CSR COMMUNICATION CONFERENCEOCTOBER 2011

Sun Young LeeUniversity of North Carolina-Chapel hill

Craig E. Carroll, Ph.D.Lipscomb University

A LIMITED WINDOW AND A LIMITED RANGE: Corporations’ Published Reputation Response Strategies

on CSR Topics in the News Media

Purpose

To examine how corporations defend their corporate social responsibility (CSR) reputations through letters to the editors of newspapers.

Research Questions

Q1. How does the window of time between the original content and the published response differ by the type of authorship?

Q2. How does the news section of the originating content differ by the type of authorship?

Method

Comparing the authorships of letters to the editors written in response to previously published news and opinion articles.

Topics are limited to CSR.

Method

Sampling Systematic sample of every 10th opinion piece

featuring a publicly traded company 433-published letters

Nine geographically-distributed U.S. national and regional newspapers

Time frame: 1980-2004 (25 years)

Method

Content analysis Among 433 letters, 150 letters covered CSR topics

Variables CSR topics: economic, ethical, legal, and philanthropic

responsibilities Authorship: company representatives, think tanks,

politicians, NGOs, professionals, labor unions, community groups, unaffiliated citizens, and pro-business voices

News section of the originating content Window of time between the original content and the

published response

Findings: Q1

Q1. How does the window of time between the original content and the published response differ by the type of authorship?

Mean of the time lags among all authorships: 10-14 days

No difference Corporations were given a similar window of opportunity

to respond to reputation threats through the news media, compared to window of time given to their stakeholders.

Among all authorships: F (7, 112) = 2.02, p = .06

Company vs. Non-Company: F (1, 118) = .05, p = .83 Company (N = 26): M = 12.77, SD = 33.17 Non-Company (N = 94): M = 14.34, SD = 37.28

Findings: Q2

Q2. How does the news section of the originating content differ by the type of authorship?

No difference statistically, however χ²(12)=9.91, p=.62

Patterns on the graphs Corporations < Other stakeholders (% within a news section)

Front-page news, Letters to the editors Corporations ≈ Other stakeholders (% within a news section)

Business page, Column, Op-ed

Originality

The first study to examine companies’ reputation response strategies published through letters to the editor

The study on the news media in CSRLongitudinal study

Practical Implications

Equal opportunity: A good way to reach the public in CSR issues

Strategic media relations: More actively monitoring and responding to business news, column, and op-ed sections might help.