The Pursuit of Empowerment through Social Media: Structural Social Capital Dynamics in CSR-Blogging

With the emergence of participative social media, the ways in which stakeholders may interact with companies are changing. Social media and Web 2.0 technologies change gatekeeping mechanisms and the distribution of information. In consequence, organizations must realize that they are structurally em...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of business ethics 2013-12, Vol.118 (4), p.759-775
Main Authors: Fieseler, Christian, Fleck, Matthes
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Access to information
Blogs
Business and Management
Business Ethics
Business structures
Communication
Community structure
Cooperation
Corporate responsibility
Corporate social responsibility
Education
Empowerment
Ethics
Hyperlinks
Information technology
Internet
Management
Online social networking
Philosophy
Psychological aspects
Quality of Life Research
Social capital
Social media
Social network analysis
Social networks
Social responsibility
Social structure
Social structures
Studies
Verbal communication
Web 2.0
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Summary:With the emergence of participative social media, the ways in which stakeholders may interact with companies are changing. Social media and Web 2.0 technologies change gatekeeping mechanisms and the distribution of information. In consequence, organizations must realize that they are structurally embedded in online networks of interconnected and equitable actors. In this paper, we analyze how this change in today's information and communication technologies may affect Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) action. We utilize social network analysis to investigate the CSR blogs of three IT firms: Google, Hewlett-Packard, and Intel. The analysis reveals that their Internet-enabled social networks exhibit patterns of power law distribution and an uneven distribution of structural social capital among the actors involved, especially on the corporate side, which fails to fully engage with the network. We conclude by indicating the research implications of shifting social capital dynamics and by deriving implications for management and practice.
ISSN:0167-4544
1573-0697
DOI:10.1007/s10551-013-1959-9