -The societal implications of search engines, social networks and app stores for media diversity cannot be overestimated. And yet, it is the position of users, and their exposure to diverse information that is often neglected in the current dialogue. By drawing attention to the dynamic relationship between gatekeeper and gated, this paper highlights the importance of this relationship for diverse exposure to information. Originality/value -While there is currently much discussion about the possible challenges from search engines, social networks ...

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Doing well by doing good? Normative tensions underlying Twitter’s corporate social responsibility ethos

Cited by 18 publications

References 55 publications

Linking Platforms, Practices, and Developer Ethics: Levers for Privacy Discourse in Mobile Application Development

Linking Platforms, Practices, and Developer Ethics: Levers for Privacy Discourse in Mobile Application Development

Exploring Twitter for CSR Disclosure: Influence of CEO and Firm Characteristics in Latin American Companies

Regulating the new information intermediaries as gatekeepers of information diversity

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