Twitter and corporate social responsibility

2015 ◽  
Vol 31 (7) ◽  
pp. 35-37

Purpose – To examine the use of Twitter by companies for corporate social responsibility (CSR) communications and the management of relationships with stakeholders. Design/methodology/approach – Defines three communication strategies for one-way or two-way communication and assesses their value for relationship management. Uses social network analysis to evaluate Twitter use for CSR communication. Findings – Isn’t technology marvelous? Once upon a time – a decade or so ago – companies mainly talked to stakeholders as a whole, usually about the things they wanted to tell them. Now social media have given each of us the opportunity to have individual discussions with them about things that matter to us. But just because the technology’s available, doesn’t mean companies have to use it – and some seem strangely reluctant to engage in one-to-one dialogue, particularly in areas like CSR. Practical implications – Concludes that companies remain cautious in their use of social media to communicate their CSR activities and that few exploit Twitter’s full potential for relationship management. Social implications – Asks if more corporations will use social media for interactive dialogue and relationship management or if they will continue to treat Twitter as a news medium rather than a social network. Originality/value – Presents empirical evidence showing how – and how intensively – companies are using Twitter to communicate with stakeholders interested in CSR.

2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 280-297
Author(s):  
Hazem Rasheed Gaber ◽  
Ahmed Elsamadicy

The purpose of this paper is to study how companies communicate their corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices on their Facebook pages, and it also investigates the impact of this content type on consumer engagement behaviours. Based on content analysis of the biggest twenty corporate Facebook pages in Egypt, it was found that these companies focus on non-CSR posts more than CSR posts. However, the findings showed that the CSR posts received the highest number of likes, comments and shares if compared to other content types. This article provides social media managers with some guidelines for effective posting strategies when adopting Facebook marketing. Specifically, it recommends that corporations use this social network to communicate CSR practices to consumers. Since the adoption of Facebook in CSR activities by many corporations is a relatively new practice, this article provides practitioners with some guidelines to follow.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 147
Author(s):  
Benedetta Esposito ◽  
Maria Rosaria Sessa ◽  
Daniela Sica ◽  
Ornella Malandrino

Over the last few decades, stakeholders’ growing attention towards social and environmental issues has challenged universities’ traditional accountability boundaries, imposing the adoption of innovative reporting tools that facilitate stakeholders’ engagement in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) practices and performances. Against this backdrop, online communication tools, such as websites and social media platforms, have gained momentum as a pivotal means to increase dialogue with the myriad of stakeholders, especially during the pandemic period, as it has dramatically reduced physical interactions. Based on these premises, this study aims to dive deep into the use of social media to communicate CSR strategies in the university context by exploring the case of the University of Salerno. To this end, all posts published by the University of Salerno’s official Twitter account from 2015 to 2021 have been extracted and analyzed. Accordingly, the degree of interactions with stakeholders and the communication direction and balance level have been examined based on Carroll’s pyramid. Findings show a higher level of engagement for CSR posts and, in particular, for the philanthropic dimension. Results also highlight that, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the University of Salerno has empowered CSR disclosure through Twitter. The methodology adopted could be replicated for other universities to understand better how public universities use social media to involve a broader range of stakeholders in their CSR practices.


2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 191-203
Author(s):  
Zdenko Metzker ◽  
Jaroslav Belas ◽  
John Amoah

The article aims to identify the perception of issues related to the use of social media in the business environment of small and medium-sized enterprises in the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland. The authors chose the concept of comparing entrepreneurs who implement corporate social responsibility with other interviewed entrepreneurs. An interesting comparison was made from the collected data. The article is based on a questionnaire survey of 1217 respondents. The study was conducted from September 2019 to January 2020. The chi-quadrat test and z-score were used to evaluate statistical hypotheses. The results showed that Czech entrepreneurs implementing corporate social responsibility have more negative answers than the surveyed entrepreneurs in other countries. Thus, less than 28% of Czech corporate social responsibility entrepreneurs agree that social media helps increase corporate growth, while in Poland – up to 49%. As many as 53% of corporate social responsibility entrepreneurs in Hungary and Poland agreed that social media could respond more flexibly to market developments. Czech entrepreneurs were lagging behind 35% of them. The results showed no statistically significant differences in all research questions regarding entrepreneurs without the implemented CSR concept. The article results suggested that Czech CSR entrepreneurs did not see the potential benefits of social media use. Although the study focuses only on 3 central European countries, the results are not generalizable. However, they are useful for those who promote positive impacts on companies through the social networks and organizations that promote corporate social responsibility. One of the tools for transparent communication with customers/suppliers could be by communication via social media. The study's findings could further help other entrepreneurs consider the benefits of social media in doing socially responsible business.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yeunjae Lee

PurposeThis study explores the link between internal corporate social responsibility (CSR) and employee advocacy intention in the anonymous online environment, viewing the positive behavior of employees in anonymous social media as discretionary and altruistic efforts for their organization. Guided by social exchange theory (SET) and relationship management theory, the role of a communal relationship and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) is likewise explored.Design/methodology/approachAn online survey was conducted with 405 full-time employees in the US.FindingsResults showed that internal CSR positively influences the organization–employee communal relationship as well as OCB. Results further show that the employee-oriented communal relationship plays an important role in increasing OCB, which in turn enhances employee advocacy intention in anonymous social media.Originality/valueThis study is one of the first attempts to conceptualize employees' advocative behaviors in anonymous websites (e.g. Glassdoor) and to explore the antecedents of advocative behaviors, drawing insights from human resources management and internal relations.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Philipp Schröder

PurposeThis study aims to explore how banks practice corporate social responsibility (CSR) communication on two popular social media sites (SMSs), Facebook and Twitter. Furthermore, this study examines CSR communication strategies on SMSs, including the levels of communication direction and communication balance.Design/methodology/approachData were extracted from Facebook and Twitter over a five-year period (2015–2019), and content analysis was performed. The research setting was the German banking industry.FindingsThe results indicate that the number of banks using SMSs to communicate CSR-information increased over time. Although the majority of banks’ messages were not related to CSR, the most-referenced (least-referenced) CSR-theme was “society” (“human rights”). On Facebook, banks employed an interacting CSR communication strategy more often than an informing one when communicating CSR activities; on Twitter banks used a balanced mix of communication strategies. In terms of stakeholder engagement, social media users interacted with banks more frequently on Facebook than on Twitter, and banks made efforts to engage in two-way symmetrical communication.Research limitations/implicationsAlthough the sample comprised the most relevant banks in Germany, it was limited to a single national context. Thus, the results may not be generalizable.Originality/valueThis study makes a significant contribution to the limited literature on banks’ CSR communication via SMSs, provides new empirical evidence on the use of CSR communication strategies and extends prior research on the direction and balance of communication. Recommendations are provided for banking communication practitioners.


2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (5) ◽  
pp. 691-717 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mei Peng Low ◽  
Donald Siegel

Purpose This paper aims to study the knowledge development and research dissemination on employee-centred CSR research through a social network approach by adopting bibliometric analysis. Design/methodology/approach By using the bibliometric data obtained from Scopus, descriptive analysis using social network analysis together with visualisation tool to examine the knowledge development and research dissemination on employee-centred CSR. The publications were identified by limiting search in Scopus database through keywords, namely, Corporate Social Responsibility, Employee and/or Internal Corporate Social Responsibility, from 2000 to 2018 in all document types and access type. The data were analysed by year, source of publication, author, country, affiliation, subject area and term analysis. Findings The findings reveal that the Journal of Business Ethics and Social Responsibility Journal are the two key journals publishing in employee-centred CSR. The USA and the UK are the two main countries that dominate the publication production. Most of the publications are in the area of business, management and accounting. Main publications are contributed by Andriukaitiene, R., Swaen, V. and Vveinhardt, J. The number of publication increases marginally from year to year. More focus linkages were established between employee-centred CSR with organisational commitment and firm performance in the late 2016. Research limitations/implications The analysis and findings are only limited to data retrieved from the Scopus database from year 2000 to 2018 on 31 December 2018. Besides, the selection of the quality criteria is based on researchers’ definition of suitable empirical basis. Practical implications The findings of this paper provide insights to the researchers on the development of CSR research has expanded to internal stakeholders. It also contributes by identifying the sources of research and its development trends in employee-centred CSR research. Social implications The findings provide a holistic picture of domino effects of CSR initiatives in organisational behaviour. It also further reinforces the awareness internal CSR being another important perspective of CSR. Originality/value The originality of this paper lies in its contribution in the bibliometric approach to study the dissemination trend of employee-centred CSR research from the Scopus database.


2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 34-49 ◽  
Author(s):  
Silvia Testarmata ◽  
Fabio Fortuna ◽  
Mirella Ciaburri

Corporations are rapidly expanding their use of social media in corporate disclosure, and many firms are now entering into a virtual dialogue with stakeholders to communicate their economic, social and environmental impacts on society. However, the use of social media as a form of dissemination in communicating corporate social responsibility still remains an under-investigated research topic. Stemming from these considerations, the purpose of the paper is to analyse how companies are using social media platforms to disclose the corporate social responsibility practices in order to engage stakeholders in compelling and on-going virtual dialogs, comparing how Socially Responsible and Not Socially Responsible companies use social media platforms to communicate their corporate social responsibility initiatives and interventions. The analysis supports the current calls for innovative forms for corporate disclosure and provides empirical evidence on the corporate use of social media for communicating CSR practices, using a sample of Italian Listed companies.


2018 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 326-341 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruoxu Wang ◽  
Yan Huang

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of message source and types of corporate social responsibility (CSR) message on stakeholder’s perception toward CSR and behavioral intention toward the company. Design/methodology/approach A 2 (message source: CEO’s Facebook account vs organization’s Facebook account) × 3 (types of CSR messages: internal CSR vs external CSR vs control) between-subjects online experiment (n=242) was conducted online. Findings Internal CSR message elicited greater perceptions of trust, satisfaction, control mutuality, and commitment toward the organization among the stakeholders than the external CSR message and the CEO’s personal life message. A significant two-way interaction between the message source and the type of CSR message on behavior intention toward the organization was obtained. Originality/value Internal CSR message does matter when it comes to social media posting. The general public do pay attention to what the CEO and the organizations are posting on their social media accounts. Message source does not matter when it comes to social media message posting. However, organizations and CEOs should try to stay consistent when it comes to creating a public CSR message.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Wesley Ricardo de Souza Freitas ◽  
Jorge Henrique Caldeira Oliveira ◽  
Adriano Alves Teixeira ◽  
Nelson Oliveira Stefanelli

PurposeThis paper aims to analyze green human resource management's (GHRM’s) relationships with corporate social responsibility (CSR) and customer relationship management in Brazilian companies.Design/methodology/approachA sample of 142 companies – from the electro-electronics, mechanical metals, packaging, footwear and plastics industries – was examined using the partial least squares method.FindingsThe results reveal that GHRM practices positively influence CSR practices, which act as a moderating construct to positively influence customer relationship management.Research limitations/implicationsThe results cannot be generalized due to the non-probabilistic sampling used; however, the results meet the requirements of the statistical methodology.Practical implicationsThese findings contribute to business managers' decision-making, as they demonstrate that organizations must develop a consistent culture focused on social and environmental issues. This also reveals that the human resources field can contribute to developing a socially correct company, with the subsequent possibility of satisfying customers to retain and create customer loyalty.Social implicationsThe results show that for a company to be sustainable from an economic, social, and environmental perspective, the involvement of human resource management is fundamental.Originality/valueThis paper contributes to academia by presenting a new theoretical model, tested using a sample of Brazilian companies, which illuminates GHRM as an area still under development.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Damiano Cortese ◽  
Christian Rainero ◽  
Valter Cantino

PurposeThis paper aims at understanding whether firms conceive and use social media as disseminators, as well as amplifiers, of their results concerning sustainability and responsibility and whether this practice stimulates stakeholder engagement and participation, laying the foundation for a dialogue on corporate social responsibility.Design/methodology/approachThis research analyses the theoretical background of communication related to sustainability and responsibility and the company–stakeholder dialogue in the food sector. An inductive interpretive approach is provided by conducting a qualitative content analysis related to the communication practices of the food company Ferrero (Italy) from June 2015 to September 2019.FindingsCompanies can use social channels to present their vision, values, approaches and choices related to sustainability and responsibility. Social media can become useful networks to reach stakeholders requiring and claiming for transparency about more and more relevant topics – allowing, at the same time, a two-way relationship and dialogue.Research limitations/implicationsThe limitation of the paper is that it presents the observation of a single firm.Practical implicationsThe managerial implications relate to the value created by a dialogical communication: this is a strong foundation for enhancing relationships capable of maintaining and increasing the company's reputation. The establishment of an interchange about sustainability and responsibility represents a new way to direct the company and its stakeholders towards mutual support in creating value.Originality/valueThis article contributes to enriching the debate on the degree of knowledge, understanding, response and reaction to social media–based corporate social responsibility (CSR) communication.


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