A company can create a socially responsible image by having the public associate it (the company) with corporate social responsibility (CSR). Many researchers have asserted that a socially responsible image benefits a company in many ways. Zenisek (1979) clarified the complexity of CSR by approaching the concept through an organizational behavior approach. He constructed a CSR model that consisted of critical aspects—the ideological, operational, and societal aspects–in the relationship between a company and society. By applying Zenisek’s (1979) CSR model, this study conducts a content analysis of the corporate website homepages of Fortune Global 500 companies. The objective is to explore the variability in creating a socially responsible image through CSR communication by revenue, industry category, and country-of-origin. The results indicate that there are differences in communicating CSR aspects of CSR as well as CSR issues according to a company’s revenue, industry category, and country-of-origin. The study provides fresh insights for practitioners to approach CSR communication in business. / text

The purpose of this study is to investigate CSR’s effect on brand image in order to increase the understanding of CSR as a marketing tool, within the service industry. The research questions of the study are “How does a service-based company’s involvement in CSR as a marketing strategy affect the brand image? And how do the different CSR dimensions affect the brand image?” This study has a positive and deductive approach with a cross sectional design. The quantitative method chosen was a questionnaire, more precisely.  More specifically, a self-completion survey was conducted on a sample of 73 hotel guests living in a CSR friendly hotel in Malmo, Sweden.

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), a field still under development, has already seen different phases. With new technological advancements and the demand for ethical business growing –how has history affected the theory and practice in this field? Is Corporate Social Responsibility moving into new directions, and how do global players deal with challenges in the field while trying to stay ahead of their competition? Interests and efforts in Corporate Social Responsibility are seemingly growing, but does this also mean that sustainable development is progressing alongside these efforts? This research will focus firstly on the global historical development of the field. This will then be continued with an analysis of Corporate Social Responsibility programs of selected global beer brewing corporations where CSR and Sustainable Development has become a main focus for the development of the industry. . Common traits, strengths and weaknesses will be identified through this analysis in order to build a suggested framework for Corporate Social Responsibility that aims for an ethical and economically responsible sustainable development. With this process and eventual framework, this thesis aims to contribute to close the gap between how CSR is communicated to the public, and how it is perceived. This in order to critically assess the potential of CSR in the future.

The aim of this research was to conduct a pilot study to identify if increased written communication at restaurants would affect customer and staff awareness of the restaurant’s sustainability efforts. By using before-after questionnaires among employees and customers possible changes among the two stakeholder groups be recorded. As the restaurants had recently joined the new network Sustainable Restaurants in Sweden, the effect of this collaboration on their CSR efforts and communication was evaluated through semi-structured interviews with the restaurant representatives. Social marketing was the underlying theory for this study, with focus on opportunity and ability. The restaurants communication efforts were identified as nudges. The study showed that collaborating in order to start communicating can prove to be an effective support mechanism. Increased communication proved to have somewhat an effect on customer awareness and staff awareness. Increased awareness amongst all actors of the food chain is a necessary step for a sustainable future.

Researchers and companies are paying increasing attention to corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs and the reaction to them by consumers. But despite such corporate efforts and an expanding literature exploring consumers' response to CSR, it remains unclear how consumers perceive CSR and which "Gestalt" consumers have in mind when considering CSR. Moreover, academics and managers lack a tool for measuring consumers' perceptions of CSR. This research explores consumers' perceptions of CSR and develops a measurement model for them. Based on qualitative data from interviews with managers and consumers, a conceptualization of consumers' perceptions of CSR is developed. Subsequently, this model is tested and validated on three large quantitative data sets. The conceptualization and the measurement scale help companies assess consumers' perceptions of CSR relative to their performance. They also enable managers to identify shortcomings in CSR engagement and/or communication. Finally, the paper discusses implications for marketing practice and future research. (authors' abstract)

I investigate whether corporate accountability reporting and assurance help protect firm value. Specifically, I examine: 1) whether corporate accountability reporting helps firms prevent the occurrence of high-profile misconduct (bribery, kickbacks, discrimination, etc.), and 2) when high-profile misconduct does occur, does prior corporate accountability reporting reduce the negative stock price reaction. Using propensity-score matching to address self-selection, I find that on average firms that report on their corporate accountability activities are less likely to engage in high-profile misconduct, consistent with the reporting process helping firms manage their operations better. Additionally, I find that when high-profile misconduct does occur, firms that have previously issued corporate accountability reports experience a less negative stock price reaction, consistent with corporate accountability reports influencing perceptions of managerial intent, which in turn influences expected punishments. Lastly, I find no evidence that external assurance of corporate accountability reports decreases the likelihood of high-profile misconduct occurring, nor does it reduce the stock price hit when high-profile misconduct occurs, consistent with concerns raised about the value of this new form of assurance.

Little is known about how corporate social responsibility (CSR) efforts affect consumer behavior outcomes that are not ultimately tied back to the firm (e.g., corporate financial performance). This dissertation addresses that gap in the literature by examining the influence of CSR behavior on the moral behavior of consumers. Findings from this dissertation demonstrate that some consumers vicariously balance their moral behavior against a brand's CSR efforts. For instance, I show that a brand's more socially responsible behavior can negatively influence the moral behavior of consumers (i.e., vicarious moral licensing effect) while a brand's less socially responsible behavior can positively influence the moral behavior of consumers (i.e., vicarious moral cleansing effect). However, these effects are limited to those consumers who have extended their psychological self to a brand conducting the CSR efforts. A series of five studies tests the proposed vicarious moral balancing effect, highlights boundary conditions of this effect, and demonstrates the process by which the vicarious moral licensing effect occurs. Study 1 demonstrates the vicarious moral balancing effect in the generosity behavior of consumers while study 2 extends these effects to the cheating behavior of consumers. Studies 3 and 4 find that making consumers more mindful of their moral decision making and behavior eliminates and even reverses earlier findings showing the negative influence of CSR behavior on the moral behavior of consumers. Study 5 demonstrates a potential process explanation for the vicarious moral licensing effect by showing that CSR behavior framed as goal commitment increases positive moral consumer behavior while CSR behavior framed as goal progress decreases positive moral consumer behavior. Implications, contributions, and limitations of these findings and directions for future areas of research are discussed.

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Problem: CSR is today a frequently used concept, as companies to a larger extent are held accountable for what is happening in the society. The company should also inform the stakeholders about their CSR activities in an appropriate way, in order to capitalise from all possible benefits. According to Schrader et al. (2006), one group that is extremely important to inform is the con-sumers. In order to make a trustworthy impression and gain the most bene-fits, the choice of CSR activity and way of communication is crucial for the company, and therefore the perceptions of the consumers are very impor-tant to know more about and understand. Little research has been done about the consumers’ perception of CSR, especially for Swedish consumers. Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to find out how Swedish consumers’ percep-tions and behaviour towards a company are influenced by communication of specific CSR activities. Method: The data collection was done through a questionnaire that was completed online by 102 respondents. The respondents were asked to answer how their view of the company and willingness to buy from a company was changed by each the six specified CSR initiatives, as well as how they would prefer to get information about a company’s CSR activities. Their responses were analysed with help from consumer behaviour and promotion theories. Conclusions: All the initiatives gave a positive influence on the respondents’ perceptions, but the ones resulting in the most positive changes of the perceptions and willingness to buy were social responsible business practises, cause-related marketing and corporate philanthropy, which are initiatives where the com-pany are doing the largest effort instead of just encouraging others to make an effort. The respondents answered that they trust the companies’ infor-mation about CSR to some extent, but also think a third party should scru-tinise the companies’ activities and inform. The most favourable channel for CSR information was in the store and on packages, from environmental or-ganisations and the company’s webpage. Therefore it seems like the re-spondents value that the companies provide information, but are not too forward and pushing the information on them by for example advertise-ments.