Measuring and evaluating CSR information and involvement strategies on corporate Facebook pages

Abstract

Organizations are increasingly involving stakeholders in their CSR activities through social networks. Despite the growing interest by academics and practitioners in this field of research, empirical studies are still limited, highlighting a gap in the identification and the use of effective measurement tools for evaluating sustainable marketing performances on social networks. The study aims to develop a framework to measure and assess stakeholder engagement strategies, in terms of CSR information and involvement, on Facebook pages of sustainable organizations. The framework is based on a set of dimensions (macro-item, item and micro-item) and adopts different types of variables (dichotomous and indices) and techniques (manual detection, Facebook developers tools, content analysis through the NooJ, and Likealyzer). A pilot study on firms classified by the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index (2015) confirms the applicability of the framework, showing that organizations prefer a “one-way” communication approach (CSR information strategies), rather than a “two-way” communication approach (CSR involvement strategies). The framework constitutes a tool aimed at analyzing and measuring the CSR communication strategies on corporate Facebook pages. It provides managers and consultants of digital communication useful indications to improve sustainable marketing activities and stakeholder engagement strategies on Facebook.