Mapping the Interface Between Corporate Identity, Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility

How Sustainability Ratings Might Deter ‘Greenwashing’: A Closer Look at Ethical Corporate Communication

“…Building on previous works Greyser, 2003, 2007;Fukukawa et al, 2007), this research contributes to a greater understanding of the manner in which consumers, those often forgotten stakeholders, respond to CSR policies in the context of an accessible, consumer goods, corporate brand. We offer several interesting findings regarding how consumers perceive companies' societal communication; in general, we demonstrate the influence of sustainability ratings on perceptions of a company's CSR efforts, which influence their perceptions of the company's motives.…”

“…CSR corporate communication pertains to communicated corporate identity and is supposed to play a crucial role in the formation of ethical corporate perceptions Fukukawa et al, 2007), and social legitimacy (Waeraas and Ihlen, 2009;Vanhamme and Grobben, 2009). However, the profusion of CSR claims, whether well-founded or not, creates difficulties for consumers who attempt to distinguish between truly virtuous firms and firms taking opportunistic advantage of sustainable development trends or, otherwise stated, between reputation and rhetoric Bernstein, 2009).…”

Corporate brands and corporate marketing: Emerging trends in the big five eco-system

“…Following the introduction of the notion of ethicalisation in Fukukawa et al (2007), the inculcation of ethics into corporate identity, image, brand and reputation in today's environment where ethical breaches seem to be growing in number and magnitude signals the importance of ethics as a golden thread to be woven across the 'big five'.…”

Building a Strong Corporate Ethical Identity: Key Findings from Suppliers

“…Rather, corporations can be identified as being relatively more or less ethical by evaluating the extent to which they embrace social connectedness, openness, critical reflexivity, and responsiveness. 23 The ethical dimension of a corporation's identity or "corporate ethical identity" (CEI) may be defined as "the set of behaviors, communications, and stances that are representative of an organization's ethical attitudes and beliefs" and includes its ethical values, behaviors, and communications on ethical commitments, all of which may enhance corporate performance. 24 Ethical identity is embedded when firms take decisive action to behave ethically and to communicate their ethical stance.…”