The document reports on a study of how 251 top European companies communicate about corporate social responsibility (CSR). It analyzes CSR communications through corporate reports, websites, advertising, and social media. Interviews with CSR experts from the companies explored perceptions of risks and opportunities of CSR communication. The study found that the most commonly communicated CSR issues were human rights, community involvement, and environmental protection. Social media use for CSR was limited, with only 5% using blogs. Experts viewed CSR communication as an opportunity rather than a risk if internal practices match external messages. Companies were advised to have a holistic CSR approach rather than focusing solely on marketing.

1. How European managers feel about
CSR communication risks and
opportunities
Contact details
laura.illia@ie.edu
IE School of Communication
IE University

2. Starting point
(Carroll, 1999 Schoenberger;2000)

3. Starting point
(Holme and Watts, 2000).

4. Project
A study developed by: In collaboration with: In partnership with:

5. Method
• Sample: 251 top EU companies (in terms of highest revenues)
– Spain, France, Switzerland, United Kingdom, Denmark, and Italy
– 11 industries
• financial services and banks;
• insurance;
• textile, retail, and fashion;
• gas, water, and electricity;
• oil and coke;
• food, beverage, and tobacco;
• chemicals and pharmaceuticals;
• telecommunications;
• transport and automotive;
• retail and wholesale;
• tourism and hospitality
• To avoid bias :
– 42 companies from each country (excl.Denmark 41 firms)
– 4 for each industry

6. Content analysis
social reports (if available),
companies’ websites,
social advertising,
presence on web 2.0.
Interviews
Difficulty to do vs difficulty to communicate
“Marketing” Risk to communicate CSR
Boomerang effect during crisis
Skeptical nature of public opinion or mass media
Risks of CSR advertising
Risks of using corporate blogs to com.CSR

7. What is communicated
Analysis on 251 companies

8. Most communicated issues

9. Less often disclosed issues

10. CSR e-agenda: made in ES, IT & UK
• Not only communicating what the company does,
• Being gatekeepers within the debate on social issues in our
society.

11. (χ ²<.005)
(χ ²<.050)
(χ ²<.001)

12. Web 2.0: a South European experimentation
• Corporate CSR blogs: Only the 5%
Spanish, Italian and French companies most experiment (χ ²<.050)..
• You Tube: Only 8 %
• CSR Social networks: Only 4% The majority of them are from Spain and
Italy (χ ²<.050).
– internship programs for young generations (e.g.Union Fenosa, BBVA).
– promote their foundations, specific projects or blogs (e.g. Telecom
Italia, Benetton).
– diffuse their sustainability report (e.g. Fiat) through Facebook and
LinkedIn.

13. Opinions: risk or opportunity?
Analysis of opinion of 69 experts
from 251 top companies

14. Avoid gap communication - reality
“You should only
communicate what
you are doing”
(Switzerland).
“There is no risk
when the company’s
behavior is totally
coherent” (Italy).
“Personal experience of
the company and its
product counts beyond
communications” (UK).
It is key to “integrate
CSR in your
processes and
policies” (Spain)

15. (E)agenda to build up culture of CSR
it is about “building
up a culture over
issues” (Italy).
“Measuring the risk of public
perception means focusing
“more on educating the industry
and our clients around CSR
issues than communicating
about our own initiatives”
(Denmark).

16. Use of blogs for CSR is debated
Blogs, no thanks or at least not
yet.
“it is definitely too risky, because
corporate blogs are in general
considered as a marketing attempt”
(Italy),
“I don’t think that blogs are the
adequate tools for communicating a
company’s involvement in social
responsibility” (Switzerland). Only if the company is
ready :
Do not go against your culture.
Blogs could be appropriate “for a
small, youth-oriented company […].
For a large company they read like
a desperate attempt to keep up with
the times” (UK). This is not the rule
for everybody; however, it speaks
about being who you are..
Blogs as an opportunity...
“I don’t see what exactly may
become that risk” (Spain),
“as long as your activities are real
and sincere it will be a natural
thing to discuss it through blogs”
(Denmark).

17. Scandals are easily spread, but so are good
practices. Managers do not fear skepticism
The public opinion is mature
Actually, many actions are
well understood as nowadays,
there is fairly widespread
knowledge of these subjects
within media and among
opinion leaders" (Italy).
The public is interested
It even “asks for more information
about CSR actions” (DK).
“There has been growing interest in
CSR activities and performance over
the last few years, particularly from
the media” (UK).
Media have evolved
“Media have evolved, they have
assimilated CSR concepts. Therefore, it’s
possible to believe that media appreciate
companies supporting transparency”
(Spain).

18. So…what?
Final discussion

19. CSR ACTIONS
CSRCOMMUNICATION
RISKS OF GREENWASHING CRISIS
THE IRRESPONSIBLES
Recommendations:
• Make sure you do what you say
• Monitor internal practices
• Avoid place CSR in marketing
departments
RISKS OF NEGLECTING CSR
DIALOGUE WITH STAKEHOLDERS
THE RISK ADVERSERS
Recommendations:
• Do not be afraid of media
• Public is not ignorant so do not
underestimate it
THE RISK TAKERS
Recommendations:
• Do not only discuss about your company
(egocentric communication) but
educate the industry
• Avoid a communication where a form
overcomes the content
• Avoid de - contextualization of your
message
• Use the whole organization to
communicate
• Address big issues ahead
RISK BUILDING OPPORTUNISTIC IMAGE
RISK OF BEING CONSIDERED A NON
RESPONSIBLE COMPANY
THE DORMANTS

20. Avoid egocentric communication

21. Reputation approach
• Be known for tracks you leave
• Do not show off
CH and DK
Future research for us: cross-cultural ≠

22. Reputation approach
• Be known for tracks you leave
• Do not show off
Image approach
• Be known for your
communications
UK,IT,ES,FR
Future research for us: cross-cultural ≠

23. http://www.ie.edu/IE/site/pdf/CSRcom_report_2010
.pdf
Contact details
laura.illia@ie.edu
IE School of Communication
IE University