Corporate social responsibility communication: stakeholder information, response and involvement strategies

TLDR

Companies are widely recognized as needing to manage stakeholder relationships, yet approaches to doing so vary considerably. The paper argues that effective CSR communication requires a two‑way, iterative sense‑giving and sense‑making process, careful crafting, and the development of three distinct CSR communication strategies. The authors develop three CSR communication strategies to operationalize this approach. The study finds that managers should move from merely informing and responding to actively involving stakeholders, thereby expanding stakeholder roles to strengthen legitimacy, reputation, and long‑term relationships.

Abstract

While it is generally agreed that companies need to manage their relationships with their stakeholders, the way in which they choose to do so varies considerably. In this paper, it is argued that when companies want to communicate with stakeholders about their CSR initiatives, they need to involve those stakeholders in a two‐way communication process, defined as an ongoing iterative sense‐giving and sense‐making process. The paper also argues that companies need to communicate through carefully crafted and increasingly sophisticated processes. Three CSR communication strategies are developed. Based on empirical illustrations and prior research, the authors argue that managers need to move from ‘informing’ and ‘responding’ to ‘involving’ stakeholders in CSR communication itself. They conclude that managers need to expand the role of stakeholders in corporate CSR communication processes if they want to improve their efforts to build legitimacy, a positive reputation and lasting stakeholder relationships.