See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/284735260

Using Social Media for CSR Communication and Engaging Stakeholders

Chapter · March 2015

DOI: 10.1108/S2043-052320150000007010

CITATIONS READS
37 25,653

3 authors:

Imran Ali Ana Isabel Jimenez-Zarco

Northumbria University Universitat Oberta de Catalunya
51 PUBLICATIONS   1,716 CITATIONS    191 PUBLICATIONS   1,739 CITATIONS   

SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE

Marta Bicho
Instituto Português de Administração de Marketing (Lisbon)
18 PUBLICATIONS   399 CITATIONS   

SEE PROFILE

Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects:

knowledge and innovation, PLS-SEM, fsQCA, Artificial Neural Network (ANN) View project

Complementary and Alternative Medicine legitimacy View project

All content following this page was uploaded by Ana Isabel Jimenez-Zarco on 07 March 2016.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

 Using Social Media for CSR Communication and Engaging Stakeholder

Abstract
Communication is considered as heart of corporate social responsibility (CSR). Companies do
not only have to be socially responsible, they also need to communicate the actions they take to
their target audience. The CSR actions can yield satisfactory results if they are effectively
communicated to all stakeholders. Literature in marketing suggests that social media is becoming
a powerful and successful tool for sustainable business communication. People use social media
as a free tool for looking information, and express their experiences and opinions as well.
Companies need to be present into social media and use them to to engage various stakeholders
and develop competitive advantage is today’s digital age (Urluab, 2012). Statistics reports that
about 800m people use Facebook, 200m use Twitter, 64m use Linkedin worldwide (Cowen,
2012). This depicts the tremendous potential of social media for CSR communication in the
modern age. The communication through social media is more transparent and helpful in shaping
favorable stakeholder behavior. The current study will analyze the role of using social media for
CSR communication. The study will use survey techniques to collect feedback from respondents
and an online structured questionnaire will be used for this sake. The findings of this study will
examine the level of awareness among stakeholders towards CSR. It will identify the
significance of using social media for effective CSR communication. This research will propose
how social media can use used to engage stakeholders and ensure effective CSR communication.
It will also recognize the most effective sources for CSR communication in social media. The
findings of this study will be helpful for corporate policy makers and research scholars on this
topic.

Keywords: Social media, corporate social responsibility, stakeholders, CSR communication.

Einführung

Social media has emerged as a powerful and successful tool for sustainable business
communication. Large number of people are using social media for communication and
exchange of information globally. Thus, people can use this media to create conten, or freely
express their opinions and experiences about companies’ brands, o behaviours. Social media is a
source of information dessimination within minimum time and cost at the larger scale, It is also
being used by corporations to communicate their messages, to dialogue with their audiences and

1
stablish social relationships as a way to engage various stakeholders and develop competitive
advantage is today’s digital age (Urluab, 2012).Statistics reports that about 800m people use
Facebook, 200m use Twitter, 64m use Linkedin worldwide (Cowen, 2012). Considering the
significance of social media in today’s communication dynamics, the corporations are also
communicating important messages on social media. The recent survey of SMI-Wizness Social
Media Sustainability Index 2011, more than 250 prominent corporations are using social media
to communicate their messages and 100 major companies have a blog, Twiter, Facebook or
Youtube channel that is committed to sustainability (CSR communication – Is social media an
enabler of CSR? 2013).

Media activities generated by stakeholders or communities that are neither paid for nor induced
by brand owners are claimed to have a potentially game-changing impact on communication and
corporate reputation building. By engaging in corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities,
companies can not only generate favorable stakeholder attitudes and better support behaviors
(e.g. purchase, seeking employment, investing in the company), but also, over the long run, build
a strong and creible corporate image, strengthen stakeholder–company relationships, and
enhance stakeholders’ advocacy behaviors (Du et al., 2010). An effective communication of
CSR actions to stakeholders, not only increase their level of credibility and involvement with the
company, but also, turn them into company's apostle on social media.

The communication through social media is more transport and helpful in shaping stakeholders
behavior including consumer. The emerging developments in communication technologies and
the IT revolution in recent years have forced corporations to use new communication strategies
to convey their important messages to engage stakeholders. The traditional communication
channels and strategies are relatively less effective in todays’ digital age. So, companies need to
do more than just listen. They need to engage in consumer’s conversations. The traditional
notion of a “target customer” in the companies-communication paradigm must be enriched to
take account of the fact that the consumer now has a voice and wants to be heard. And social
media give him the opportunity to do it.

Social media offer both opportunities and challenges to corporations to communicate their CSR
messages and stories (Corstjens and Umblijs, 2012). The main benefits of social media includes
its wide reach to large number of stakeholders in minimum time and cost, whereas the challenges

2
includes that stakeholders can also give their negative remarks on corporate blogs, Twiter,
Facebook, Youtube and other social media platforms. The corporations should respond to these
negative remarks in an effecient way to adapt the stakeholders misperceptions into positive way.
Merely deleting negative remarks on CSR activities on the social media can aggregate the matter
and repudiate the corporate image, whereas explaining the ambiguous matters to negative
minded stakeholders can convert them into positive and more engaged stakeholders. The
company can share their stories and videos to convenience stakeholders regarding their
contribution for the betterment of employees their families, customers, investors, environment
and the society at the large. Another advantage of social media over convential communication
strategy is that it offers two-way communication to corporations. Companies can convey their
CSR activities to their stakeholders and receive instant feedback and generate a dialogue with its
stakeholders to build better relationship.

According to stakeholder theory, its not only the shareholders of the company that stress the
significance of corporate social responsibility for the sustainable growth of corporations, but also
many other stakeholders including, employees, customers, suppliers, government, environmental
associations, NGO and the local community. Freeman (1984) defined stakeholders as “group and
individuals who benefit from or are harmed by, and whose rights are violated, or respected by
corporate actions”. It means that veriety of people have their stakes in corporate actions and
therefore, organizations should respond to their needs and rights. The companies are not
responsible to shareholders only, rather they are answerable to variety of stakeholders who have
their distinguishsed interests in business operations. The notion of corporate social responsibility
has remained into debate due its complex and conflicting nature. For instance, Freeman and
Liedtka (1991) opposed the idea of CSR by arguing that corporations neither meant for social
activities nor they have expertise in social interventions. They should only focus on
maximization of profits, and fulfillment of their legal oblications. This stress that business in
only about 'economic' goals and not the 'social' goals, and therefore, corporations should not
focus on 'social' activities. However, in real life the practice is quite different, the economic
decisions have social outcomes (and the vice versa), therefore, the clear distinction between
economic and social goals is not possible. In fact, new trends in business cultura -such as
marketing 3.0, etc- show how people want to be treated as whole human beings with minds,
hearts, and spirits, not as a simple consumers. While companies try to address their deepest needs

3
for social, economic, and environmental justice in their mission, vision, and values. They aim to
provide solutions to address problems in the society (Kotler et al., 2010). For all these things, it
is obvious that for managers it is difficult to handle these conflicting interests of various
stakeholders as presented in the stakeholder theory.

The ultimate objective of corporations to communicate their CSR activities on the social media is
to engage its stakeholders to gain favorable considerations. Thus if CSR activities are properly
communitated to stakeholders, it can influence positively on their behavior, not only relative to
the cognitive or affective dimensions, but also in the conductual aspect: purchasing and loyalty
behavior, or enacting other stakeholders behaviors as well..

Due the last ideas, thhe objective of this study is to examine the role of CSR communication on
social media on stakeholders' engagement. The study examines how stakeholders including
customers, employees and investors the significance of social media as CSR communication
strategy. It investigatges the role of social media in engaging stakeholders to solve social and
environmental problems. The importance of social media as compared to other traditional CSR
communication strategies. The role of social media in building better relationship with different
stakeholders including customer, employees and investors. The perceived consumer purchase
behavior towards corporations using social media for communicate their CSR activities. Finally,
it will also identify the social media that is being used more frequently in Pakistan.

Theoratical Framework and Development of Hypotheses

CSR and Consumer Behavior

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) occupies a prominent place on the global corporate agenda
in today’s socially conscious market environment. For that more than ever companies are
devoting substantial resources to various social initiatives, ranging from environmental
protection, community outreach, collaborative consume, to socially responsible business
practices and ethic behaviours.

During the last years, Corporate social responsibility (CSR) becomes in a famous notion in
business literature.. This concept is difined as a ‘the commitment of business to contribute to
sustainable economic development, working with employees, with their families, the local

4
community and society at the large to improve their quality of life (World Business Council for
Sustainable Development, 2004). Mohr et al., (2001) holds that ‘CSR is minimization of
negative externalities of a firm’s operating activities and the maximization of beneficial effects
on the society’. Thus CSR is all about minimizing harms of organizational operations to the
environment and the society and working for the benefits of employees and their families,
consumer welfare and betterment of soeicty as a whole. The ultimate objective of corporations
towards CSR is to strengthen the relationship with the society and all related stakeholders to get
better business opportunities and to respond to the social problems.

By, why has today CSR become an important element into business culture? It is true that we
are currently experiencing changes at the social, political and economic driving a new corporate
culture. Globalization and technological development have lead to a new model of society, with
new actors and behavioral models. New questions as well as expectations about governance,
relationship and social responsabilities have raised. And more and more companies of all sizes
and sectors are recognizing the importance of their role in society and the real benefits of
adopting a proactive approach to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). But also recognize the
wide range of business benefits that a company can reap from its engagement in CSR (e.g. Du et
al. 2007 Lichtenstein et al. 2004; Sen and Bhattacharya 2001; Sen et al. 2006). For example,
companies can reap substantial business benefits of CSR from one stakeholder group,
consumers. By being a good corporate citizen, a company can foster consumer loyalty and turn
consumers into company/brand ambassadors and champions who engage in advocacy behaviors
(e.g. positive word-of-mouth, willingness to pay a price premium and resilience to negative
company news; Du et al. 2007). Of course, the business rewards of CSR are rarely confined to
the consumer domain. Taking a stakeholder-driven perspective on the returns to CSR, Sen et al.
(2006) show that individuals react to a company’s CSR activities in multiple ways, by not just
buying more products, but by enacting other stakeholder behaviors, such as seeking employment
with the company and investing in the company.

In this sense, literature provides ample evidence on the positive and significant influence of CSR
activities on consumer behavior –as one of the most important stakeholders- in various countries
across different industries. For instance, Ali et al. (2010) examined the influenc of CSR on
customer behavior and noted that consumer prefer corporations doing CSR activities, however,
consumer awareness of CSR activities is an important to shape favorable consumer behavior.
5
Similarly Auger et al. (2003); Miagnan (2001) and Mohr et al. (2001); Sen and Bhattacharya
(2001) investigate the influence of CSR awareness on positive consumer behavior. The link
between CSR activities and the consumer behavior is quite established as number of studies have
notices the positive and significant association between CSR and consumer buying behavior.

Companies with good corporate social responsibility policy enjoys good employee outcomes.
Research suggests that employees give good weightage to companies doing CSR activities. In
the employees context Brown and Dacin (1997) identified two types of CSR dimensions; CSR
association and CSR participation. CSR association refers to the employees' perception of
company character towards social issues, whereas CSR participation means the degree by which
employee participate in the implementation of CSR strategies or formulation of CSR related
strategies. Many researches have focused the relationship between CSR and employees behavior
for instance, Collier and Esteban (2007) hold that socially responsible corporate profile is
important to gain employees’ willingness to acheieve individual and organizational goals. It
means higher the CSR activities by corporations higher will be willingness of employees to
contribute towards attaining organizational goals. In order to achieve higher employee
motivation to perform well for socially responsible corporation, the communication of CSR
activities and employee involvement is very important. In an important study, Greenwood (2007)
states that the development and maintenance of stable relationship between corporations and
employees through proper communication, identification, dialogue and exchange processes, or
even a combination of these is very important to achieve sustainable organizational goals.
Similarly, Ali et al., (2013) explored significantl positive influence of CSR participation and
CSR association on employee behavior, they found tht CSR activities increases employee
engagement level with the corporation. The corporations that work for employee welfare and for
the betterment of their family enjoy better relationship with their employees, who in return
display higher level of commitment towards achieving corporate objectives.

Corporate social responsibility is also noticed by shareholders and the future investors of the
corporations. Although there is conflict of interest among investors’ perspective and other
stakeholders. Investors view CSR as an expense that reduce the profitability of corporations
whereas other stakeholders consider CSR as duty of corporations to pay back to the for the
betterment of environment and other socital issues. However, the literature provide mixed results
regarding CSR and investor behavior, some studies argue that investor tend to perceive CSR as a
6
source of sustainable business growth and hense like to invest in such corporations. Other
researches view that investor do not consider CSR as an important parameter in their investment
decision making. However, there is ample evidence available in the literature that support the
CSR and the favorable investor behavior. For instance, Ali et al. (2011) noted the significant
association between CSR, investor satisfaction and loyalty among individual equity investors for
the case of Pakistan. Similarly, Dam and Scholtens (2009) stressed that large equity investors
pay more attention towards corporate social performance in the evaluation of different
companies in their investment decision making as compared to small investors. Smith et al.
(2010) investigated the influence of corporate social disclosure on individual investor’s behavior
across different countries. Alosp (2004) noted that investors are willing to pay premium price to
corporations which are socially more active towards welfare of the community. Thus, the
influence of CSR on various stakehodlers' favorable behavior is established theoretically and
empirically.

Giving this situation, the next question is to know how social media can be use for companies in
their CSR communications strategies.

Using Social Media for Communication

Jahdi and Acikdilli (2009) hold that CSR communication tools play an important role in
conveying a companies CSR message and socially responsible image. Unlike corporate ability-
related information such as product superiority and new innovations, a company’s CSR
information reveals aspects of its corporate identity that are not only fundamental and enduring,
but also often more distinctive by virtue of their culture traits: mision, vision and values. A key
challenge in designing effective CSR communication strategy is how engage to stakeholders, in
order to reduce their skepticism and to convey favorable corporate motives in a company’s CSR
activities. Recent research on CSR attributions suggest that, the stakeholder engagement in
corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities let companies build a strong corporate brand
image, and stregthen stakeholder–company relationships, and enhance stakeholders’ advocacy
behavior. And for that an effective communication of CSR actions to stakeholders, not only
increase their level of credibility and involvement with the company, but also, turn them into
company's apostle on social media.

7
On the stakeholders’ side, the Internet has become an essential tool for differents stakeholders in
thei decision-making processes (Law et al, 2009), allowing them to search for information on
companies activities (commercial and commercials), and evaluate them. On the companies’
perspective, the Internet has become a great factor in the development and success, due that it
reduces cost, enhances operational efficieny and improve both service quality and consumer
experience. More recently, the emergence of Web 2.0 has revolutionized the use of the Internet
as communication channel for companies and their audiences. The term of Web 2.0 includes a
wide range of electronic applications (eg. Social networks, wikis, blogs and photo and video
sharing platforms) that facilitate interactions among companies and stakeholders. Particulary,,
the greastest contributon of this type of applications lies on the side of users by facilitating the
individual’s active communication with other people and organizations.

The impact of thes applications, also called “social media” has been especially significant in
CSR communication, given the social dimension of these kind of actions. Social networks sites
are “web-based services that allow individuals to construct a public or semi-public profile within
a bounded system, articulate a list of other users with whom they share a connection and view
and traverse their list of connections and those made by others within the system” (Boyd and
Ellison, 2008). Most social networks allos users to publish comments and other multimedia
content, thereby making it available to their contacts.

Coopeland and Malik (2005) show that new technology enables connectivity and interactivity of
individuals and groups, as well as facilitates the spread of word-of-mouth information sharing.
As a consequence, technology becomes a tool that allows individuals to express themselves and
collaborate with others. In this situation, people can create new ideas, entertain and consume
them. Kotler et al. (2010) consider that one of the enablers of the new wave technology is the rise
of social media. In particular, these authors classify social media in two broad categories: (a) the
expressive social media, which includes blogs, Twitter, YouTube, Facebook and photo sharing
sites like Flickr; (b) collaborative media, which includes sites such as Wikipedia and Craigslist.

For companies, social media applications have changed the way to design and implement
corporate communication strategies, and therefore, the future of business. It is low-cost and
bias-free, so that companies are using it to gain insights into the market, collaborate with their
consumers, or design marketing communications. But also, consumers´ role are changing by the

8
intensive use of new technologies. Consumers are no longer isolated individuals, rather they are
connected with one another. In making decisions, they are no longer unaware but informed. They
are no longer passive but active in giving useful feedback to companies (Prahalad and
Ramaswamy, 2004). The popularity of social media in the modern age has forced corporations to
talk to Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, YouTube and blogs to communicate their CSR actions to
stakeholders (The Guardian, 2012). In his study, Colleoni (2013) used advanced data mining
technique topic and sentiment analysis to investigate the communication dynamic of
corporations to use social media to communicate their CSR activities for to gain stakeholders'
attention. Colleoni (2013) found social media as an important communication tool to convey
important CSR messages to engage various stakeholders. Based on above theoretical discussion,
we conclude that social meida is an important contemporary instrument for communication of
CSR activities to the stakeholders.

Materials and Methods

The study examines the role of social media in communicating CSR activities to corporate
stakeholders including customers, employees and investors. The study is based on data, collected
through an online structured survey questionnaires. The online survey questionnaire technique is
used widely now-a-days due to its efficiency, time and cost saving (Kown, 2012). The online
link of questionnaire was shared widely on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Linkedin and other
social media plateforms. A total of 357 usable responses are reveived from various social media
forums. The instrument to measure stakeholder response towards using social media for
communication of CSR activities is developed by author using guidance from previous studies
like 2012 CEO, social media and leadership survey. The instrument contained 10 questions
related to the use and significance of social media for CSR communication, the comparative
importance of social media for CSR communication as compared to other communication
channels, and the influence of CSR communication on social media on stakeholders’ behaviors.
The data collected through structured online questionnaire was coded and entered into SPSS
sheet. The data analysis procedure includes frequency analysis and the results are presented in
meaningful charts and figures.

Table 1 show the study specifications

9
Table 1: Study specification

Universe Social media users

Sample 357
Margin of error + 5,2% (p=q) at the 95% of confidence level

Table 2 describes the sample composition of this study. The sample composition includes 71.5%
males and 29.5 % females which is good representation of both gender in the context of Pakistan.
In terms of age groups, respondents below than 30 years of age participated the most in survey
(44.5) and 28.5% between 31 to 45 years of age. The percentage of participation of respondents
decreased with the age. The fact remains that younger people use social media the most, whereas
older people have relatively less tendency of using social media in their daily life. As far as
marital status is concerned, 51.8% respondents are single and 44.5% are married whereas 3.6%
respondents are divorced. Table 1 depicts that majority of respondents have undergraduate
education with 53.2% value and 36.6 are having master education whereas only 10.2% have
above or other professional qualifications. This also represents a good combination of different
educational levels for the respondents of this research. The income level of respondents is also
measured in terms of US dollar, the fact remains that due to purchasing power parity element, the
salaries are low in terms of UD dollar. As Table 1 shows the majority of respondents (54.9%)
earn less than USD 500 in our study, and 22.4% earn monthly income between 600 to 1000 USD
which is a good salary bracket in local perspective. Respondents earning between $ 1600 to 2000
are 7.5% where as only 4.4% respondents earn more than $2000 as monthly income.

Table 2: Sample Composition

Item Description Frequency Percent %

Male 253 71.5
Female 104 29.5
Gender
Total 357 100
30 and Less 159 44.5
31-45 102 28.5
Age 46-59 65 18.2
60 and above 31 8.6
Total 357 100
Single 185 51.8
Marital Status
Married 159 44.5

10
 Divorced 13 3.6
Total 357 100
Undergraduate 190 53.2
Master 131 36.6
Education
Above/other 36 10.2
Total 357 100
Less than USD 500 196 54.9
600 - 1000 80 22.4
Income / per month 1100 - 1500 38 10.6
US Dollar 1600 - 2,000 27 7.5
More than 2000 16 4.4
Total 357 100

Results and Discussion

Engaging Stakeholders through Social Media to Solve Environmental Issues

The first question is related to the respondents' perceptions towards engaging stakeholders
through social media to solve environmental problems. This is an important question, as it
highlights the significance of social media to engage stakeholders to resolve environmental
problems. Figure 1 shows that majority (80%) of respondents believed that social media is better
forum to engage stakeholders to solve environmental issues. The percentage of respondents who
perceived that social media is not an appropriate forum to solve environmental problems is quite
low (13.3%), whereas only 7.6% respondents stated that they are not sure regarding significance
of social media for solving environmental problems. These results are very encouraging as large
number of respondents perceived communication through social media as powerful tool to solve
environmental problems. Communiication through social media on environmental problem can
generate a good dialogue between corporation and various stakeholders. This dialogue and the
social media plateform can identify environmental problems and produce multiple solution to
deal with these problems. The advantage of social media over conventional communication tools
in this regards is that it can take on board number of stakeholders at the same time and provide
cost and time efficient medium of communication.

11
Q1: Do you think companies should engage stakeholders to solve social and environmental
issues through social media?

Figure 1: Using social media to solve environmental issues

Variety of stakeholders can participate on the social media at the same time to solve
environmental problems including environmental scientists, volunteers who participate in
environmental related activities, NGO’s, concerned governmental agencies like Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) in Pakistan, community members from any decease area in terms of
environmental problems, customers, employees and investors. All these stakeholders can work
together alongwith corporations to solve community environmental problems, which can lead to
some successful CSR stories for organization to share with other stakeholders.

Social Media versus Traditional Communication Channels

Effective communication of CSR initiatives very important for organizations now-a-days. With
the increase in the use of social media the treditional means of communication are getting
obsolete. Therefore, corporations are also using this social media to dessiminate their CSR
activities to the wider range of stakeholders in minimum time and hassle. This study incorporates
question related to stakeholders perceptions towards social media and the traditional
communication channels. Figure 2 shows that majority (60%) of stakeholders believe that social
media is a better forum to communicate the CSR initiatives, whereas, 39% stated that they don’t
think social media is an appropriate forum for CSR activities communication as compred to

12
traditional communication technologies and only 18% respondent that they don’t know about the
significance of social media as compared to traditional communication channels.

Q2: Do you think social media is a better forum to communicate CSR initiatives than other
traditional communication channels?

Figure 2: Social media versus traditional communication channels

In our opinion the use of social media also depends upon availability of personal computers,
laptops, smart phones and access to internet. In countries where the use of internet is high among
invidiviuals, there must be high appreciation of stakeholders for using social media for corporate
communication as compared to use of traditional mediums/channels.

The Use of Social Media to Build Relationship with Stakeholders

Our next question is related to the use of social media for building better connections with
various stakeholders including customers, employees, investors and others. The results shows
that a large number of respondents (81.5%) believe that using social media to communicate CSR
activities is a better forum to build good relationships with customers. The fact remains that for
the majority of business organizations, the number of customers are always high among other
stakeholders therefore this response is quite natural. A good number of respondents (51.7%) also
consider social media as a good channel for corporations to strengthen the relationship with their
employees through communication of CSR activities.

13
Q3: Do you think using social media to communicate CSR activities help corporations in
building better relationship with (select all that apply).

Figure 3: CSR communication, social media and relationship with stakeholders

In their important study, Ali et al. (2013) also noted that CSR plays an important role in
achieving positive employee outcomes. Another 22.4% respondents viewed that social media is
better forum to build good relationships with existing and prospective stock investors. While
13.5 % respondents also consider social media as an effective tool to communicate CSR
activities and strengthen better relationship with other stakeholders, for instance, suppliers,
community and government.

Social Media as Communication Tool

The significance of social media as communication is central question in this study. The results
of this study show that large number of respondents (63.1%) consider social media medium of
better communication due to its wider reach and efficiency in today’s advanced cumminication
environment. Another large numner of respondents believe that communication of CSR activities
through social media leads to better corporate image, because large number of stakeholders come
across the information shared on social media. Other wise very few stakeholders study CSR
reports published by organizations or visit company website to explore CSR related information.
Moreover, 29.6% respondents viewed social media as more transparent mean of communication.

14
Q4: Do you think that communicating CSR activities in social media lead to (select all that
apply).

Figure 4: Advantages of CSR communiation through social media

The fact remains that communication through social media has a good component of
accountability, if any corporation share falsified information towards CSR on social media, the
information may be negated by the concerned stakeholders. Thats’ why, corporations are always
very cautious to share CSR information on social media. We can therefore deduce that social
media is better instrument for CSR communication, it help organizations to build better corporate
image and provide more transparent information to stakeholders as depictd in Figure 4 above.

Imortantce of Social Media as Communication Tool

Keeping in view the use of social media for communication by individuals and organizations, the
study also asked about the importance of social media to respondents. The results indicate that
majority of respondents (83.2%) think that social media is very important to communicate CSR
activities, 50.9% stated that social media is somewhat important, 30.6% respondend that social
media is not important and 9.3% respondents are not sure about the importance of social media
for communication of CSR activities. Here it is important the examine the demographic profile
of respondents who says that social media is somewhat or not important for the communication
of CSR activities. The detailed analysis of demographic profile of such respondents may provide

15
interesting information regarding why they consider social media less important for CSR
communication. They might be older people, or people with less access to computer and internet
facilities, who use hardly use social media, therefore they do not find it important for such type
of communication as shown in Figure 5 below.

Q5: How important do you think is the use of social media for corporations to communicate their
CSR activities?

Figure 5: Importance of CSR communication through social media

Trustworthyness of Social Media for CSR Communication

Trust is an important essential of successful and effective communication. This research also
examines the trustworthyness of social media for communication of CSR activities as perceived
by respondents. The results indicates that a good number of respondents perceive that social
media is more likely a trustworthy medium for CSR communication. Similarly, a large part of
respondents consider social media more much likely a trustworthy tool to communicate CSR
related activities with the stakeholders. Whereas, relatively a small number of respondents
(28.7%) believe that social media is less likely trustworthy. Interestintly, 47.7% respondents
view that it doesn’t make any difference even corporations publicize their CSR activities on
social media. Overall, respondents believe that social media is a trustworthy tool to communicate
CSR activities to stakeholders to engage them for favorable organizational outcomes.

16
Q6: Are you likely to trust a company whose CSR activities are publicized on social media?

Figure 6: Trust in social media for CSR Communcation

CSR Communication through Social Media and Consumer Behavior

Once the significance, transparency, trustworthy of social media is established for

communication of CSR initiatives by the stakeholders, now it important to examine how CSR
communication through social media influence stakeholders behavior. Upon inquiring from
customers regarding how likely they think to buy products from a company whose CSR activities
are communicated on social media, 55.7 are strongly agree and 66.4% showed agreement
regarding positive influence of CSR communication on social media on their buying behavior.
This is very significance finding of this study and in line with our previous results regarding
importance, transparency and trustworthyness of social media for CSR communication as
perceived by respondents of this research. A relatively small number of respondents showed
disagreement that communication of CSR activities on social media is likely to influence their
buying behavior.

Q7: Are you more likely to buy products from a company whose CSR activities are
communicated on social media?

Figure 7: CSR communication through social media and consumer behavior

17
CSR Communication through Social Media and Employee Behavior

Employees are also important stakeholders, examining the influence of social media for CSR
initiatives on employee behavior is important. When asked how likely you are to work fo5r a
company whose CSR activities are communicated on social media, majority (82.8%)
respondents showed strong agreement and 79.5% showed agreement. This depicts the strong
intentions among employees to work for socialy responsible corporations who are successful in
communication their CSR initiatives to their employees through social media. A small number of
respondents (27.4%) showed disagreement and very few only (8.7%) depicted strongly
disagreement that they are likely to work for a company who communicate CSR activities
through social media.

Q8: Are you more likely to work for a company whose CSR activities are communicated on
social media?

Figure 8: CSR communication through social media and employee behavior

18
CSR Communication through Social Media and Investor Behavior

CSR communication through social media is also noticed by the existing and the prospective
investors. We found high number of respondents (73.4%) having strong agreement and 44.1%
having agreement that communication of CSR activities through social media is likely to
influence their investment decision making. The number of respondents having disagreement and
strong disagreement is relatively low, 24.6% and 19.3% respectively. This depicts that like other
stakeholders, investors are also closely connected to social media and notive the CSR activities
communicated through social media. In their important study, Ali et al. (2011) also found
positive influence of CSR in shaping favorable investor behavior.

Q9: Are you more likely to invest in a company whose CSR activities are communicated on
social media?

Figure 9: CSR communication through social media and investor behavior

Social Media Forums

There are number of social media forums including; facebook, linkein, twitter, google plus,
corporate blogs and many others. The study includes only those social media forums that are
more commonly used in Pakistan. Here, it is important to note the frequency of use of various
social media forums by the respondents of this study. In this context, we found majority (78.1%)
of respondents using facebook, 62.4% using twitter, and 40.2 using linkedin in Pakistan. The
study noted relatively less use of google plus, corporate blogs and other social media focums in
the context of Pakistan as depicted in Figure 10 below.

19
Q10: What source of social media you use most?

Figure 10: Social media source

Conclusion and Recommendations

The objective of this study is to examine the role of social media towards CSR activities
communication to engage stakeholders. The findings of this study shows that a large number of
respondents believe that using social media to communicate CSR activities is a better forum to
build good relationships with customers, employees, investors as well as other stakeholders.
social media is better instrument for CSR communication, it help organizations to build better
corporate image and provide more transparent information to stakeholders. The results indicate
that majority of respondents think that social media is very important to communicate CSR
activities. Overall, respondents believe that social media is a trustworthy tool to communicate
CSR activities and engage stakeholders. Customers believe that communication of CSR
activities through social media influence their buying behavior positively. We found strong

20
intentions among employees to work for socialy responsible corporations who are successful in
communication their CSR initiatives to their employees through social media.

The study recommends the use of social media to strengthen the relationship with various
stakeholders and engaging them to achieve organizational outcomes. The corporations should
encourage stakeholders views on CSR communication and carefully address their suspicions in
order to engage them. The fact remains that not all stakeholders have access to computers and
internet, therefore corporations should use segmentation strategy to identify the respondents for
communicate of CSR initiatives on social media. The respondents who do not use social media
should be approached through other communication channels in order to convey CSR related
activities to engage them for better organizational outcomes. To communicate CSR initiatives
more effectively, corporations should pay more focus on social media forums that are used
mostly by stakeholders in various countries.

Limitations and Directions for Future Research

The findings of this study are based on the perceptions of respondents. The sample size of this
study is quite small which limits the generalizibility of the findings of this research, a study with
large sample size can provide more interesting results. This study also did not considered to role
of respondent demographics towards use of social media for CSR communication. We
recommend a cross cultural study of various countries including developed, developing and
under developed countries in order to examine the role or access to computers and internet and
the stakeholders’ behavior towards social media communications. This could provide an insight
into the different perspective regarding the significance and adoption of social media towards
corporate communications. A study with more indepth analyse of socio-economic demographic
profile of responpondents may also provide interesting information towards use of social media
for CSR initiatives communication among people with diverse backgrounds and demographic
profile. The use of social media forums differs in various countries, it is also important to
investigate the user friendliness and effectiveness of various social media forums to successfully
communicate CSR initiatives to multiple stakehoders.

21
References

Ali, I., Rehman, K. U. and Akram, M. (2011). Corporate Social Responsibility and Investor
Satisfaction Influences on Investor Loyalty, Actual Problems of Economics, 8 (122): 348-357.
Ali, I., Rehman K.U., Yilmaz, A.K., Nazir, S., and Ali, J.F. (2010). Corporate social
responsibility and consumer retention in cellular industry of Pakistan. African Journal of
Business Management, 4 (4), 475-485.
Ali, I., Khan, S., and Rehman, I. (2013). How corporate social responsibility and corporate
reputation influence employee engagement? Transformations in Business and Economics, 12
(28A), 354-364.
Alsop, Ronald J. (2004), The 18 Immutable Laws of Corporate Reputation. New York: The Free
Press.
Auger, P., Burke, P.F., Devinney, T.M., and Louviere, J.J. (2003). What will consumer pay for
social product features? Journal of Business Ethics, 42(3), 281-304.
Brown, T.J., and Dacin, P.A. (1997). The company and the product: corporate associations and
product responces. Journal of Marketing, 61 (1), 68-84.
Boyd, D.M. and Ellison, N.B. (2008). Social networks sites: Definition, history and scholarship.
Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication. 13, 210-230
Colleoni, E. (2013). CSR communication strategies for organizational legitimacy in social
media. Corporate Communications: An International Journal, 18 (2), 228 – 248.
Copeland, M.V and Malik, O. (2005). “How to Ride the Fifth Wave,” Business 2.0, July 2005.
Corstjens, D.; and Umblijs, A. (2012). The power of evil: the damage of negative social media
strongly outweigh positive contributions. Journal of Advertising research.433-449
CSR communication – Is social media an enabler of CSR? Retreived on July 10, 2013 from
http://www.spireresearch.com/spire-journal/yr2013/q1/csr-communication-is-social-media-an-
enabler-of-csr/
Collier, J., and Esteban, R. (2007). Corporate social responsibility and employee commitment.
Business Ethics: A European review, 16, 19–33.
Cowen, N. (2012). How social media can make CSR more visible? Retreived 18 December,
2012 from, http://econsultancy.com/pk/blog/9117-how-social-media-can-make-csr-more-
visible.
Dam, L; and Scholtens, B. (2009). Investor type and CSR policy of European multinational
enterprises. University of Groningen, The Netherlands.
Du, S., Bhattacharya, C.B. and Sen, S. (2007). Reaping relationship rewards from corporate
social responsibility: the role of competitive positioning. International Journal of Research in
Marketing, 24, pp. 224–241.
Du, S., Bhattacharya, C.B. and Sen, S. (2010). Maximizing business returns to corporate social
responsibility (CSR): The role of CSR communication. International Journal of Management
Review, 12,1, 9-19.
Freeman, R.E. (1984). Strategic Management: A Stakeholders Approach. Boston, Pittman.
Freeman, R. E., and Liedtka, J. (1991). Corporate social responsibility: A critical approach.
Business Horizons, 34(4), 92-98.
Greenwood, M. (2007). Stakeholder engagement beyond the myth of corporate responsibility.
Journal of Business Ethics, 74, 315-3227.
Jahdi, K.S., and Acikdilli, G. (2009). Marketing communications and corporate social
responsibility (CSR): Marriage of convenience or shortgun wedding? Journal of Business
Ethics, 88, 103-113.
22
 Kotler, P.; Kartajaya,H. and Setiawan, I. (2010). Marketing 3.0: From products to customers to
the human spirit, New York John Wiley & Sons Inc.
Kown, S.E. (2012). Exploring consumer’s attitudes and behavior through product placement in
television shows. Master Thesis, S.I Newhouse School of Public Communications, Syracuse
University, USA.
Law, R, Leung, R.; and Buhalis, D. (2009). Information technology application in hospitality and
turism: A review of publications form 2005 to 2007. Journal of Travel and Tourism Marketing,
26, 599-623
Lichtenstein, D.R., Drumwright, M.E. and Braig, B.M. (2004). The effects of corporate social
responsibility on customer donations to corporate-supported nonprofits. Journal of Marketing,
68, pp. 16–32.
Miagnan, I. (2001). Consumer perceptions of corporate social responsibility: A cross cultural
comparision. Journal of Business Ethics, 30 (1), 57-72.
Mohr, L.A., Webb, D.J., Harris, K.E. (2001). Do consumers expect companies to be socially
responsible? The impact of corporate social responsibility on buying behavior. Journal of
Consumer Affairs, 35 (1), 45-72.
Prahalad, C.K and Ramaswamy, V. (2004). The Future of Competition: Co-creating Unique
Value with Consumers (Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2004).
Sen, S., and Bhattacharya, C.B. (2001). Does doing good always leads to doing better?
Consumers reaction to corporate social responsibility. Journal of Marketing Research, 38 (2),
225-243.
Sen, S., Bhattacharya, C.B. and Korschun, D. (2006). The role of corporate social responsibility
in strengthening multiple stakeholder relationships: a field experiment. Journal of the Academy
of Marketing Science, 34, pp. 158–166.
Smith, J. V. L., Adhikari, J., Tondkar, R. H., and Andrews, R. L. (2010). Impact of corporate
social disclosure on investment behavior: A cross-national study. Journal of Accounting and
Public Policy; 29, 177-192.
The Guardian (2012). Social media for corporate social responsibility. Retreived 18 December,
2012 from, http://www.guardian.co.uk/sustainable-business/social-media-for-corporate-social-
responsibility-event-new-york
Urluab, J. (2012). 8 CSR communication trends powered by social media. Retreived, 15
December, 2012 from, http://blog.taigacompany.com/blog/sustainability-business-life-
environment/8-csrcommunications-trends-powered-by-social-media.
World Business Council for Sustainable Development, (2004). Cross cutting themes – corporate
social responsibility. Retreived June 13, 2013 from, http://www.wbcsd.org
2012 CEO, social media and leadership survey. Retreived June 19, 2013 from
http://www.brandfog.com/CEOSocialMediaSurvey/BRANDfog_2012_CEO_Survey.pdf

23

View publication stats