Corporate social responsibility in emerging social issues

(Non)institutionalized Practices in Response to the Global Refugee Crisis

Bibliographic Data

ID21696090
AuthorsRong Wang (0000-0003-1070-1460, University of Kentucky), Katherine R Cooper (0000-0001-5161-1491, DePaul University)
Year2022
Volume26
Issue1
Pages98-114
Publication date2022-02-23
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Communication Management (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1363-254X • E-ISSN: 1478-0852
PublisherEmerald (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1108/jcom-04-2021-0042
OpenAlexW3197189348
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited27

Purpose CSR reporting is an institutionalized practice. However, institutionalization has been primarily examined in the context of limited social issues and largely restricted to the presence of CSR communication. The purpose of this paper is to introduce a framework to explore how institutional and organizational factors shape CSR programming in response to an emerging social issue: the global refugee crisis. Design/methodology/approach The authors collected corporate social responsibility (CSR) reports from Global 500 Fortune corporations between 2012 and 2017. This study uses content coding and inferential analysis to examine how industry type, headquarters location, and partnership resources are related to programming in the refugee relief efforts. Findings The results reveal distinctive patterns from the technology sector and European corporations, with no clear patterns identified among other corporations. The findings indicate that although CSR is an institutionalized practice, CSR program reporting offers fewer insights as to how institutionalization occurs. Research limitations/implications Results suggest a preliminary framework for understanding how CSR programming becomes institutionalized and provide implications for how corporations may address emerging social issues. Originality/value This study applies an institutional, communicative approach to the context of the recent global refugee crisis, which contributes to theory development through the examination of an emerging social issue. It also extends prior research on the institutionalization of CSR by focusing on programming in response to an emerging social issue over time and suggests the limits of prior claims of institutionalized practices

Business · Corporate social responsibility · Emerging markets · General partnership · Institutionalisation · Originality · Political science · Public relations · Qualitative research · Refugee · Social science · Sociology · Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting · Ethics in Business and Education · Law · Public Relations and Crisis Communication

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