Sustainability practices and promotion: websites of large US companies, part II

Abstract

In recent years, both stakeholders and casual observers have required increasing amounts of social involvement from companies. Companies can no longer exclusively rely on quality products/services to generate goodwill. Rather, companies must also present themselves as socially conscious. Environmental corporate social responsibility (ECSR) is a major component of this presentation. However, the importance that stakeholders ascribe to ECSR efforts differs across industries. To strategically develop and market ECSR initiatives, companies must understand the relative importance and extent of ECSR programs and signalling within their given industries. The current study completes a 13-year longitudinal review of ECSR initiatives and website-based signalling across all Standard & Poor's 500 companies. Results indicate that companies across all industries have increased their ECSR and signalling efforts. However, differences exist across industries. The paper highlights these differences and concludes with guidelines for developing and signalling ECSR initiatives that reflect or exceed industry norms.