ABSTRACT
Although social media platforms provide interactive richness for two-way conversations, communication about CSR issues on these platforms is still treated as a one-way approach among many companies. In fact, it remains unclear if stakeholders are also crafting unidirectional CSR messages on these platforms. Few empirical studies on CSR communication and social media have been published, but none of them have discussed the importance of using social media concepts for interactive CSR communication. These concepts are inherent characteristics or features of social media platforms such as dialogue, engagement, transparency, authenticity, influence, and mobilization.
This work examines how innate social media concepts are used by different users (companies, media, NGOs, influencers, advocates, professionals, and citizens/consumers) when communicating CSR issues on Twitter. Using quantitative content analysis, a random sample of 1,000 public tweets, which included the hashtag #CSR, was coded and analyzed. Findings show that social media platforms are important tools for engaging stakeholders in committing to responsible practices, but different users are not employing all the unique elements these platforms have to offer for communication. This chapter provides organizations and practitioners with a CSR communication framework to effectively design messages that can promote stakeholder engagement and participation.
