Reporting CSR - what and how to say it?

• Published in: Corporate communications 2007-01, Vol.12 (1), p.25-40
• Main Authors: Ellerup Nielsen, Anne, Thomsen, Christa
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Annual reports; Business communications; Case studies; Cognition & reasoning; Communication; Companies; Corporate communications; Corporate structure; Critical theory; Critical thinking; Design engineering; Discourse analysis; Genre; Governments; Information communication; Management reports; NGOs; Nongovernmental organizations; Organizational behavior; Organizational communication; Organizations; Priorities; Public relations; Reporting; Securities markets; Social interaction; Social responsibility; Social structure; Society; Stakeholders; Stemming; Stockholders; Strategy; Studies; Sustainability; Sustainability reporting
• ISSN: 1356-3289; 1758-6046
• DOI: 10.1108/13563280710723732

Purpose - This paper seeks to analyse and discuss what organizations say and how they say it when reporting Corporate Social Responsibility. It raises the question whether organizations report consistently on CSR in terms of genres, media, rhetorical strategies, etc.Design methodology approach - The analysis takes critical discourse analysis of selected corporations' CSR reporting, on the one hand, and theories and research on CSR and stakeholder relations, on the other hand, as its starting-point. A model of analysis is proposed which presents discourse as a result of four kinds of challenges facing corporations today. The model serves to establish an ideal typology of CSR concepts and discourses and to analyse these discourses from a modern organizational and corporate communication perspective.Findings - The analysis shows that annual reports are very dissimilar with respect to topics on the one hand and dimensions and discourses expressed in perspectives, stakeholder priorities, contextual information and ambition levels, on the other hand. The paper argues that corporations seem to be wrapped in divergent configurations of interest stemming from different institutional affiliations, such as government, regional institutions and NGOs.Originality value - The contribution of the paper is to highlight the value of the discourse and the discourse types adopted in the reporting material. By adopting consistent discourse types which interact according to a well-defined pattern or order it is possible to communicate a strong social commitment, on the one hand, and take into consideration the expectations of the shareholders and of the other stakeholders, on the other hand.