Urša Golob

Value orientations and consumer expectations of Corporate Social Responsibility

This paper explores how personal and situational factors impact consumer expectations of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Consumer expectations are known to motivate marketers to incorporate social considerations into their marketing practices and to communicate about those actions. A study was conducted in order to examine the effect of values and issue involvement on consumer CSR expectations, categorised as economic, legal, ethical, and philanthropic. The studys findings demonstrated that consumers generally have high expectations of CSR, especially in the legal and ethical‐philanthropic domains. Expectations for the ethical‐philanthropic dimension of CSR are higher amongst consumers holding high self‐transcendent values and practicing high involvement. The main implications of the study are the potential for positioning companies as socially responsible and incorporating CSR in strategic marketing and communications decisions.

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...

The bad, the ugly and the good: new challenges for CSR communication

Purpose – This editorial is an introduction to the special issue on CSR Communication attached to the second CSR Communication Conference held in Aarhus (Denmark) in September 2013. The purpose of this paper is to critically evaluate the role of CSR communication and the development of theory and practice of CSR Communication in recent years. Design/methodology/approach – The editorial sets up a research agenda for the future, the premises outlined about the role of CSR communication being based on Habermas’ (1984) idea of instrumental/strategic and communicative action. Findings – The theoretically based research shows that there are different framings of CSR. In the first framing, the business discourse is trying to institutionalize CSR and sustainability by pursuing CSR purely as a business case. In the second framing, alternative CSR discourses are challenging the business discourse, communication being oriented towards shared understanding. Originality/value – The above findings are original insofar ...

Identification with an organisation as a dual construct

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to advance understanding of an individuals identification with an organisation (“organisational identification”) and propose a scale for its measurement, by means of a study drawing on the literature of corporate marketing, and group and corporate identification.Design/methodology/approach – Factor analysis was applied to data collected by questionnaire from two independent samples of 200 and 525 respondents, in Slovenia, to test the causal‐path relationship of group and corporate identification to “organisational identification”.Findings – Contrary to the prevailing wisdom, “organisational identification” is not a unidimensional construct, but comprises identification with the organisation both as a collective of individuals, and as a social entity. Results confirm the proposed structure of organisational identification, and the sound quality of the scale for its measurement.Practical implications – The findings suggest a means for marketing strategists and manager...

Competitive advantage in the marketing of products within the enlarged European Union

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyse competitive advantage in relation to the formulation of competitive product marketing strategies in European Union (EU) firms. It considers how it is possible to gain a competitive advantage through different product strategies.Design/methodology/approach – The analysis is based on 18 EU member States (14 founding States and four new States that joined in 2004). To investigate the range of strategies is used by EU companies in both old and new member States, cluster, discriminant analysis and multiple comparison procedures are used.Findings – The results show some differences in strategies between old and new EU member companies. Although a balanced strategy is most widely used in both groups, companies from new member states are fond of a price and quality mix whereas companies from the old member states favour a quality and distribution mix.Research limitations/implications – A larger pool of competitive elements could provide more in‐depth insights. Thu...

Friendly flexible working practices within the internal marketing framework: a service perspective

The purpose of this paper is to increase the understanding of the existence of work flexibility and its relevance to internal marketing. Friendly forms of work flexibility are critical to an improved understanding of the role internal marketing should have to achieve better service quality performance. This exploratory study is based on a sample of 2997 private-sector organisations provided by the CRANET survey. The results show the divergence in industry business patterns in the use of friendly and unfriendly flexible work arrangements. Service companies tend to use friendly flexible working practices in larger proportions. The analysis reveals a small negative relationship between unfriendly practices and service quality. These findings may suggest that service organisations tend to create more supportive environments when offering flexible work arrangements that are friendlier for individual workers and their families.

Social economy and social responsibility: alternatives to global anarchy of neoliberalism?

Purpose - This paper aims to point out a way to overcome the circumstances that arose out of the global neoliberal system. It is argued that this is possible when all relevant actors in society cooperate and that a change in a way of thinking in the private sector needs to come from within. Design/methodology/approach - The paper searches the alternative to neoliberalism in the social economy and responsibility paradigms by examining their theoretical and normative standpoints linking them to practical views. Findings - The paper argues that the solution to the hegemonic neoliberalism is the new model of social economy which can be put in force only by simultaneous cooperation of all key actors in a society, and especially a driving force behind the existing economic system – the for-profit sector. Lately it seems that its actors have, indeed, more actively take over their role within social economy, acknowledging the importance of the socially responsible behaviour. Originality/value - The paper introduces a four-leaf clover model of social economy actors and integrates the social economy paradigm with the notion of social responsibility of the for-profit sector.

Reconstruction of public relations history through publications in Public Opinion Quarterly

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to introduce a historical development of public relations from its early days until 1970. The study aims to show that in the early stages of development public relations was closely linked with public opinion research.Design/methodology/approach – A historical content analysis is used to establish a “story of identity” through a review of selected articles from Public Opinion Quarterly from 1937 to 1970.Findings – A clear finding is that public relations was once an integral part of public opinion science but later changed its focus to the management field, interested in reaching different publics. From the very beginning public relations was a subject of academic interest.Research limitations/implications – This paper has a few limitations; one that stands out is that selected articles were analysed from only one journal, which does not offer the recent material (after 1970 and especially from the 1990s). At the end, the paper raises some questions, which should aid...

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.

Corporate social responsibility and transparent pricing in the case of the euro changeover

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to develop a matrix of socially responsible behaviour and communication types (corporate social responsibility (CSR)‐BC matrix) to explain different practices companies use when dealing with stakeholder issues, such as transparent changeover pricing.Design/methodology/approach – The analysis takes theories and research on CSR, transparent pricing and consumer expectations, and a case study approach as its starting point. It explores a case study of adoption of the euro in Slovenia, the 13th member state that joined the European Monetary Union. It deals with the importance of expectations about the changeover process and the responsible behaviour and communications of companies.Findings – According to the data, the cases of changeover can be explained with the CSR‐BC matrix. According to the results, it seems that the majority of companies did not abuse the changeover process. This indicates that consumer expectations and actions can be a meaningful sign for companies...