Abstract
Communication, as a discipline that generates a rich body of literature on CSR, has become a critical contributor to CSR knowledge in social science. However, limited research exists to understand how CSR knowledge is constructed and diffused in the discipline. This study thus intends to unpack the knowledge construction process of CSR research in the communication discipline from a network perspective. Invisible college was adopted as the conceptual framework. Article and theory/concept networks were constructed with 290 peer-reviewed articles from 61 communication journals between 1980 and 2018. Results showed that in the past four decades, CSR literature in communication has been growing and maturing, as evidenced by the increasing volume and diversity of theories and concepts applied. Furthermore, this body of literature tends to gravitate toward certain selected groups of theories and concepts, resulting in denser article networks over time. Our findings reflected a substantial influence of management (e.g., stakeholder theory, legitimacy theory) and psychological perspectives (e.g., attribution theory) on CSR research in communication. Additionally, the results showed that public relations concepts and theories (e.g., relationship management theory) have influenced CSR research across different communication subfields such as advertising and organization communication. The study expects the continuation of the plurality of voices as to how communication researchers will approach CSR and what specific topics may gain popularity in future research.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
These keywords primarily included corporate social responsibility, CSR, cause-related marketing, CRM, corporate social marketing, corporate philanthropy, community volunteering, socially responsible business practices, advocacy advertising, green advertising, and corporate sustainability.
A close examination of these 19 articles revealed that some dated back to the 1980s when CSR started to gain attention from communication practitioners and scholars. Those articles primarily focused on discussing the professional practice rather than the theoretical development of CSR (e.g., Spitzer 1981; Tilson and Vance 1985). Because of the practical orientation of these early articles, no theory or concept was substantively cited. In addition, some other studies, despite being published during the 2000s or 2010s, were presented in the form of “Research in Brief” or “Short Communication.” They did not include a comprehensive review of literature or elaboration on theoretical frameworks, and thus did not substantively cite any concept or theory as part of their conceptual foundations (e.g., Greer & Moreland 2007; Kovacs 2006; Takano 2013).
Articles published in TP1 did not cite any concept or theory in a substantive manner. Therefore, no article network or concept/theory network was formed. Both Tables 1 and 2 reported results from TP2, 3, and 4.
Table 1 Network-level metrics of the article co-citation network Table 2 Network-level metrics of the concept/theory co-citation network Although the construct of CSR was used as one of the keywords when retrieving journal articles, the authors included the construct in the in-text citation level network analysis for several reasons. First, the inclusion of CSR allowed us to examine structural information about how theories and concepts were connected surrounding the CSR, which was a primary construct of the study. Second, the study’s purpose was not to demonstrate the frequency of theories or concepts used in CSR-related articles. Unlike the meta-literature review or qualitative review approaches, this bibliometric network study focused on unveiling the invisible college based on the interconnectedness of theories and concepts that were relevant to the area of inquiry. Therefore, the inclusion of CSR as a central concept in the analysis was inherent to demonstrate the network structure. It is noteworthy that to some extent, the study findings were a direct result of including CSR as a search keyword and as a node/edge in the two co-citation networks.
References
Abitbol, A., & Lee, S. Y. (2017). Messages on CSR-dedicated Facebook pages: What works and what doesn’t. Public Relations Review, 43(4), 796–808.
Aksak, E. O., Ferguson, M. A., & Duman, S. A. (2016). Corporate social responsibility and CSR fit as predictors of corporate reputation: A global perspective. Public Relations Review, 42(1), 79–81.
Ali, W., Frynas, J. G., & Mahmood, Z. (2017). Determinants of corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure in developed and developing countries: A literature review. Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, 24(4), 273–294.
Allen, B. (1997). Referring to schools of thought: An example of symbolic citations. Social Studies of Science, 27(6), 937–949.
Aria, M., & Cuccurullo, C. (2017). Bibliometrix: An R-tool for comprehensive science mapping analysis. Journal of Informetrics, 11(4), 959–975.
Aula, P. (2011). Meshworked reputation: Publicists’ views on the reputational impacts of online communication. Public Relations Review, 37(1), 28–36.
Aupperle, K. E., Carroll, A. B., & Hatfield, J. D. (1985). An empirical examination of the relationship between corporate social responsibility and profitability. Academy of Management Journal, 28(2), 446–463.
Austin, L., & Gaither, B. M. (2017). Perceived motivations for corporate social responsibility initiatives in socially stigmatized industries. Public Relations Review, 43(4), 840–849.
Avidar, R. (2017). Public relations and social businesses: The importance of enhancing engagement. Public Relations Review, 43(5), 955–962.
Bae, J., & Cameron, G. T. (2006). Conditioning effect of prior reputation on perception of corporate giving. Public Relations Review, 32(2), 144–150.
Borgatti, S. P., & Everett, M. G. (1997). Network analysis of 2-mode data. Social Networks, 19(3), 243–269.
Borgatti, S. P., Everett, M. G., & Johnson, J. C. (2013). Analyzing Social Networks. London: Sage.
Bortree, D. S. (2014). The state of CSR communication research: A summary and future direction. Public Relations Journal, 8(3), 1–8.
Broom, G. M. (2006). An open-systems approach to building theory in public relations. Journal of Public Relations Research, 18, l41-150.
Brown, J. A., & Forster, W. R. (2013). CSR and stakeholder theory: A tale of Adam Smith. Journal of Business Ethics, 112(2), 301–312.
Burt, R. S. (2005). Brokerage and closure: An introduction to social capital. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Cárdaba, M. A. C. U. V. (2016). Communicating Corporate Social Responsibility: Re-assessment of classical theories about fit between CSR actions and corporate activities. Communication & Society, 29(2), 133–146.
Carroll, A. B. (1979). A three-dimensional conceptual model of corporate performance. Academy of Management Review, 4(4), 497–505.
Carroll, A. B. (1983). Corporate social responsibility: Will industry respond to cutbacks in social program funding. Vital Speeches of the Day, 49(19), 604–608.
Chang, C. T. (2011). Guilt appeals in cause-related marketing: The subversive roles of product type and donation magnitude. International Journal of Advertising, 30(4), 587–616.
Chang, C. T., & Cheng, Z. H. (2015). Tugging on heartstrings: shopping orientation, mindset, and consumer responses to cause-related marketing. Journal of Business Ethics, 127, 337–350.
Chang, T. K., & Tai, Z. (2005). Mass communication research and the invisible college revisited: The changing landscape and emerging fronts in journalism-related studies. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 82(3), 672–694.
Chatterji, A. K., & Toffel, M. W. (2019). Assessing the impact of CEO activism. Organization & Environment, 32(2), 159–185.
Chung, A., & Jiang, H. (2017). Handling negative publicity: The influence of employing CSR communication in apology statements in reducing anger and negative word-of-mouth (NWOM). Journal of Communication Management, 21(3), 267–286.
Ciomaga, B. (2013). Sport management: A bibliometric study on central themes and trends. European Sport Management Quarterly, 13(5), 557–578.
Clarke, J., & Gibson-Sweet, M. (1999). The use of corporate social disclosures in the management of reputation and legitimacy: a cross sectoral analysis of UK Top 100 Companies. Business Ethics: A European Review, 8(1), 5–13.
Commission of the European Communities. (2001). Promoting a European Framework for Corporate Social Responsibilities, COM (2001) 366 final, Brussels.
Craig, R. T. (1993). Why are there so many communication theories? Journal of Communication, 43(3), 26–33.
Crane, A., & Glozer, S. (2016). Researching corporate social responsibility communication: Themes, opportunities and challenges. Journal of Management Studies, 53, 1223–1252.
Crane, D. (1972). Invisible colleges: Diffusion of knowledge in scientific communities. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
De Bakker, F. G., Groenewegen, P., & Den Hond, F. (2005). A bibliometric analysis of 30 years of research and theory on corporate social responsibility and corporate social performance. Business & Society, 44(3), 283–317.
De Jong, M. D., Harkink, K. M., & Barth, S. (2018). Making green stuff? Effects of corporate greenwashing on consumers. Journal of Business and Technical Communication, 32(1), 77–112.
Devin, B. L., & Lane, A. B. (2014). Communicating engagement in corporate social responsibility: A meta-level construal of engagement. Journal of Public Relations research, 26(5), 436–454. https://doi.org/10.1080/1062726x.2014.956104.
Dhanesh, G. S. (2014). CSR as organization–employee relationship management strategy: A case study of socially responsible information technology companies in India. Management Communication Quarterly, 28(1), 130–149.
Du, S., Bhattacharya, C. B., & Sen, S. (2010). Maximizing business returns to corporate social responsibility (CSR): The role of CSR communication. International Journal of Management Reviews, 12(1), 8–19.
Du, S., & Vieira, E. T. (2012). Striving for legitimacy through corporate social responsibility: Insights from oil companies. Journal of Business Ethics, 110(4), 413–427.
Du Plessis, N., & Grobler, A. F. (2014). Achieving sustainability through strategically driven CSR in the South African retail sector. Public Relations Review, 40(2), 267–277.
Dzikowski, P. (2018). A bibliometric analysis of born global firms. Journal of Business Research, 85, 281–294.
Eberle, D., Berens, G., & Li, T. (2013). The impact of interactive corporate social responsibility communication on corporate reputation. Journal of Business Ethics, 118, 731–746.
Ferguson, M. A. (2018). Building theory in public relations: Interorganizational relationships as a public relations paradigm. Journal of Public Relations Research, 30(4), 164–178.
Fernandez-Alles, M., & Ramos-Rodríguez, A. (2009). Intellectual structure of human resources management research: A bibliometric analysis of the journal Human Resource Management, 1985–2005. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 60(1), 161–175.
Fetscherin, M., & Heinrich, D. (2015). Consumer brand relationships research: A bibliometric citation meta-analysis. Journal of Business Research, 68(2), 380–390.
Fuoli, M., & Hart, C. (2018). Trust-building strategies in corporate discourse: An experimental study. Discourse & Society, 29(5), 514–552.
Frederick, W. C. (2008). Corporate social responsibility: Deep roots, flourishing growth, promising future. In A. Crane, A. McWilliams, D. Matten, J. Moon, & D. Siegel (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of corporate social responsibility (pp. 522–531). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Frederick, W. C. (2016). Commentary: Corporate social responsibility: Deep roots, flourishing growth, promising future. Frontiers in Psychology, 7, 129.
Freeman, R. E. (1984). Strategic management: A stakeholder approach. Boston: Pitman.
Frynas, J. G., & Yamahaki, C. (2016). Corporate social responsibility: Review and roadmap of theoretical perspectives. Business Ethics: A European Review, 25, 258–285.
Golob, U., & Bartlett, J. L. (2007). Communicating about corporate social responsibility: A comparative study of CSR reporting in Australia and Slovenia. Public Relations Review, 33(1), 1–9.
Golob, U., Podnar, K., Elving, W. J. L., Nielsen, A. E., Thomsen, C., & Schultz, F. (2013). CSR communication: Quo vadis? Corporate Communications: An International Journal, 18(2), 176–192.
Greer, C. F., & Moreland, K. D. (2007). How Fortune 500 companies used the Web for philanthropic and crisis communication following Hurricane Katrina. Public Relations Review, 33(2), 214–216.
Griffin, E., Ledbetter, A. M., & Sparks, G. G. (2006). A first look at communication theory. New York: McGraw-Hill Education.
Grunig, J., & Hunt, T. (1984). Managing public relations. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.
Gilbert, N. G. (1977). Referencing as persuasion. Social Studies of Science, 7(1), 113–122.
Harker, J. L., & Saffer, A. J. (2018). Mapping a subfield’s sociology of science: A 25-year Network and bibliometric analysis of the knowledge construction of sports crisis communication. Journal of Sport and Social Issues, 42(5), 369–392.
Heath, R. L., & Ryan, M. (1989). Public relations’ role in defining corporate social responsibility. Journal of Mass Media Ethics, 4(1), 21–38.
Hernández, C. M. (2015). Patronage, public relations and philanthropy: “Fendi for Fountains” case study. Vivat Academia, 18(133), 103–124.
Herranz-de-la-Casa, J. M., Manfredi-Sánchez, J. L., & Cabezuelo-Lorenzo, F. (2015). Latest trends and initiatives in corporate social responsibility: A communicational analysis of successful cases of arts and culture in Spain. Catalan Journal of Communication & Cultural Studies, 7(2), 217–229.
Hon, L. C., & Grunig, J. E. (1999). Guidelines for measuring relationships in public relations. Gainesville, FL: The Institute for Public Relations, Commission on PR Measurement and Evaluation.
Hung-Baesecke, C. J. F., Chen, Y. R. R., & Boyd, B. (2016). Corporate social responsibility, media source preference, trust, and public engagement: The informed public’s perspective. Public Relations Review, 42(4), 591–599.
Ihlen, Ø. (2008). Mapping the environment for corporate social responsibility: Stakeholders, publics and the public sphere. Corporate Communications: An International Journal, 13(2), 135–146.
Ihlen, Ø., Bartlett, J., & May, S. (2011). Corporate social responsibility and communication. In Ø. Ihlen, J. L. Bartlett, & S. May (Eds.), The handbook of communication and corporate social responsibility (pp. 3–22). New York: Wiley.
Ji, Y. G., Tao, W., & Rim, H. (2020). Mapping corporate social responsibility research in communication: A network and bibliometric analysis. Public Relations Review. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pubrev.2020.101963.
Johnston, K. A., & Taylor, M. (2018). Engagement as communication pathways, possibilities, and future directions. In K. A. Johnston & M. Taylor (Eds.), The handbook of communication engagement (pp. 1–15). New York: Wiley.
Kelly, K. S. (2001). Stewardship: The fifth step in the public relations process. In L. Robert & R. Heath (Eds.), Handbook of public relations (pp. 279–289). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Kent, M. L., & Taylor, M. (2016). From homo economicus to homo dialogicus: Rethinking social media use in CSR communication. Public Relations Review, 42(1), 60–67.
Kim, H.-S. (2011). A reputational approach examining publics’ attributions on corporate social responsibility motives. Asian Journal of Communication, 21(1), 84–101.
Kim, S. (2019). The process model of corporate social responsibility (CSR) communication: CSR communication and its relationship with consumers’ CSR knowledge, trust, and corporate reputation perception. Journal of Business Ethics, 154(4), 1143–1159.
Kim, S. Y., & Reber, B. H. (2009). How public relations professionalism influences corporate social responsibility: A survey of practitioners. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 86(1), 157–174.
Kotler, P., & Lee, N. (2005). Corporate social responsibility: Doing the most good for your company and your cause. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
Laplume, A. O., Sonpar, K., & Litz, R. A. (2008). Stakeholder theory: Reviewing a theory that moves us. Journal of Management, 34(6), 1152–1189.
Lee, T. H. (2017). The status of corporate social responsibility research in public relations: A content analysis of published articles in eleven scholarly journals from 1980 to 2015. Public Relations Review, 43(1), 211–218.
Lee, C.-J, & Sohn, D. (2016). Mapping the social capital research in communication: A bibliometric analysis. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 93(4), 728–749.
Lee, K. H., & Shin, D. (2010). Consumers’ responses to CSR activities: The linkage between increased awareness and purchase intention. Public Relations Review, 36(2), 193–195.
Lee, S. Y., Zhang, W., & Abitbol, A. (2019a). What makes CSR communication lead to CSR Participation? Testing the mediating effects of CSR associations, CSR credibility, and organization–public relationships. Journal of Business Ethics, 157(2), 413–429.
Lee, Y. J., & Kim, S. (2010). Media framing in corporate social responsibility: A Korea–US comparative study. International Journal of Communication, 4, 283–301.
Lee, Y. J., O’Donnell, N. H., & Hust, S. J. (2019b). Interaction effects of system-generated information and consumer skepticism: An evaluation of issue support behavior in CSR Twitter campaigns. Journal of Interactive Advertising, 19(1), 15–28.
Lievrouw, L. A. (1989). The invisible college reconsidered: Bibliometrics and the development of scientific communication theory. Communication Research, 16(5), 615–628.
Lii, Y. S., & Lee, M. (2012). Doing right leads to doing well: When the type of CSR and reputation interact to affect consumer evaluations of the firm. Journal of Business Ethics, 105(1), 69–81.
Lim, J. S., & Greenwood, C. A. (2017). Communicating corporate social responsibility (CSR): Stakeholder responsiveness and engagement strategy to achieve CSR goals. Public Relations Review, 43(4), 768–776.
Lin, Y. C., Padliansyah, R., & Lin, T. C. (2019). The relationship and development trend of corporate social responsibility (CSR) literature. Management Decision, 58(4), 601–624.
Liu, X., Jia, S., & Li, F. (2011). Corporate social responsibility as a legitimate concern for Chinese enterprises: An analysis of media depictions. Public Relations Review, 37(3), 207–216.
Lockett, A., Moon, J., & Visser, W. (2006). Corporate social responsibility in management research: Focus, nature, salience and sources of influence. Journal of Management Studies, 43(1), 115–136.
Madrigal, R. (2000). The influence of social alliances with sports teams on intentions to purchase corporate sponsors’ products. Journal of Advertising, 29(4), 13–24.
McGuinness, P. B., Vieito, J. P., & Wang, M. (2017). The role of board gender and foreign ownership in the CSR performance of Chinese listed firms. Journal of Corporate Finance, 42, 75–99.
Meenaghan, J. A. (1983). Commercial sponsorship. European Journal of Marketing, 17(7), 5–73.
Meintjes, C., & Grobler, A. F. (2014). Do public relations professionals understand corporate governance issues well enough to advise companies on stakeholder relationship management? Public Relations Review, 40(2), 161–170.
Miles, S. (2017). Stakeholder theory classification: A theoretical and empirical evaluation of definitions. Journal of Business Ethics, 142(3), 437–459.
Mishra, K. E. (2006). Help or hype: Symbolic or behavioral communication during Hurricane Katrina. Public Relations Review, 32(4), 358–366.
Mitchell, R. K., Agle, B. R., & Wood, D. J. (1997). Toward a theory of stakeholder identification and salience: Defining the principle of who and what really counts. Academy of Management Review, 22(4), 853–886.
Moody, J. (2004). The structure of a social science collaboration network: Disciplinary cohesion from 1963 to 1999. American Sociological Review, 69(2), 213–238.
Morehouse, J., & Saffer, A. J. (2018). A bibliometric analysis of dialogue and digital dialogic research: Mapping the knowledge construction and invisible colleges in public relations research. Journal of Public Relations Research, 30(3), 65–82.
Morehouse, J., & Saffer, A. J. (2019). Illuminating the invisible college: An analysis of foundational and prominent publications of engagement research in public relations. Public Relations Review, 45, 101836.
Moore, S., Shiell, A., Hawe, P., & Haines, V. A. (2005). The privileging of communitarian ideas: Citation practices and the translation of social capital into public health research. American Journal of Public Health, 95(8), 1330–1337.
Moreno, A., & Capriotti, P. (2009). Communicating CSR, citizenship and sustainability on the web. Journal of Communication Management, 13(2), 157–175.
Nan, X., & Heo, K. (2007). Consumer responses to corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives: Examining the role of brand-cause fit in cause-related marketing. Journal of advertising, 36(2), 63–74.
Noma, E. (1984). Co-citation analysis and the invisible college. Journal of the American Society for Information Science, 35(1), 29–33.
O’Byrne, S., & Daymon, C. (2014). Irresponsible engagement and the citizen investor. Journal of Public Relations Research, 26(5), 455–473.
O’Connor, A., & Gronewold, K. L. (2013). Black gold, green earth: An analysis of the petroleum industry’s CSR environmental sustainability discourse. Management Communication Quarterly, 27(2), 210–236.
O’Connor, A., & Shumate, M. (2010). An economic industry and institutional level of analysis of corporate social responsibility communication. Management Communication Quarterly, 24, 529–551.
Oliveira, M. D. F., & Murphy, P. (2009). The leader as the face of a crisis: Philip Morris’ CEO’s speeches during the 1990s. Journal of Public Relations Research, 21(4), 361–380.
Opsahl, T., Agneessens, F., & Skvoretz, J. (2010). Node centrality in weighted networks: Generalizing degree and shortest paths. Social Networks, 32, 245–251.
Ott, H., Wang, R., & Bortree, D. (2016). Communicating sustainability online: An examination of corporate, nonprofit, and university websites. Mass Communication and Society, 19(5), 671–687.
Park, K., & Jiang, H. (2020). Signaling, verification, and identification: The way corporate social advocacy generates brand loyalty on social media. International Journal of Business Communication. https://doi.org/10.1177/2329488420907121.
Pal, M., & Jenkins, J. J. (2014). Reimagining sustainability: An interrogation of the corporate knights’ global 100. Environmental Communication, 8(3), 388–405.
Pasadeos, Y., Phelps, J., & Kim, B. H. (1998). Disciplinary impact of advertising scholars: Temporal comparisons of influential authors, works and research networks. Journal of Advertising, 27(4), 53–70.
Podnar, K., & Golob, U. (2007). CSR expectations: The focus of corporate marketing. Corporate Communications: An International Journal, 12(4), 326–340.
Pollach, I. (2018). Issue cycles in corporate sustainability reporting: A longitudinal study. Environmental Communication, 12(2), 247–260.
Reeves, B., & Borgman, C. L. (1983). A bibliometric evaluation of core journals in communication research. Human Communication Research, 10(1), 119–136.
Reich, B. J., & Soule, C. A. A. (2016). Green demarketing in advertisements: Comparing “buy green” and “buy less” appeals in product and institutional advertising contexts. Journal of Advertising, 45(4), 441–458.
Rifon, N. J., Choi, S. M., Trimble, C. S., & Li, H. (2004). Congruence effects in sponsorship: The mediating role of sponsor credibility and consumer attributions of sponsor motive. Journal of Advertising, 33(1), 30–42.
Rim, H., & Dong, C. (2018). Trust and distrust in society and public perception of CSR: A cross-cultural study. Social Responsibility Journal, 14(1), 1–19.
Rim, H., & Kim, S. (2016). Dimensions of corporate social responsibility (CSR) skepticism and their impacts on public evaluations toward CSR. Journal of Public Relations Research, 28(5–6), 248–267.
Rim, H., Lee, Y., & Yoo, S. (2020). Polarized public opinion responding to corporate social advocacy: Social network analysis of boycotters and advocators. Public Relations Review, 46(2), 101869.
Ryan, M. (1986). Public relations practitioners’ views of corporate social responsibility. Journalism Quarterly, 63(4), 740–762.
Seele, P., & Lock, I. (2015). Instrumental and/or deliberative? A typology of CSR communication tools. Journal of Business Ethics, 131, 401–414.
Shim, K., Chung, M., & Kim, Y. (2017). Does ethical orientation matter? Determinants of public reaction to CSR communication. Public Relations Review, 43(4), 817–828.
Small, H. (1973). Co-citation in the scientific literature: A new measure of the relationship between two documents. Journal of the American Society for Information Science, 24(4), 265–269.
Sohn, Y. J., & Lariscy, R. W. (2015). A “buffer” or “boomerang?”—The role of corporate reputation in bad times. Communication Research, 42(2), 237–259.
Sohn, Y. S., Han, J. K., & Lee, S. H. (2012). Communication strategies for enhancing perceived fit in the CSR sponsorship context. International Journal of Advertising, 31(1), 133–146.
Spitzer, C. E. (1981). Should government audit corporate social responsibility? Public Relations Review, 7(2), 13–28.
Swenson, R., & Olsen, N. (2018). Food for thought: Audience engagement with sustainability messages in branded content. Environmental Communication, 12, 973–988.
Takano, K. (2013). McDonald’s Japan: A case study of effective public relations. Public Relations Review, 39(1), 60–62.
Tang, L. (2012). Media discourse of corporate social responsibility in China: A content analysis of newspapers. Asian Journal of Communication, 22(3), 270–288.
Tao, W., & Ji, Y. G. (2020). Firm-determined or consumer-determined corporate social responsibility (CSR)? Examining the effects of choice-of-cause in cause-related marketing. International Journal of Business Communication, 34, 473.
Tao, W., & Wilson, C. (2015). Fortune 1000 communication strategies on Facebook and Twitter. Journal of Communication Management, 19, 208–223.
Tao, W., Song, B., Ferguson, M. A., & Kochhar, S. (2018). Employees’ prosocial behavioral intentions through empowerment in CSR decision-making. Public Relations Review, 44(5), 667–680.
Teigland, R. (2013). Knowledge networking: Structure and performance in network of practice (Published doctoral dissertation). Stockholm, Sweden: Stockholm School of Economics, Institute of International Business.
Tilson, D. J., & Vance, D. (1985). Corporate philanthropy comes of age. Public Relations Review, 11(2), 26–33.
Uysal, Ö. Ö. (2010). Business ethics research with an accounting focus: A bibliometric analysis from 1988 to 2007. Journal of Business Ethics, 93(1), 137–160.
Uysal, N., Yang, A., & Taylor, M. (2018). Shareholder communication and issue salience: Corporate responses to ‘social’ shareholder activism. Journal of Applied Communication Research, 46(2), 179–201. https://doi.org/10.1080/00909882.2018.1437643.
Uzunoğlu, E., Türkel, S., & Akyar, B. Y. (2017). Engaging consumers through corporate social responsibility messages on social media: An experimental study. Public Relations Review, 43(5), 989–997.
Van Dyk, L., & Fourie, L. (2015). Challenges in donor–NPO relationships in the context of corporate social investment. Communicatio, 41(1), 108–130.
Van Dyk, L., & Fourie, L. (2016). Redefining the communication relationship between donors and non-profit organizations in the context of corporate social responsibility. Communitas, 21, 1.
Van Heerden, N., & De Beer, E. (2016). Corporate social responsibility communication: A consumer survey at the National Zoological Gardens of South Africa. Communitas, 21, 145–164.
Veldeman, C., Van Praet, E., & Mechant, P. (2017). Social media adoption in business-to-business: IT and industrial companies compared. International Journal of Business Communication, 54(3), 283–305.
Verk, N., Golob, U., & Podnar, K. (2019). A dynamic review of the emergence of corporate social responsibility communication. Journal of Business Ethics. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-019-04232-6.
Wood, D. J. (2010). Measuring corporate social performance: A review. International Journal of Management Review, 12(1), 50–84.
Yan, E., & Ding, Y. (2012). Scholarly network similarities: How bibliographic coupling networks, citation networks, cocitation networks, topical networks, coauthorship networks, and coword networks relate to each other. Journal of the American Society for Information Sience and Technology, 63(7), 1313–1326.
Yang, A. (2020). The issue niche theory of nongovernmental and nonprofit organizations’ interorganizational network ecology. Communication Theory, 30(1), 41–63.
Yang, A., & Ji, Y. G. (2019). The quest for legitimacy and the communication of strategic cross-sectoral partnership on Facebook: A big data study. Public Relations Review, 45(5), 101839.
Zhou, Z., & Ki, E. J. (2018). Exploring the role of CSR fit and the length of CSR involvement in routine business and corporate crises settings. Public Relations Review, 44(1), 75–83.
Zupic, I., & Čater, T. (2015). Bibliometric methods in management and organization. Organizational Research Methods, 18(3), 429–472.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The authors whose names are listed below certify that they have no affiliations with or involvement in any organization or entity with any financial interest, or non-financial interest in the subject matter or materials discussed in this manuscript.
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Appendix
Appendix
ID | Journal names | Number of articles |
|---|---|---|
1 | Public Relations Review | 83 |
2 | Journal of Advertising | 19 |
3 | Management Communication Quarterly | 16 |
4 | Environmental Communication–A Journal of Nature and Culture | 12 |
5 | Journal of Advertising Research | 12 |
6 | Journal of Public Relations Research | 12 |
7 | International Journal of Advertising | 11 |
8 | Journal of Communication Management | 9 |
9 | Asian Journal of Communication | 8 |
10 | Journal of Applied Communication Research | 8 |
11 | Journal of Mass Media Ethics | 6 |
12 | Communicatio–South African Journal for Communication Theory and Research | 5 |
13 | Discourse & Communication | 5 |
14 | International Journal of Business Communication | 4 |
15 | International Journal of Communication | 4 |
16 | Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly | 4 |
17 | Tripodos | 4 |
18 | Asia Pacific Public Relations Journal | 3 |
19 | Communication & Society–Spain | 3 |
20 | Communication Research | 3 |
21 | IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication | 3 |
22 | Journal of Business and Technical Communication | 3 |
23 | Jurnal Komunikasi–Malaysian Journal of Communication | 3 |
24 | Public Relations Inquiry | 3 |
25 | Business and Professional Communication Quarterly | 2 |
26 | Catalan Journal of Communication & Cultural Studies | 2 |
27 | Communication Research Reports | 2 |
28 | Communitas | 2 |
29 | Discourse & Society | 2 |
30 | Journal of Communication | 2 |
31 | Journal of Health Communication | 2 |
32 | Mass Communication and Society | 2 |
33 | Media Culture & Society | 2 |
34 | Profesional De La Informacion | 2 |
35 | Communication & Sport | 1 |
36 | Communication Monographs | 1 |
37 | Communication Research and Practice | 1 |
38 | Communication Today | 1 |
39 | Communications–European Journal of Communication Research | 1 |
40 | Comunicar | 1 |
41 | Convergence–The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies | 1 |
42 | Critical Discourse Studies | 1 |
43 | Health Communication | 1 |
44 | International Journal of Marketing Communication and New Media | 1 |
45 | International Journal of Sport Communication | 1 |
46 | Javnost–The Public | 1 |
47 | Journal of Argumentation in Context | 1 |
48 | Journal of Children and Media | 1 |
49 | Journalism Quarterly | 1 |
50 | Kome–An International Journal of Pure Communication Inquiry | 1 |
51 | New Media & Society | 1 |
52 | Nordicom Review | 1 |
53 | Online Journal of Communication and Media Technologies | 1 |
54 | Political Communication | 1 |
55 | Popular Communication | 1 |
56 | Revista De Comunicacion De La Seeci | 1 |
57 | Social Media + Society | 1 |
58 | Technical Communication | 1 |
59 | Telecommunications Policy | 1 |
60 | Television & New Media | 1 |
61 | Vivat Academia | 1 |
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Ji, Y.G., Tao, W. & Rim, H. Theoretical Insights of CSR Research in Communication from 1980 to 2018: A Bibliometric Network Analysis. J Bus Ethics 177, 327–349 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-021-04748-w
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-021-04748-w