Corporations and Citizenship Arenas in the Age of Social Media

Abstract

Little attention has been paid to the importance of social media in the corporate social responsibility (CSR) literature. This deficit is redressed in the present paper through utilizing the notion of 'citizenship arenas' to identify three dynamics in social media-augmented corporate-society relations. First, we note that social mediaaugmented 'corporate arenas of citizenship' are constructed by individual corporations in an effort to address CSR issues of specific importance thereto, and are populated by individual citizens as well as (functional/formally organized) stakeholders. Second, we highlight that, within social media-augmented 'public arenas of citizenship', individual citizens are empowered, relative to corporations and their (functional/formally organized) stakeholders, when it comes to creating, debating, and publicizing, CSRrelevant issues. Third, we posit that information and communication technology corporations possess specific, and potentially very important, capacities, when it comes to creating, or helping construct, public arenas of citizenship from within which individual citizens can influence their broader political-economic environment. Following this, we discuss how social media can contribute to 'dysfunctions' as well as 'progressions' in corporate-society relations, and conclude with a number of suggestions for future research.

The Promotion of Responsible Tourism Management Through Digital Media

“…Therefore, marketers need to possess relevant stakeholder-specific information as this will impact on the effectiveness of their CSR communication (Sparks, Perkins & Buckley, 2013;Inversini & Buhalis, 2009;Morsing & Schultz, 2006;Vorvoreanu, 2009). The value of their communications lies in their ability to open up lines of dialogue through stories and ideas that reflect their stakeholders' interests (Fieseler & Fleck, 2013;Moreno & Capriotti, 2009;Whelan et al, 2013;Schultz et al, 2013). For these reasons, companies cannot afford to overstate or misrepresent their CSR communications that could ultimately foster positive behaviours or compel remedial action (Etter, 2013;Golob, Podnar, Elving, Ellerup Nielsen, & Thomsen, 2013;Nielsen & Thomsen, 2009;Dawkins, 2005;Lewis, 2003;Manheim & Pratt, 1986).…”

“…Hence, web technologies may be considered as suitable platforms for undertaking a dialogue between business and its stakeholders (Fieseler & Fleck, 2013;Moreno & Capriotti, 2009). Online platforms can also increase the complexity of the debates (Whelan, Moon& Grant, 2013;Xiang & Gretzel, 2010), and decrease the level of institutionalisation of the interaction between the stakeholders and the firms .…”

The Effect of Online Protests and Firm Responses on Shareholder and Consumer Evaluation

“…Second, we study the dynamics between insider and outsider stakeholders and the inter-level relation between activist groups and consumers. Last, we contribute to the ongoing discussion on the use of digital media, such as social media, to engage consumers in CSR from both activist groups' and firms' perspective Eberle et al 2013;Lyon and Montgomery 2013;Palazzo and Basu 2007;Schultz et al 2013;Whelan et al 2013). …”

“…Furthermore, we provide commercial managers with useful results that can help them optimize their response when they become the focus of an online protest. New strategies and tactics for conflicts played out on the internet are continually being discovered and improved (Whelan et al 2013). We specifically contribute four practically applicable findings for protest organizers.…”

“…Consequently, digital media are important channels for communicating with targeted firms and their stakeholders about social issues De Bakker and Hellsten 2013;Palazzo and Basu 2007;Schultz et al 2013;Whelan et al 2013). Firms' CSR managers need to better understand how online protests affect their firms' and brands' value in order to manage unexpected situations efficiently.…”