Tensions in Aspirational CSR Communication—A Longitudinal Investigation of CSR Reporting

Koep, Lisa

doi:10.3390/su9122202

Cited by 21 publications

(33 citation statements)

References 108 publications

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“…Critics question voluntary CSR reporting because it tends to be limited in scope and untruthful. Some argue that there exists divergence between companies' CSR-related policies, programs, and impacts, which leads to the situation where CSR is purely ceremonial [51,52].…”

Section: Theoretical Underpinning and Hypothesis Developmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

CSR in Non-Large Public Interest Entities: Corporate Talk vs. Actions

Krasodomska

Godawska

2020

Sustainability

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Smaller companies’ understanding of and attitude toward corporate social responsibility (CSR), both in terms of actions and disclosure, is distinct from that of other organizations, including large public interest entities (PIEs) that dominate the existing literature in the field. In this study, we examine the interdependencies between non-large PIEs’ CSR practices and disclosures with the use of the organizational hypocrisy concept as a theoretical lens. Our sample consists of 111 companies operating in Poland and pursuing 646 CSR-related practices in 2017. We perform content analysis of their websites using the disclosure index to assess the extent of their CSR disclosures. The total number of observations equals 1227. Both practices and disclosures are analyzed according to ISO 26000 standards. The relationship between the sample companies’ CSR talk and actions is analyzed by means of the Pearson coefficient. Our findings suggest that CSR practices and disclosures of non-large PIEs are loosely coupled. For the whole sample and for the non-SMEs (small and medium sized entities) subsample, the strongest association between the two was observed as regards the organizational governance area. As far as the SMEs are concerned, the statistically significant association between their CSR reporting and actions was identified for the environmental area. Our study contributes to the CSR literature, as it provides new insights into the relation between voluntary CSR talk and actions of non-large PIEs operating in a relatively unexplored setting.

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Section: Theoretical Underpinning and Hypothesis Developmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

CSR in Non-Large Public Interest Entities: Corporate Talk vs. Actions

Krasodomska

Godawska

2020

Sustainability

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“…However, to date, the formative role of CSR communication for CSR practices still remains somewhat under-theorized in the literature, and there have been relatively few empirical studies (apart from a few exceptions, such as Haack et al, 2012;Koep, 2017;Livesey & Graham, 2007;or Livesey, 2002). The landscape of formative views is rather broad and heterogeneous, yet they tend to be grouped within the extant literature as though they would offer one single, unified view on the relationship between CSR practices and CSR communication.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Formative Perspectives on the Relation Between CSR Communication and CSR Practices: Pathways for Walking, Talking, and T(w)alking

2019

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Within the burgeoning corporate social responsibility (CSR) communication literature, the question of the relationship between CSR practices and CSR communication (or between “walk” and “talk”) has been a central concern. Recently, we observe a growing interest in formative views on the relation between CSR communication and practices, that is, works which ascribe to communication a constitutive role in creating, maintaining, and transforming CSR practices. This article provides an overview of the heterogeneous landscape of formative views on CSR communication scholarship. More specifically, we distinguish between three variants of such formative views: walking-to-talk, talking-to-walk, and t(w)alking. These three orientations differ primarily regarding the temporal dynamics that they ascribe to the relation between CSR communication and practices and regarding the object that is formed through communication. This new typology helps systematize the emerging field of research on CSR communication, and we use it as a compass to provide directions for future research in this area.

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“…According to the seminal paper of Morsing and Schultz [5] regarding CSR communication strategies, three fundamental strategies are distinguished: information, response, and involvement. These strategies have been the object of attention in multiple CSR studies [3][4][5][41][42][43][44] in which the level of companies' engagement with their stakeholders is evaluated and set forth by means of the communication strategies that have been defined. These studies provide evidence of the evolution of the firms, going from one-way communication strategies (inform) to two-way communication strategies (response and involvement), which translates into corporate reports with communication actions and channels that firms have developed in order to inform the stakeholders of their interests and concerns.…”

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confidence: 99%

CSR Communication Strategies of Colombian Business Groups: An Analysis of Corporate Reports

2018

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The aim of this paper is to assess stakeholder orientation and corporate social responsibility (CSR) communication strategies in the business groups (BGs) of an emerging economy by means of content analysis. We worked with 30 non-financial BGs taken from the Colombian Stock Exchange. The study uses as its unit of analysis corporate reports that have been classified into four categories: annual reports (ARs), sustainability reports (SRs), combined reports (CRs), and integrated reports (IRs). The results show that IRs are the most similar reports, that Colombian BGs are mainly employee-oriented (ARs, SRs, CRs) and shareholder-oriented (IRs), and that response and involvement communication strategies are the most commonly used. Our research has theoretical and practical implications based on the assumption that the study of corporate reports has particular importance for those BGs with diversification strategies and international orientation, since it opens possibilities for future research. no evidence of which among the above-mentioned communication strategies BGs adopt, and which kind of stakeholder orientation they follow.This research is conducted in Colombia, which has an emerging economy where the study of contemporary BGs is fairly recent [10]. In Colombia, BGs are on the rise, and are important for the development of the economy [11]; they have reorganized their structures in recent years in order to be more strategic [12]. Colombia is a country with a tradition of CSR practices [13] and of voluntary disclosure reporting practices [14]. Additionally, Colombian BGs are following internationalization processes [15], leading them to become 'multilatinas'; that is to say, they are firms that are located and consolidated in a Latin American country, and seek expansion and positioning in new markets [16]. Furthermore, the context of developing countries has some cultural, social, political, and economic aspects that make them different [17], and therefore interesting to study.A recent study [18] shows that 68% of consulted investors recognize the importance of CSR reports for their investment decisions and consider the report to be the main tool for communicating CSR practices [19]. This paper aims at identifying corporate reporting practices in the BGs of an emerging economy and subsequently establishing their stakeholder orientation and prevailing CSR communication strategies. To achieve these three objectives, we applied a content analysis of 30 corporate reports from the year 2015 from BGs that are representative of the Colombian economy. Following Habek and Wolniak [20], Venturelli et al. [21], and Davila et al. [22], the BG reports under analysis were classified into four categories: annual reports (AR), sustainability reports (SR), combined reports (CR), and integrated reports (IR). We draw on the stakeholders theory [23] and previous studies [24][25][26][27][28] in order to define the stakeholder categories, allowing us to assess the type of orientation presented by the analyzed Colombian BGs.This study i...

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Tensions in Aspirational CSR Communication—A Longitudinal Investigation of CSR Reporting

Cited by 21 publications

References 108 publications

CSR in Non-Large Public Interest Entities: Corporate Talk vs. Actions

CSR in Non-Large Public Interest Entities: Corporate Talk vs. Actions

Formative Perspectives on the Relation Between CSR Communication and CSR Practices: Pathways for Walking, Talking, and T(w)alking

CSR Communication Strategies of Colombian Business Groups: An Analysis of Corporate Reports

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