Abstract
This paper explores the influence that companies’ values have on CSR communication. In particular, it focuses on the impact of these values on the CSR communication strategies, communication medium, and CSR information quality. This paper employs the corpus linguistics methods to explore CSR dimensions, with the analytical focus on the companies’ postures. From pragmatic perspectives, the companies may adopt a strategy that best represent their relationship with the stakeholders. Hence, the CSR communication strategy may evolve from stakeholder information strategy to stakeholder response strategy to stakeholder involvement strategy. This evolution is consistent with deliberative democracy, which has a potential to affect corporations’ actions concerning stakeholders’ interests, and encourages constant improvement and transformation of institutional accountability in which the stakeholders can be fully engaged. Our empirical findings suggest that corporate values of social-centeredness and self-centeredness have a positive influence on the strength of CSR communication strategies. Furthermore, CSR communication strategies significantly influence the issuance of stand-alone CSR reports. Our findings also suggest that New Zealand companies use explanation and justification posture, which combines bolstering, differentiation, and transcendence, to legitimize business operations that link work, society, and environment. We found that New Zealand companies’ value orientation may have been influenced by national socio-political systems. Our study establishes a link between corporate values and CSR communication strategy in communicating the impacts companies have on the society and the natural environment. The emphasis is on the language of CSR reports as a linguistic mediation of communication between corporations and stakeholders.
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Ameer, R., Othman, R. (2018). Corporate Values and Corporate Social Responsibility Communication Strategies in a Small Economy. In: Lee, KH., Schaltegger, S. (eds) Accounting for Sustainability: Asia Pacific Perspectives. Eco-Efficiency in Industry and Science, vol 33. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-70899-7_4
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