Sustainable Strategy: Analyzing the Role of CSR Communication of Select Companies to the Stakeholders

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine how companies reach their stakeholders through their website for communicating their sustainable practices and also identify the effectiveness of website communication. Better communication of CSR policies and adopting technologies for implementation would make the company’s sustainability policy stronger (Gayathri S, J.V, 2019) Theoretical Framework: This research paper deals with the concept ,as per signaling theory, which states that CSR communication through the corporate website (CSRccw) largely contributes to building corporate image (Hetze, K., & Winistörfer, H.,2016).From the list of top 100 CSR companies in India for the year 2020 listed in the futurescape webpage available online at:https://www.futurescape.in/responsible-business-rankings/indias-top-100-companies/,four companies have been chosen for the analysis. This is the research paper in the process; thus it was intended to study two sectors initially and in the future study other sectors are decided to be included. The respective company website section of CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) was assessed, and the report was analysed using NVivo software. Design/methodology/approach: Website of the organizations were analyzed using Nvivo (Nvivo 12 – Trial Version). It is a mixed-method data analysis tool with text analysis capabilities. The method employed in this study is a word cloud and text analysis. This analysis adopts a quantitative approach looking at word frequency, word co-occurrence, and the clustering of documents based on word similarity. Findings: Organizations aims at adopting sustainable practices and above all they focus and intent to communicate the same to their stakeholders. The Results of this research paper indicates that, organizations predominantly use website among other CSR communication strategies. Most of their focus areas were youth, education. Community development. Words used prominently helped the stakeholders to relate the words which reflected in brand building. Research, Practical/social implications: The study has analyzed only four companies as a starting point and future studies can be rigorously done using a larger set of sample date set.. a sentimental analysis can be done. Since social media is becoming an effective communication platform, corporations should pay more focus on using social media especially through its website. The corporations should encourage stakeholders’ views related to CSR communication on social media. Originality/value: The value of this research is that, it helps us understand the way companies use their website for CSR communication, since the majority of these type of studies were conducted are in the developing countries like US and Europe. Limited research and insights are found in the emerging markets. This study focuses on the emerging markets.