CSR, Media & Reputation

1. A LIMITED WINDOW AND A LIMITED RANGE:
Corporations’ Published Reputation Response Strategies on
CSR Topics in the News Media
CSR COMMUNICATION CONFERENCE
OCTOBER 2011
Sun Young Lee
University of North Carolina-Chapel hill
Craig E. Carroll, Ph.D.
Lipscomb University

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

3. 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?

4. Method
 Comparing the authorships of letters to the editors
written in response to previously published news and
opinion articles.
 Topics are limited to CSR.

5. 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)

6. 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

7. 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.

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

9.  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

10. 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

13. Originality
 The first study to examine companies’ reputation
response strategies published through letters to the
editor
 The study on the news media in CSR
 Longitudinal study

14. 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.