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This paper aims to examine relationships between consumer-brand identification (CBI), brand prestige (BP), brand anthropomorphism (BA) and consumers’ active engagement in brand activities on social media in corporate brand settings.

Data collected with an online survey on a sample randomly drawn from an online panel of consumers were used to test the proposed theoretical model.

Anthropomorphism and prestige of corporate brands were found to positively influence consumer-brand identification. Also, CBI positively affects consumers’ active engagement and fully mediates the effect of BP and BA on consumers-brand engagement (CBE) with corporate brands.

Further research in other markets and on a broader set of corporate brands would additionally validate results and enable comparisons of impacts among different brand categories. The data were gathered in one country, so further research in other markets would additionally validate results of this study.

Chief executives responsible for corporate brand management are provided with some insights on how appropriate corporate brand identity management can strengthen CBI and stimulate CBE on social media.

This paper provides some novel insights into the research on consumer-brand identification. It is the first study (to the authors’ knowledge) that empirically supports the positive influence of brand anthropomorphism on CBI in corporate brand settings. It also contributes to the clarification of previously inconsistent results of the influence of BP on CBI. By showing that consumers’ identification with a corporate brand plays a vital role in increasing consumers’ active engagement on social media, the study contributes to the relatively sparse body of research on CBE.

The purpose of this paper is to examine how brand anthropomorphism (BA), consumer–brand engagement (CBE), consumer skepticism and brand prestige influence consumer–brand identification (CBI).

The proposed theoretical model is tested using structural equation modelling approach on the data gathered from 464 consumers.

The paper shows that being more engaged in consumer–brand interactions and perceiving a brand as more humanlike and prestigious increases consumer’s identification with product brands. On the other hand, consumer skepticism towards advertising only slightly decreases their identification. CBI is shown to have a strong positive influence on brand loyalty.

The study restricts itself to those brands that consumers know well and are somehow close to them. It might prove worthwhile to replicate the study to broaden the inferences beyond the criteria used in this study.

To strengthen consumers’ identification with their brands, organisations should maintain a focus on interactions with their target consumers. Specifically, companies should expose their human-like character and engage consumers in company’s offerings. Also, companies should take care for keeping their competitive edge to be perceived as more prestigious than the competition.

While previous papers studying drivers of CBI focused mainly on brand associations that help satisfy one of consumer’s self-definitional need, this paper aims to define the drivers of CBI by examining the origins of consumer’s interactions with brands. The paper proposes CBE and BA as two vital antecedents of CBI.

The purpose of this paper is to introduce the third special issue on corporate social responsibility communication (CSRCom). In this editorial, the authors take the opportunity to share the latest knowledge, research and insights on CSRCom as presented at the third International CSR Communication Conference held in Ljubljana 17-19 September 2015.

Many efforts have been made to map the research field of CSRCom. Two major ontological streams seem to stand out in CSRCom research: functionalism vs constructivism. In this editorial, the authors describe each of them, address the factors which contributed to their implementation within the CSRCom field and provide a rationale for bridging the two approaches.

The papers selected for the issue demonstrate that recent studies of CSRCom are anchored both in functionalism and constructivism but that the attention towards using CSRCom in organisational processes of collaboration and networking is growing. This growth is aligned to the changes in the wider social environment. In this editorial, the authors are bridging both approaches and relating them to the most recent developments in CSR and CSRCom.

This paper concludes that a growing body of empirical studies contributes to an increased understanding of how both functionalistic and constitutive perspectives are relevant and provide key insights for communication managers. It also accentuates the idea that the ability to expand the understanding of CSRCom from that of a means to an end to one, according to which communication represents an important end/goal in itself, that can play a crucial role in dealing with the growing complexity of CSR processes.

Despite numerous scholarly attempts, there is a lack of consensus regarding the relevance of various factors used to promote organic food consumption. The purpose of this paper is to assess the impact of environmentally conscious purchase behaviour (ECPB) and green scepticism on organic food consumption. Moreover, the paper examines the indirect impact of attitudinal and contextual forces on organic food consumption (through ECPB).

The paper develops a conceptual model of organic food consumption. Data were collected through an online survey on a sample of 462 consumers in Slovenia. Structural equation modelling was used to test the hypothesised relationships.

The findings indicate that ECPB positively and green scepticism negatively affects organic food consumption. In addition, ECPB is positively influenced by personal and social norms, perceived availability and consumer sustainability orientation. Interestingly, the social norms exert the strongest indirect effect on organic food consumption.

This study informs organic food producers and policy makers about the relative importance of ECPB and scepticism for increasing organic food consumption. It also highlights the role of general attitudinal and contextual factors for ECPB and organic food consumption.

The proposed model enables a better understanding of the relevance of ECPB, its antecedents and green scepticism as (direct or indirect) determinants of organic food consumption.

This paper aims to introduce the special issue on CSR communication attached to the First International CSR Communication Conference held in Amsterdam in October 2011. The aim of the introduction is also to review CSR communication papers published in scholarly journals in order to make a summary of the state of CSR communication knowledge.

The existing literature on CSR communication was approached via systematic review. with a combination of conventional and summative qualitative content analysis. The final dataset contained 90 papers from two main business and management databases, i.e. EBSCOhost and ProQuest.

Papers were coded into three main categories. The results show that the majority of the papers are concerned with disclosure themes. Considerably less salient are papers that fall under process‐oriented themes and the outcomes/consequences of CSR communications. The most important outlets for CSR communication‐related topics are Journal of Business Ethics and Corporate Communications: An International Journal.

This paper represents the first attempt to perform a systematic and comprehensive overview of CSR communication papers in scholarly journals. Its value is in making this rather vast and heterogeneous literature more visible and accessible to all CSR communication scholars.

The purpose of the study was to find out about: significance and understanding of corporate identity, its elements and CI management in Slovenian companies/Slovenian and international companies with exemplary and successful corporate identity and their characteristics.

A survey was conducted among the most successful Slovenian companies (by income and by profit). A total of 44 people, from 36 companies, who are responsible for managing corporate identity were interviewed.

The main finding is that managing corporate identity is of great importance for company success. Although there is no general definition of corporate identity at theoretical level, the understanding of corporate identity is quite homogeneous – the most common definition according to the research is: corporate identity is a mix of characteristics that organization possesses as a subject. Successful managing of corporate identity, has many positive effects on company's acceptation in a role of subject in the society.

Future research in determining the influence of the chairman and his personality as well as the board and employees' personality on corporate identity would be important. It is recommended that in future, in similar studies, an even larger sample is included and the thought of comparing future studies with the present study should not be excluded.

The main practical implication of this paper is to raise the awareness of how important the local culture is when dealing with corporate identity management.

A brief literature review of Slovenian authors from the corporate identity field has been made and presented on an international level for the first time. Also, the empirical research on the question of how managers in Slovenian companies understand and manage corporate identity in their organizations is new. The main contribution is that results acquired in Slovenia can be partly compared with other similar researches in the EU.

This editorial is an introduction to the special issue on CSR Communication attached to the second CSR Communication Conference held in Aarhus (Denmark) in September 2013. The purpose of this paper is to critically evaluate the role of CSR communication and the development of theory and practice of CSR Communication in recent years.

The editorial sets up a research agenda for the future, the premises outlined about the role of CSR communication being based on Habermas’ (1984) idea of instrumental/strategic and communicative action.

The theoretically based research shows that there are different framings of CSR. In the first framing, the business discourse is trying to institutionalize CSR and sustainability by pursuing CSR purely as a business case. In the second framing, alternative CSR discourses are challenging the business discourse, communication being oriented towards shared understanding.

The above findings are original insofar as they have implications for CSR communication scholars and practitioners. It is, for example, important that they acknowledge that two kinds of framings exist, and that they are interdependent. Hence, they should not fall into the trap of a critical discourse of suspicion where CSR communication is constantly criticized as a tool to serve business interests. In the context of strategic and/or communicative action, CSR communication occurs in different forms and for different purposes – either as informative, persuasive, aspirational and participatory type of CSR communication.

The purpose of this study is to investigate how the social licence to operate (SLO) concept is currently perceived and communicated during stakeholder engagement, as an extension of corporate social responsibility (CSR). To ensure an applied exploration of SLO, this paper focused on the wind industry.

Telephone interviews were conducted with 18 wind industry representatives responsible for stakeholder engagement in Australia. Questions focused upon understanding of consultation and SLO, perceptions of SLO in practice, and experiences regarding community engagement.

SLO is broadly understood by the case study wind industry representatives as majority acceptance held by community and other stakeholders, although no common definition was expressed. This indicates that the concept has not transferred clearly or directly to the wind industry. Despite this, the benefits of seeking an SLO through consultative and ongoing communication practices were recognised across the wind industry as a positive risk mitigation strategy.

Future research could examine the understanding and communication approaches of SLO in other industries, cultures and geographic locations.

It appears the wind industry intends to seek an SLO more broadly from the Australian public, beyond specific projects. This is likely to occur within the context of increased scrutiny on the performance of many industries and by the changing expectations and demands of communities.

Some wind corporations were considered to have previously conducted poor or shallow consultation, and this was perceived to have negatively affected the reputation of the wider industry. Mismanagement of expectations prior to the development phase was of particular concern to interviewees. Given this, an SLO could be put at risk by the poor or insufficient engagement and communication processes and reputation of their predecessors.

The key contribution of this study is to inform CSR practices that seek to engage and maintain high stakeholder support through an SLO approach, where corporate communication is vital.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the link between individuals' expectations of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and their readiness to support the socially responsible behaviour of companies in light of the expectational relationship a company has with its stakeholders, as defined in the corporate marketing model.

The data were collected using an online survey of 354 respondents from different backgrounds. The sample was 57 per cent female and 43 per cent male with 66 per cent of respondents aged between 20 and 40 years. The authors conducted descriptive statistics, a factor analysis, and structural equation modelling.

The results show that expectations of ethical‐philanthropic CSR tend to have a significant positive influence on both types of intended CSR support by customers.

The limitation of the research is the limited scope of the model. For more insight into the relevance of CSR for corporate marketing, it would be interesting to include other relevant variables from this field, such as identification with a corporate brand and corporate reputation.

The model suggests that ethical‐philanthropic responsibilities seem to lead to a competitive advantage which is based on a desired customer response and reward. This is in line with the main focus of corporate marketing, which is the meeting of stakeholder and societal needs.

The paper empirically considers and challenges the acknowledged Carroll's classification of CSR, and links it with the readiness to support socially responsible behaviour of companies in general. In addition, it links the notion of CSR with that of corporate marketing, which strives to develop meaningful relationships with customers and other stakeholders.

Extant research on corporate social responsibility (CSR) communication primarily relies on a transmission model of communication that treats organizations and communication as distinct phenomena. This approach has been criticized for neglecting the formative role of communication in the emergence of organizations. This paper seeks to propose to reconceptualize CSR communication by drawing on the “communication constitutes organizations” (CCO) perspective.

This is a conceptual paper that explores the implications of switching from an instrumental to a constitutive notion of communication.

The study brings forth four main findings: from the CCO view, organizations are constituted by several, partly dissonant, and potentially contradictory communicative practices. From that viewpoint, the potential impact of CSR communication becomes a matter of connectivity of CSR to other practices of organizational communication. Communication practices that concern CSR should not be generally dismissed as mere “greenwashing” – given that some forms of talk can be action. Consequently, there is a need to investigate which specific speech acts create accountability and commitment in the context of CSR. The CCO view shows that CSR communication potentially extends the boundary of the organization through the involvement of third parties. Thus, it is fruitful to study CSR communication as a set of practices that aims at boundary maintenance and extension. Organizations are stabilized by various non‐human entities that “act” on their behalf. Accordingly, CSR communication should also take into account non‐human agency and responsibility.

This paper links the literature on CSR communication to broader debates in organizational communication studies and, in particular, to the CCO perspective. By applying the CCO view, it reconceptualizes CSR communication as a complex process of meaning negotiation.