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Social purpose in a social media world

Kathleen Wilburn (School of Management and Business, St. Edward's University, Austin, Texas, USA)
Ralph Wilburn (School of Management and Business, St. Edward's University, Austin, Texas, USA)

Journal of Global Responsibility

ISSN: 2041-2568

Article publication date: 14 September 2015

2577

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to illustrate the effects of social media on a company when stakeholders decide select companies are not living up to their corporate social responsibility (CSR) goals. As the number of CSR and sustainability reports on company Web sites increases, the more stakeholders, not just stockholders, know about a company’s commitment to CSR, and the more they can use social media to comment on those goals. It will describe three strategies for CSR initiatives that move beyond self-reporting of goals and progress: third party assessment, specialized certifications and partnerships to provide trustworthy data to stakeholders.

Design/methodology/approach

The experiences of Nestlé, Unilever, PepsiCo/Frito Lay and P & G are described. Key third-party assessors and their processes are described, as well as organizations who certify in specific areas. The importance of third-party assessment for CSR achievement is reinforced by examining the results of two reports on CSR reporting trends and capital markets’ response, one of Fortune 500® companies and the other of S & P 500® companies by the Governance & Accountability Institute, Inc.

Findings

All three strategies used to verify the data for CSR accomplishment help companies communicate their goals through social media.

Originality/value

All three strategies used to verify the data for CSR accomplishment are shown to help companies communicate and validate their CSR goals through social media.

Keywords

Citation

Wilburn, K. and Wilburn, R. (2015), "Social purpose in a social media world", Journal of Global Responsibility, Vol. 6 No. 2, pp. 163-177. https://doi.org/10.1108/JGR-07-2015-0011

Publisher

:

Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2015, Emerald Group Publishing Limited

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