Wrinkles in a CSR story: mismatched agendas in fast fashion service brands' CSR reputation

Abstract

PurposeCorporate social responsibility (CSR) is an increasingly important issue for service brands in fast fashion retailing, as consumers' negative impressions about retailers' CSR activities influence brand experience. Consumers' impressions of CSR efforts arise based on agendas communicated through many channels from different sources. The paper unravels the ‘wrinkles’, i.e. possible mismatches in CSR communication around service brands by studying differences between the three main sources of fast fashion brand-related CSR agendas: Autonomous company communication, news media and social media postings by consumers.Design/methodology/approachThe authors use structural topic modeling (STM) to analyze a corpus of texts focusing on the CSR efforts of three major fast fashion service brands over three years. The texts included 89 items of company communication (CSR reports and press releases), 5,351 news media articles about the brands' CSR efforts and 57,377 consumer generated tweets about the brands.FindingsThe STM analysis extracted 26 different CRS-related topics from the texts. Results showed differences in how much the three sources emphasized topics. The brands' own communication puts emphasis on environmental responsibility. News media tended to report on economic issues, treatment of employees and specific CSR-related events. Twitter showed more activity in discussing incident-based and emotionally charged topics.Research limitations/implicationsThe results feed into the ongoing discussion about how companies' CSR communication relates to communication in the press and among consumers. The authors highlight themes in the individual topics that are emphasized by the three sources, and discuss how CSR themes emerge in the overall transformative agenda.Practical implicationsThe paper highlights how fast fashion service brands can identify and understand different CSR agendas arising around their brand. Insight into such agendas can be used to tailor the brands' communication strategies.Originality/valueThe paper contributes to the understanding of the factors behind fashion service brands' CSR reputation, highlighting how the three main sources of CSR reputation (company reports, news and social media) emphasize different types of agendas.

Guest editorial: Evolutions and disruptions in retailing service through digital transformation

“…Emerging technologies transform not only the way customers and firms interact, but also the way researchers can study such interactions. In "Wrinkles in a CSR story: mismatched agendas in fast fashion service brands' CSR reputation", Mickelsson et al (2023) tackled current corporate social responsibility issues in connection with fast fashion brands using structural topic modeling (STM). The STM analysis enabled the investigation of a large volume of company created communications, press releases, media articles and consumergenerated tweets over three years and generated underlying CSR themes frequently argued in the sources and address discrepancies between company's communications about their CSR efforts and new media and consumers' communications about the issue.…”

“…Emerging technologies transform not only the way customers and firms interact, but also the way researchers can study such interactions. In “Wrinkles in a CSR story: mismatched agendas in fast fashion service brands' CSR reputation”, Mickelsson et al . (2023) tackled current corporate social responsibility issues in connection with fast fashion brands using structural topic modeling (STM).…”

The impact of corporate social responsibility on consumer brand engagement and purchase intention at fashion retailers

“…The fourth element can be regarded as discretionary: it comprises philanthropic activities promoting the welfare and development of society (Carroll, 1979(Carroll, , 1991Gilal et al, 2021;Mickelsson et al, 2023). Philanthropically-motivated corporate social responsibility can satisfy people's needs-at all levels, from basic to selffulfillment-and it can enhance the overall quality of life, contributing to increased happiness, fulfillment, benevolence, and a greater willingness to embrace universal values (Ogunmokun et al, 2021).…”

International Service Management in the Context of Sustainable Development

“…In managerial literature several theories or mainstreams have been proposed to justify a virtuous behavior of firm in society and/or a contribution to improve the planet as a whole: brand activism (Sarkar & Kotler, 2020;Kapitan et al, 2022;Kumar, 2022;Mirzaei et al, 2021), corporate social responsibility/ environmental, social, governance, in accounting literature (Alnawas et al, 2023;Mickelsson et al, 2023;Gilal et al, 2023), cultural branding/ brand iconicity (Arnould & Thompson, 2007;Holt, 2004;Cova & D'Antone, 2016),…”