Better stay single? Public relations and CSR leadership in India

Public relations scholars have argued that public relations practitioners, as boundary spanners between organizations and their diverse publics, are well positioned to assume leadership and become the “conscience” of their organization's CSR efforts. Conversely, scholars have also questioned public relations practitioners’ assumption of leadership of CSR. Much of the debate, both for and against, has been generated in Euro/American contexts of practice. As part of a larger study, this research aimed to examine whether the argument for public relations’ leadership of CSR holds true in non-Western contexts as well, specifically, by examining CSR leadership in corporations in India that are known to be socially responsible. This study found that in the majority of companies that are heavily engaged in CSR in India, it was the senior business executives and managers, instead of the PR practitioners, that were tasked with CSR leadership. Based on the findings of this study, this paper questions the assumption of CSR leadership by public relations practitioners.     

Corporate social responsibility communication of Chinese and global corporations in China

This paper explored how leading Chinese and global companies operating in China communicate their corporate social responsibility (CSR) principles and practices to the Chinese stakeholders through a content analysis of these companies’ corporate websites. It was found that companies usually take one of the following three major approaches in their CSR communication: CSR as ad hoc public philanthropy, CSR as strategic philanthropy, and CSR as ethical business practices. Furthermore, this paper examined the effects of country of origin and industry on companies’ CSR communication and found that whether companies are targeting at businesses or consumers has a bigger impact on their CSR communication than whether they are Chinese or global. Finally, despite a tendency towards convergence, Chinese and global companies still present their CSR principles and practices differently because of their different relations with major Chinese and global stakeholders.     

Building communities: The postmodern CSR practitioner as a dialectical activist-agent in India

This study examined the conceptualization of the postmodern public relations practitioner as an organizational activist who contributes to democratic processes in the context of community relations and corporate social responsibility (CSR) in India. Elite, in-depth conversations with 19 senior executives at 16 companies in India well known for their CSR initiatives revealed that practitioners appeared to be both organizational activists and agents. As organizational activists, they acknowledged the existence of diverse voices in local communities, interjected these voices into management discourse, situated decision-making in local contexts, identified tensors in the relationship between the corporation and its publics, and negotiated new meanings through dissensus. Paradoxically, as organizational agents, they used these participatory, open processes of dialogic communication to shape public opinion in favour of the organization, feeding modern organizations’ proclivity for consensus. While the findings of the study support the postmodern conceptualization of the public relations practitioner as an organizational activist in the context of CSR and community relations, the agent aspect of the activist-agent dialectic problematizes and complicates this conceptualization thus enhancing understandings of the postmodern practitioner who enacts CSR within a modernist framework and navigates the intricacies of the activist-agent dialectic in their daily performance of building community relations and enabling democratic processes.     

A two-path model of the impact of LGBTQ+ diversity CSR levels on public response

Since conflicting opinions and expectations of stakeholders about LGBTQ+ diversity coexist, companies contemplate how far to draw the line of CSR involvement in relation to LGBTQ+ diversity. This study examines how different levels of LGBTQ+ diversity CSR (i.e., proactive, passive, refusal) affect public responses. The proposed model investigates how public perceptions of corporate support for LGBTQ+ diversity (PCSL), influenced by CSR level, affects two dimensions of corporate associations differently (corporate ability and CSR association), and consequently CSR responses (supportive communication intent, purchase intent, and corporate evaluation in this study). The role of perceived value-driven motivation as a mediator was also examined. An online experiment was conducted with two Fortune 500 companies (Dell and Kellogg's). Overall, the results suggest that proactive CSR leads to higher PCS-L and better CSR outcomes among the general public than a passive or refusal approach. PCS-L, directly and indirectly, affects individuals’ CSR associations, which are mediated by value-driven motives. In turn, CSR associations positively influence publics’ supportive communication intent, purchase intent and corporate evaluations. As for CA associations, we found that they had a rather complicated relationship with PCS-L. Specifically, PCS-L had a direct negative effect on CA associations (Dell) or no effect (Kellogg), indicating possible backlash effects. However, higher PSC-L resulted in more favorable perceived motives of the CSR program, driven by the company's moral grounds and corporate values, consequently resulting in greater CA associations (positive indirect impact). Thus, perceived value-driven motives can offset potential backlash effects related to CA associations and corresponding CSR outcomes.     

The paradoxical effects of communicating CSR activities: Why CSR communication has both positive and negative effects on the perception of a company’s social responsibility

Supporting societal goals and sustainable developments can help a company to be seen as socially responsible. This corporate social responsibility (CSR) must be communicated effectively as too intensive communication could negatively affect the company’s perception. These negative effects may be caused by an imbalance between the amount of CSR communication and the actual extent of CSR activities. Two experiments show that increased CSR communication has a negative indirect effect on perceptions of a company’s social responsibility, mediated by persuasive intent and reactance. However, depending on the extent of a company’s actual CSR activities, there is also a countervailing direct effect: A high extent of CSR communication positively affects perceptions of a company’s social responsibility if the company engages in a great number of CSR activities. In contrast, if a company only engages in a few activities but communicates a lot about it, this positive effect may even become negative.     

Communicating Engagement in Corporate Social Responsibility: A Meta-Level Construal of Engagement

Organizations are increasingly seeking stakeholder support through engagement to demonstrate their corporate social responsibility (CSR) credentials. These credentials are, in turn, used to support claims of legitimacy for organizational operations. This article uses a process model of antecedents, implementation, and consequences to study the connection between engagement and CSR. CSR reports show organizations perceive engagement in CSR as both communication and activities between organizations and their stakeholders; and as a second, meta-level of communication about that engagement with stakeholders beyond those directly involved, thereby broadening the scope of organizational claims to legitimacy. Understanding what engagement is and how and why it is carried out in CSR provides a framework for understanding engagement in public relations.     

Corporate social responsibility engagement and communication by Chinese companies

Premised upon the centrality of relationship management in corporate social responsibility (CSR) and public relations functions, and the growing momentum toward CSR in China, this study reports survey results of corporate communication/public relations executives in Chinese companies on aspects of CSR accountability and transparency. Responses to four key topical areas – drivers for CSR engagement, areas of practice, importance of CSR communication, and preferred channels for communication – suggest a strong concern for corporate image and culture in pursuing CSR, an overwhelming emphasis on disaster relief despite the recognition of a much broader array of societal priorities, and the Chinese companies’ current reliance on in-house and Internet media for CSR communication.     

Perceptions about corporate positioning on controversial sociopolitical issues: Examining big pharma engagement with patient advocacy

There is evidence of the perception that business is not doing enough to address societal problems. As a result, some companies have used corporate activism to demonstrate their support for causes and position themselves on specific issues. These positioning efforts are at the heart of public relations activities with the potential to create changes in socially constructed realities. This research examines the relationships between pharmaceutical companies and patient advocacy, focusing on analyzing companies' engagement in controversial sociopolitical issues. An ethnographic study was conducted for six months — including document analysis, 33 interviews, and participant observation — with a Portuguese patient advocacy group. The CSR domains on thhe websites of seven pharmaceutical companies were also analyzed. Findings suggest that despite financial and technical support, the pharma companies do not publicly engage with the patient advocacy group's main struggles for human rights. Changes in the companies' positioning may improve the perceptions of these stakeholders about their engagement with causes and encourage more robust partnerships toward social change.     

Corporate responsibility in U.S. corporate websites: A pilot study

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has become an essential component in the management of companies around the globe. Any key strategy used for CSR administration must reflect strong and effective communication channels to show CSR efforts. This study analyzes how the top 50 American profitable corporations from the Fortune 500 of 2009 communicate their CSR initiatives to different stakeholders through their corporate websites. To do this, an evaluation framework has been designed to examine features presented in CSR corporate websites.     

Corporate Associations Written on the Wall: Publics’ Responses to Fortune 500 Ability and Social Responsibility Facebook Posts

This is a quantitative content analysis of Fortune 500 companies’ Facebook profiles, wall posts, and wall comments. It confirms that a 3-part typology of message strategies—corporate ability (CA), corporate social responsibility (CSR), and hybrid—exists in corporate online social networking communication. As predicted, when corporations used CA strategies in wall posts, publics’ wall comments demonstrated greater CA associations and product evaluations than CSR associations and company evaluations. Likewise, when corporations used CSR strategies, publics showed greater CSR associations than CA associations. These corporate messages and publics’ responses in the real-world digital market support the synergistic model of corporate communication strategy.     

Hybrid happening: Organizational reputations in corporate crises

Public relations professionals strive to develop mutually beneficial relationships among key publics that will result in favorable organizational reputations, but crises typically threaten those reputations. Much of public relations crisis research focuses on how to respond after a crisis, but drawing on Expectation Violation Theory (EVT), this research focuses on the expectations of stakeholders before a crisis and how they process information during a crisis. Drawing from reputation management research in marketing, it conceptualizes corporate reputations as encompassing associations related to corporate ability (CA) and corporate social responsibility (CSR). Reputation management research generally has investigated reputations as strong on either CA or CSR, but this research examines the effects of a “hybrid” reputation, which is strong in terms of both CA and CSR associations. The results of an experiment reveal that stakeholders’ responses during a crisis vary based on their expectations, how they perceive a hybrid reputation, and the crisis type. The study has theoretical implications regarding stakeholders’ information processing during a crisis, and it provides public relations professionals insights regarding how to cultivate and protect an organizational reputation.     

Stakeholder influence,government power,and new opportunities for Chinese Internet companies: A multilevel network analysis of cross-sector networks

In recent decades, Chinese Internet companies have experienced exponential growth. As the Internet industry increasingly commends tremendous financial resources, they also face growing stakeholder expectations for corporate social responsibility (CSR) actions. One way through which Chinese Internet companies conduct CSR is by building cross-sectoral collaborations with nonprofit and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and governmental agencies. Aiming to understand Internet companies’ strategic relationship building on CSR issues, the researchers drew from stakeholder influence theory and research on a network approach to stakeholder influence, and applied multilevel network analysis to model three networks related to Chinese Internet companies’ CSR collaborations. Specifically, we found that power and urgency are significant predictors of the structure of Internet companies’ cross-sector CSR alliance network. Organizations affiliated or endorsed by the central Chinese government are the most desirable CSR stakeholders. Additionally, the study also revealed that for Internet companies, devoting their attention to Internet-related social issues could increase their desirability as strategic stakeholders from other sectors and among Internet companies.     

Operationalizing genuineness in CSR communication for public engagement on social media

Public relations professionals from global corporations have increasingly communicated corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices on social media to engage publics. Yet the link between CSR communication of global corporations, particularly with regard to the dimensions of genuineness exhibited in their communication and public engagement on social media is under-researched in China. This empirical study conceptualized and operationalized the dimensions of genuineness, which encompass providing information about different CSR themes, being responsive to publics, demonstrating empathy, and being consistent in what corporations say and do, and then investigated how global corporations engaged Chinese publics through genuine CSR communication on Sina Weibo. Enhanced public engagement outcomes of comments, likes, and shares were observed for the provision of information about the community involvement and development CSR theme alongside the use of empathy. This study informs public relations scholars and practitioners about the importance of providing information on the CSR theme of community involvement and demonstrating empathy to generate higher public engagement.     

Staking reputation on stakeholders: How does stakeholders’ Facebook engagement help or ruin a company’s reputation?

The majority of studies in public relations continue to examine organization-public relationships from only the organization’s perspective, with few studies focusing on the other side of the communication loop: stakeholders. The current study takes the stakeholders’ perspective to investigate the relationship between active stakeholders’ online behavior and corporate reputation. Modeling 5-year longitudinal social media data, a content analysis was conducted for Fortune 500 companies in the context of Facebook. By examining stakeholders’ Facebook engagement at the two levels of shallow engagement and profound engagement, significant associations were discovered. Active stakeholders’ Facebook-based interactions as leaving positive or negative comments with a company are significant predictors of the company’s reputation score. The findings bring new insights to existing literature and also practical implications to public relations professionals.     

Strategic communication of corporate social responsibility (CSR): Effects of stated motives and corporate reputation on stakeholder responses

This study examined stakeholder responses toward two communication strategies of CSR motives: stating both self- and society-serving motives or only society-serving motives. How the effect of stated motives differs by corporate reputation was studied as well. The study found that acknowledging a self-serving motive reduces skeptical attribution and enhances stakeholders’ favorable intent to support, seek employment with, invest in, and purchase from the company. Possible backlash effects were detected when companies with poor reputations emphasize only society-serving motives and omit self-serving motives.     

Public relations’ place in corporate social responsibility: Practitioners define their role

Qualitative responses from 173 PR practitioners were used to analyze their roles and contribution to corporate social responsibility (CSR). Practitioners identified five roles for public relations in CSR—significant management, philanthropic, value-driven, communication, and none. PR professionals illustrated these roles by describing their contributions to social responsibility programs. They also expressed limitations to their ability to contribute to CSR programs.     

How controversial businesses communicate CSR on Facebook: Insights from the Canadian cannabis industry

This study advances our current understanding of corporate social responsibility (CSR) communication in a controversial industry by analyzing CSR-related Facebook posts from seven Canadian public cannabis companies. Our findings indicated that these companies’ CSR communication on Facebook was mostly instrumentalist, lacked transparency, and used effective multimedia characteristics. In addition, associations between communication strategies and public engagement on social media (e.g., # of likes, comments, and shares) revealed both opportunities and ethical concerns regarding CSR communication in controversial businesses.     

U.S. Fortune 500’s stakeholders engagement during the COVID-19 pandemic: Evidence for proactive approaches

In times of a national crisis such as COVID-19, it is important for organizations to show that they are good corporate citizens. At the same time, organizations should carefully select the type of messages that resonate with stakeholders so as to reduce stakeholder skepticism. This study examines how U.S. Fortune 500 companies discussed their COVID-19 pandemic CSR actions on Facebook over 15 months and how the public responded to such messages. We identified three CSR themes: internal stakeholder proactive CSR, external stakeholder proactive CSR, and external stakeholder accommodative CSR. When publics engaged, external stakeholder proactive CSR was significantly associated with better behavioral engagement outcomes, more positive emotional engagement outcomes, and less negative emotions. However, such effects are moderated by industry type. Our findings inform public relations theory and practice and suggest that in times of major crises, organizations should prioritize proactive approaches to engage external stakeholders while being mindful of specific institutional contexts.     

Baoren Baoguo: Zhongguo Xinwenshi De Lingyizhong Dufa [To Serve the Nation: Journalists as Prisms of Chinese Press History] edited by CHIN-CHUAN LEE

Social networking sites (SNS) have become an important vehicle for corporate communication. However, there has been little research on how East Asian firms use international SNSs to communicate with global stakeholders. This study compares the communication strategies of Chinese and Japanese companies on Facebook and Twitter and analyzes the public responses and complaints on these corporate SNSs. The results revealed that in addition to the traditional strategies of corporate ability (CA) and corporate social responsibility (CSR), Chinese and Japanese firms adopted the human interest (HI) strategy. The results showed that the Chinese companies in the study sample had a stronger preference for the CSR and interactive strategies, and they responded faster to online complaints compared with the Japanese firms, which were more likely to adopt the strategy of transferring in handling complaints. Moreover, “inviting participation into events” and “seeking specific feedback” were two types of interactive messages that received the highest numbers of responses from the public on Facebook, whereas “promoting sales” showed the highest engagement on Twitter. This study is the first to compare the effectiveness of different corporate response strategies for specific complaint topics on social media. Thus, it contributes to the literature on stakeholder–company interactions.