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Abstract:
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Purpose: Social media hold promises for companies to engage with a variety of stakeholders about CSR
issues and thereby enhance stakeholder relationships. However, by implementing a social media strategy
companies face different constraints. With this paper barriers diminishing stakeholder dialogue in the Web
2.0 are identified.
Design and methodology: With a single case in‐depth‐study we analyze the implementation of a
communication strategy of a recently launched CSR‐twitter‐account of a European based pharmaceutical
company leading in CSR. Data is derived from interviews with four managers with central roles in strategy
formulation and implementation.
Findings: Five factors diminishing stakeholder dialogue are identified: Lack of resources, unfamiliarity with
social media, managerial scepticism, internal guidelines and culture, and external regulations. These
barriers prevent basic principles of relationship building online, such as regular updates or conversational
human voice.
Research limitations: With a single case study the representative value of the results is limited. However,
the results give valuable insights into the challenges and concerns management faces when implementing a
CSR communication strategy in social media.
Practical implications: The results show that organisational constraints have to be addressed in order to
implement a successful social media strategy. We therefore argue that corporate communications has to
increasingly emphasis organisational aspects.
Originality: To date, only little research has been done about CSR communication in social media.
Furthermore, the research paper presents highly relevant and new findings by drawing the attention to
organizational rooted challenges of corporate communication and strategy implementation. |
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.
