Communicating corporate social responsibilities (CSR) in digital media

Abstract

This chapter reviews existing conceptualisations of interactivity in marketing, information system and media studies, proposing it is a multidimensional construct. It provides a thematic review of corporate social responsibility (CSR) communication in digital media to see how interactivity is used by organizations to transform their CSR communication and whether interactivity can enhance their CSR communication effectiveness. CSR communication can be used for different purposes such as stakeholder management, image enhancement and identity creation. The chapter argues that the extant literature on this topic is limited and only provides a partial understanding of interactivity in digital CSR communication. While early digital CSR communication literature mainly focuses on websites, more recent research has shifted their attention to social media. The chapter concludes with recommendations for future research. The future research can explore other factors such as stakeholders' online information search styles to understand digital CSR communication effectiveness.