Coporate branding and corporate social responsibility: Toward a multi-stakeholder interpretive perspective

Abstract

Research on corporate branding has evolved into a network-based perspective in which brands are understood as fluid corporate assets socially co-created by the firm and its stakeholders. In this context, corporate social responsibility (CSR) has emerged as central to the development of attractive corporate brands. Yet research on multi-stakeholder processes that explain how CSR contributes to corporate branding efforts remains scarce and fragmented. Through a multidisciplinary review of the literature on CSR sensemaking and sensegiving, this article articulates current knowledge in an integrative conceptual framework to explain the multi-stakeholder interpretative and interactional processes shaping the corporate brand and develops a research agenda at the crossroads of CSR and corporate branding. Overall, this conceptual endeavor contributes to illuminating the importance of CSR for contemporary corporate marketing and brand development efforts from a socially constructed perspective by theorizing the CSR sensemaking perspective of corporate branding.