Christa Thomsen

CSR communication in small and medium‐sized enterprises

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine how corporate social responsibility (CSR) appears and is communicated in small‐ and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs).Design/methodology/approach – The paper is based on theory and research on CSR communication in general and in SMEs and a qualitative case study of the attitudes and beliefs of Danish SME managers regarding CSR and CSR communication.Findings – The case study demonstrates that CSR is primarily considered to be an ethical and moral issue which is isolated from strategic communication including public relations and reputation management. Rather than being a strategic instrument, CSR seems to be rooted in practice and regulated by the personal values and beliefs of managers. It is argued that in principle, SMEs like the ones in the case study which are based on employee commitment and the use of indirect word‐of‐mouth communication with internal and local stakeholders have a fruitful platform for adopting strategic CSR communication. The problem ...

CSR communication: quo vadis?

Purpose – This paper aims to introduce the special issue on CSR communication attached to the First International CSR Communication Conference held in Amsterdam in October 2011. The aim of the introduction is also to review CSR communication papers published in scholarly journals in order to make a summary of the state of CSR communication knowledge.Design/methodology/approach – The existing literature on CSR communication was approached via systematic review. with a combination of conventional and summative qualitative content analysis. The final dataset contained 90 papers from two main business and management databases, i.e. EBSCOhost and ProQuest.Findings – Papers were coded into three main categories. The results show that the majority of the papers are concerned with disclosure themes. Considerably less salient are papers that fall under process‐oriented themes and the outcomes/consequences of CSR communications. The most important outlets for CSR communication‐related topics are Journal of Business...

Conceptualising employer branding in sustainable organisations

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to reconceptualise employer branding in sustainable organizations at the intersection of branding, strategic human resource management (HRM) and corporate social responsibility (CSR).Design/methodology/approach – Based on an outline of current conceptualisations of employer branding, the paper discusses the strategic potentials of merging corporate branding processes, strategic HRM and CSR into a theoretical framework for reconceptualising employer branding as co‐created processes and sustainable employer‐employee relationships.Findings – When organizations adapt strategies for sustainable development (including CSR), it affects how to approach stakeholder relations and organizational processes, including the employee‐employer relationship and employer branding processes. However, current employer branding conceptualisations do not comply with such changed corporate conditions. The suggested framework reconceptualises employer branding as an integrated part of a CSR ...

The integration of CSR into corporate communication in large European companies

Purpose – This paper aims to shed light on corporate practices regarding the integration of CSR into corporate communication in large European companies.Design/methodology/approach – An e‐mail survey was conducted among large European companies in a total of 14 European countries. The questionnaire focuses on the organization of corporate communication activities, the organization of CSR activities, and the cooperation between the two.Findings – The authors find that CSR is managed most frequently by CSR departments, but also by communication departments to a small extent. Whichever organization is chosen, the communication departments frequently engage in cooperation with the CSR departments. The more frequently the two cooperate, the more likely they are to have formalised their cooperation. The authors also conclude that the communication department is generally aligned to the strategic management of the organization, whereas this is not always the case for the CSR department.Research limitations/impli...

The Role of Recontextualization in the Multivocal, Ambiguous Process of Strategizing

This paper shows how ambiguity arises across multiple strategizing activities through the presence of multiple strategic actors within and across different strategizing phases. During the authoring phase, the intentionality of the different management actor voices becomes detached from the meaning expressed in the strategy text, resulting in a decontextualized, monovocal strategy paper. In the translation phase, the study shows how the text still possesses an inherent multivocality making it impossible to talk about strategy text as an atemporal, neutral object. In the phase of interpreting the strategy, three main rhetorical positions are identified among the employees:acceptance, ambiguity and rejection, representing the multivocal interpretations of the employees interviewed. The study contributes to the ongoing discussion about the challenges and potentials of the multivocal, multicontextual nature of strategizing in organizations.

Ideals and practices in CSR identity making: the case of equal opportunities

Purpose – The purpose of the paper is to report on a qualitative research illustrating how equal opportunity ideals as part of a corporate CSR identity project are practiced on the local level.Design/methodology/approach – Investigating the practice of CSR identity making, an ethnographic fieldwork methodology relying on longitudinal participant observations and semi‐structured interviews has been applied.Findings – The authors argue that the practice of equal opportunities should be understood as a process of local interpretation of generally formulated ideals. By viewing the content of CSR identity as a socially negotiated process, it is suggested that a dynamic approach to the concept is required. The practice of equal opportunity is a continuously negotiated process of identity making and of locally relating ideals to practice in the negotiation between different stakeholders.Research limitations/implications – The article is based on a single case study with a limited number of informants.Practical i...

Management conversations in Danish companies

Purpose – Good stakeholder relations are crucial for the corporate image and reputation of modern organisations. One important management tool for use in successfully establishing good stakeholder relations involves management conversations. Until now these conversations have not been investigated extensively either in general or specifically within the field of corporate communication. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to this developing field of research by presenting the results of a study of management conversations.Design/methodology/approach – The paper investigates the ways in which various management conversations are used strategically in companies to benefit relations with stakeholders and the image or reputation of the company concerned. The conversations studied are recruitment conversations, job appraisal interviews, round‐table sickness leave conversations and dismissal conversations.Findings – The paper shows that the companies involved are aware that such conversations should be u...

Legitimation as a Particular Mode of Strategic Communication in the Public Sector

ABSTRACT Within the theoretical frameworks of strategic communication and legitimation and through the use of a case study analysis, this article investigates the creation of managerial legitimation towards internal stakeholders in text and talk as a particular mode of strategic communication in a public sector organization. Following a theoretical discussion of the interconnectedness of strategic communication and managerial legitimation, we present a case study analysis of management talk at three interrelated management meetings dealing with the implementation of New Public Management-based (NPM) reforms in a public sector organization. The context of NPM in the case study is particularly relevant for our investigation, because it sets the stage for the creation of legitimation by the public sector managers. Our analysis finds that these public sector managers use the integration of ‘voices’ (voices of authorization, rationalization and moral evaluation) of different actors (e.g., the Ministry, the organizational members, competitors, and partners) as a means of establishing legitimation. Specifically, this research shows how the integration of these (strong or weaker) ‘voices’ in management talk happens at a microlevel and is used as a particular mode of strategic communication.

Practicing the business of corporate social responsibility: A process perspective

The practice of corporate social responsibility (CSR) has often been described as a balance of profitability and social or societal responsibility by scholars as well as practitioners. It is assumed that regulations and guidelines of CSR practices link competitiveness and responsibility together. While recognising that formal CSR statements represent a goal-oriented managerial approach to CSR, we argue based on the description of a qualitative case study that the relationship between profitability and social or societal responsibility is not as clear and simple as it is often described. Instead, CSR should be considered as a continuously negotiated process between companies and stakeholders. Hence, the creation of a constructive link between profitability and social or societal responsibility is dependent on the amount of effort that has been put into exploring the concerns of the stakeholders, vis-a-vis the company, while simultaneously accepting changes when they are necessary.

The communicative stance of CSR: reflections on the value of CSR communication

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to introduce the third special issue on corporate social responsibility communication (CSRCom). In this editorial, the authors take the opportunity to share the latest knowledge, research and insights on CSRCom as presented at the third International CSR Communication Conference held in Ljubljana 17-19 September 2015. Design/methodology/approach Many efforts have been made to map the research field of CSRCom. Two major ontological streams seem to stand out in CSRCom research: functionalism vs constructivism. In this editorial, the authors describe each of them, address the factors which contributed to their implementation within the CSRCom field and provide a rationale for bridging the two approaches. Findings The papers selected for the issue demonstrate that recent studies of CSRCom are anchored both in functionalism and constructivism but that the attention towards using CSRCom in organisational processes of collaboration and networking is growing. This growth is aligned to the changes in the wider social environment. In this editorial, the authors are bridging both approaches and relating them to the most recent developments in CSR and CSRCom. Originality/value This paper concludes that a growing body of empirical studies contributes to an increased understanding of how both functionalistic and constitutive perspectives are relevant and provide key insights for communication managers. It also accentuates the idea that the ability to expand the understanding of CSRCom from that of a means to an end to one, according to which communication represents an important end/goal in itself, that can play a crucial role in dealing with the growing complexity of CSR processes.