Mette Morsing

The ‘Catch 22’ of communicating CSR: Findings from a Danish study

This research explored the apparent ‘Catch 22’ of communicating Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Although companies are regularly encouraged to engage in CSR, they are simultaneously discouraged to communicate about this engagement. We contribute with two models that may help to explain how companies can best communicate about their CSR initiatives. Based on a reputation survey and two case studies of Danish corporate CSR frontrunners, first we develop an ‘inside‐out approach’ to suggest how managers can manage their CSR activities to achieve favourable CSR reputation in a ‘Catch 22’ context. Employees appear as a key component in building trustworthiness as CSR communication is shown to evolve when taking an ‘inside‐out approach’. Second, we develop a CSR communication model with two CSR communication processes targeting different stakeholder groups: ‘the expert CSR communication process’ and ‘the endorsed CSR communication process’. Integrating these models and processes may help companies strategically capture reputational advantage from their CSR initiatives.

CSR as aspirational talk

Most writings on corporate social responsibility (CSR) treat lack of consistency between organizational CSR talk and action as a serious problem that needs to be eliminated. In this article, we argue that differences between words and action are not necessarily a bad thing and that such discrepancies have the potential to stimulate CSR improvements. We draw on a research tradition that regards communication as performative to challenge the conventional assumption that CSR communication is essentially superficial, as opposed to CSR action. In addition, we extend notions of organizational hypocrisy to argue that aspirational CSR talk may be an important resource for social change, even when organizations do not fully live up to their aspirations.

Corporate social responsibility as strategic auto-communication: on the role of external stakeholders for member identification

No abstract available.

Sustainable leadership: management control systems and organizational culture in Novo Nordisk A/S

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how top managers seek to provide the necessary leadership inside an organisation when sustainability is a primary strategic objective, and the paper seeks to ask to what extent it is possible to influence sustainability at the operational level by contemporary management control systems as it proposes to integrate the perspective of organizational culture.Design/methodology/approach – The paper is based on a single case study of Novo Nordisk A/S.Findings – The paper concludes by asking questions to managerial practice as well as to theory, concerning to what extent sustainability practices are measured by concurrent management control systems, and to what extent organizational culture perspective is a necessary prerequisite to manage and control sustainable leadership practice.Research limitations/implications – Future research should engage in exploring informal and organizational cultural aspects of how managers control the integration of sustainabil...

The question of coherency in corporate branding – over time and across stakeholders

The paper investigates the successful establishment of a strong corporate brand with a particular emphasis on analysing the corporate branding literature’s assumptions about coherency. Successful corporate branding is claimed to imply a shared set of coherent statements about the company’s values towards its external and internal stakeholders over time. An empirical test is applied to the coherency assumption. First, the coherency of a corporate brand over time is investigated as it develops in the media. Secondly, the coherency between two stakeholders’ perceptions of the corporate brand, organisational members and the media is investigated. This research suggests there are three distinct types of coherencies in corporate branding strategies over time: statement coherency, interpretation coherency and uniqueness coherency. On the one hand, a strong corporate brand is characterised by tight coherency, as top management’s statements about values remain the same over time and towards different stakeholders, ie statement coherency. On the other hand, a strong corporate brand is simultaneously characterised by a loose, or even absent, coherency between stakeholders’ interpretations of top management’s statements as well as a lack of coherency in stakeholders’ interpretations of the corporate brand over time, ie interpretation coherency. Finally, a third coherency phenomenon is observed, ie stakeholders’ emphasis on changing topics over time, which they relate to the corporate brand. Stakeholders agree that these themes are unique features and hence the company is considered unique, ie the uniqueness coherency. The implications of multiple interpretations are discussed as well as changing interpretations in corporate branding. It is argued that statement coherency is a necessary element in successful corporate branding, and the viability of the ambition to develop interpretation coherency over time and across stakeholders in corporate branding is discussed from the point of view of allowing room for interpretation incoherency. Finally, the question of maintaining uniqueness coherency is discussed: for how long can a company represent “newness” in the eyes of its stakeholders – including itself? Implications for management are discussed.

Corporate moral branding: limits to aligning employees

Purpose – To engage a critical discussion on the challenges raised for employees as corporate brands increasingly address moral issues.Design/methodology/approach – The paper links theories on corporate branding informed by marketing with theories on employee identification informed by critical sociology.Findings – While the move towards corporate branding with a strong emphasis on moral issues provides opportunities for improved employee identification, it may also lead to unintended implications in the sense of uniformity and centralisation of morals and employee demotivation.Research limitations/implications – While this paper provides theoretical analysis of the potential direness of corporate moral brands in relation to employees, no empirical investigations have been carried out to illustrate and analyse such implications. It is of theoretical as well as managerial interest to provide more research to understand this relation better.Practical implications – Rather than imposing a corporate brand wit...

Media, organizations and identity

Introduction L.Chouliaraki & M.Morsing PART I: MEDIA AS BUSINESS Rethinking Television in the Digital Age J.Turow BBC and New Media: Public Service Broadcasting in a Corporate Market Environment N.Thumim & L.Chouliaraki Expansion and Autonomy: The Rise of the Business Press P. Kjaer PART II: MEDIA IN BUSINESS Strategic Auto-communication in Identity-image Interplay: The Dynamics of Mediatizing Organizational Identity M.Morsing & A.Kjaergaard Mediatizing a Corporate Brand? Identity-effects on LEGO of Establishing a Media Company E.Karmark Making sense of a crucial interface: Corporate Communication and the NEWS Media J.P.Cornelissen, C.Carroll & W.J.L.Elving PART III: BUSINESS IN THE MEDIA Place Branding and Globalization. Media is the Message? P.van Ham Identity and Appeal in the Humanitarian Brand A.Vestergaard The Construction of Businesswomen in the Media: Between Evil and Frailty B.Czarniawska

Discursive Closure and Discursive Openings in Sustainability

Sustainability is an ambiguous and open-ended concept with many different meanings. Researchers as well as practitioners often express frustration with this fact and frequently call for more consistent, measurable, and univocal definitions of sustainability to ensure agreement, mutual understanding, and collective action (Jahdi & Acikdilli, 2009; Kolk, 2003). This essay, by contrast, explores the potential of appreciating and embracing ambiguity in the sustainability arena. We argue that lack of a clear-cut sustainability definition has potential to mobilize stakeholders to challenge existing understandings and explore new ideas and practices. Accepting conceptual ambiguity, in other words, is not necessarily to evade responsibility or critique. Whereas discursive closure may bind the concept to the past and make an organization blind to new and unexpected issues of sustainability problems, an open-ended conceptualization may stimulate sensitivity, quick adaption, and innovative solutions. We refer to this practice as “license to critique.” Instead of presuming to provide final answers to sustainability issues, sustainability program can, as a license to critique, authorize and invite stakeholders to participate, challenge, and debate.

Novo Nordisk A/S: Integrating Sustainability into Business Practice

Novo Nordisk defines sustainable development as being about preserving the planet while improving the quality of life for its current and future inhabitants. From a business perspective this involves the inclusion of economic, social and environmental considerations in the business strategy. During the 1990s many companies experienced an enormous pressure from critical stakeholders, governments, media, NGOs and international organisations to demonstrate that they had adopted sustainable business practices.

Adopting sustainability in the organization: Managing processes of productive loose coupling towards internal legitimacy

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between sustainability adoption and internal legitimacy construction.Design/methodology/approach – The paper is designed as a critical inquiry into existing research and practice on sustainability adoption, illustrated by two corporate vignettes.Findings – Prior studies tend to assume that awareness raising is a sufficient means to create employee commitment and support for corporate sustainability programs, while empirical observations indicate that managerial disregard of conflicting interpretations of sustainability may result in the illegitimacy of such programs.Originality/value – The authors suggest that a loosely coupled approach to sustainability adoption is a productive way to understand internal legitimacy construction, as it appreciates complexity and polyphony.