Communication Professionals as Social Change Agents in Times of Crisis: How Pandemic Situation Has Changed Initiatives in CSR and Sustainability

Abstract

Communication professionals are often associated with the organization’s responses to developments in the environment (reactionist’s approach), but most of the CSR and sustainability initiatives in an organization are due to the active role and personal leadership (proactive and leadership approach) of communication professionals.

The pandemic highlighted the importance of the performance of communication professionals: if in the past communication professionals were able to communicate face-to-face through various communication tools and encourage stakeholders to engage in various organizational activities, the changed conditions not only forced to search for new forms of communication building and strengthening relationships with stakeholders in the “new reality” applying a hybrid mode for interactions and communication, but also to review the organization’s activities, strengthen the motivation of individual stakeholders, and encourage them to stay engaged with the organization.

In the chapter, the model of one- and two-way communication processes is applied for the analysis of CSR/sustainability communication strategy and the role of communication professionals in proposing and implementing CSR/sustainability activities in organizations, through initiation, motivation, and call to action, especially during crisis or in the situations with high level of uncertainty.

The choice of such an approach for analysis of CSR/sustainability activities within the organization, which indicates the respective role of communication professionals in them, allows us to evaluate the activities of communication and sustainability of the organization, highlighting the role and personal and proposed globally initiatives taken by communication professionals as social change agents.

The chapter analyzes the role of communication professionals as social change agents in times of crisis to achieve an organization’s CSR/sustainability goals in collaboration with various stakeholders.

In the chapter, statements on the role of communication professionals are reinforced with the results of qualitative in-depth interviews with top communication professionals working in corporations nominated for CSR and sustainability awards in Lithuania, supported with the content analysis of activity reports of those corporations for 2019–2020.

Communication professionals, driven by the organization’s values, take on the role of social change and CSR/sustainability “ambassadors” in the pursuit of the organization’s corporate strategy, promoting and sharing sustainability ideas and encouraging responsible actions by organizations and external stakeholders.

The actions of communication professionals are related to integrating the relevant values into the organization’s activities and communication, promoting CSR/sustainability initiatives, motivating the launching of activities, and engaging actively in the implementation of CSR/sustainability activities. The role of communication professionals in CSR/sustainability can be seen in the context of the organization’s system and culture for initiating and implementing CSR/sustainability activities but is also determined by the communication professional’s personal leadership and individual engagement in initiating sustainability activities, finding CSR/sustainability solutions, and implementing activities involving different stakeholders in the organization to create an added value for the organization and make social impact in the areas of CSR/sustainability chosen by the organization.