How Firms Communicate Their Social Roles through Corporate Social Responsibility, Corporate Citizenship, and Corporate Sustainability: An Institutional Comparative Analysis of Firms’ Social Reports

Abstract

ABSTRACT Drawing on institutional theory and the varieties of capitalism framework, this content analysis investigated how firms communicate their social roles through the concepts of corporate social responsibility (CSR), corporate citizenship (CC), and corporate sustainability (CS) in their social reports. First, the salience of the six social themes of labor, business ethics, community, environment, business behavior, and economic responsibility were investigated, followed by cross-national differences in liberal market economies (LMEs: US, UK), coordinated market economies (CMEs: Germany, Japan), and state-led market economies (SLMEs: France and South Korea). Contrary to previous conceptualizations, the economic responsibility theme was more salient when CS was adopted in the titles of firms’ social reports than CSR, and the three non-economic social themes of business ethics, community, and business behavior were not less salient when CSR was adopted. Comparatively, CSR was less adopted in SLMEs, CC was more adopted in LMEs, and CS was less adopted in LMEs. Theoretically, firms’ social roles were distinctly communicated and institutionalized through CSR, CC, and CS, with clear comparative differences. Practically, firms can more strategically signal compliance to institutional conditions about firms’ social roles in different market economies, and influence how firms’ social roles are communicatively institutionalized, by considering these concepts.