Communicating responsibility-practicing irresponsibility in CSR advertisements

Keith J. Perks, Francisca Farache, Paurav Shukla () and Aidan Berry

Journal of Business Research, 2013, vol. 66, issue 10, 1881-1888

Abstract: With research focusing on corporate social disclosure mainly through websites and corporate reports, corporate social responsibility (CSR) communications remain an emerging field. However, little is known about CSR advertisements. Combining legitimacy theory and the theory of impression management, this paper develops and evaluates a conceptual framework about how organizations publicize their CSR strategies through print advertisements in order to disclose social and environmentally responsible behavior to their stakeholders. Theoretically, this paper contributes to the body of knowledge of CSR communications by identifying the impression management approach organizations adopt to legitimize their CSR strategies through “informing” (CSR) and/or “diverting attention” by practicing corporate and social irresponsibility (CSI). The exploratory research finds that CSR advertisements contain a limited amount of substantial information and third-party associations which reflects possible latent CSI motives. This paper contributes to managerial practice and policy making by offering a set of recommendations for meaningful CSR engagement.

Keywords: CSR communications; Legitimacy theory; Impression management; Oil industry; Corporate social irresponsibility (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (35)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0148296313000337
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:66:y:2013:i:10:p:1881-1888

DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2013.02.009

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Business Research is currently edited by A. G. Woodside

More articles in Journal of Business Research from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().