The communication of corporate social responsibility practices through social media channels

Abstract

Corporations are rapidly expanding their use of social media in corporate disclosure, and many firms are now entering into a virtual dialogue with stakeholders to communicate their economic, social and environmental impacts on society. However, the use of social media as a form of dissemination in communicating corporate social responsibility still remains an under-investigated research topic. Stemming from these considerations, the purpose of the paper is to analyse how companies are using social media platforms to disclose the corporate social responsibility practices in order to engage stakeholders in compelling and on-going virtual dialogs, comparing how Socially Responsible and Not Socially Responsible companies use social media platforms to communicate their corporate social responsibility initiatives and interventions. The analysis supports the current calls for innovative forms for corporate disclosure and provides empirical evidence on the corporate use of social media for communicating CSR practices, using a sample of Italian Listed companies.