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The purpose of this paper is to explore the concept of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) communication. This paper specifically aims at introspecting into CSR communication patterns in the Egyptian context, where the top ten companies in the Egyptian Stock Exchange–Environmental, Social and Governance Index (EGX-ESG) are sampled.

The paper presents an exploratory study where content analysis of the communications of the ten top-listed companies in the ESG Index in Egypt was analyzed.

The results showed that most companies are using the “stakeholder information” strategy, with the “stakeholder involvement” strategy being the least used.

The results are limited to the use of the content analysis method which is a qualitative methodology. Hence, the results should be generalized with caution.

CSR communication is crucial to the success of companies, regardless of business size, industry or culture. Several aspects of CSR communication, to this day, remain vague for academics and practitioners alike. Therefore, additional insights about the topic should be generated. The present work aids in the understanding of CSR communication as a facet of organizational change and a new trend in emerging markets.

The current exploratory study sheds light on the topic of CSR communication in an important emerging market in transition, namely Egypt. The results of the communication strategies utilized by the top-listed companies can be generalized to other similar contexts.

The majority of the studies conducted on this particular topic took place in the USA and Europe; hence, few insights are provided about the concept in emerging markets.

The purpose of this paper is to present an empirical analysis of CSR communication posted on the websites of 70 companies listed on the main stock markets in German-speaking countries, the so-called DACH region. The results of this analysis offer answers to questions that are currently being discussed in the CSR literature, namely, on the importance attributed to stakeholder information vs stakeholder dialogues in (online) CSR communication.

Using a quantitative content analysis, the study examines the extent to which leading German, Austrian and Swiss companies are meeting communication and CSR-related requirements, especially regarding stakeholder dialogue and overall stakeholder involvement.

Drawing on Morsing and Schultz’s (2006) theoretical insights concerning stakeholder engagement, this study shows that current CSR communication primarily provides information for stakeholders and contains only a few elements of consultation with stakeholders. In addition, no elements indicating stakeholder involvement in decision processes were found. Data analysed in 2004, 2007, 2012 and 2016 for the German DAX companies allowed for comparisons over time. A closer examination of these data revealed increasing professionalism in CSR communication, especially in the provision and presentation of information. Regarding information clarity and opportunities for dialogue, however, the results show low progress. The criteria set developed for the study provides guidance for how companies can improve their CSR communication, but the findings on the long-term slow progress in stakeholder involvement, in some aspects even a decrease in dialogue, also raise questions about the (perceived) use of online CSR dialogues for companies.

Communication is viewed from a strategic instrumental perspective. The empirical analysis focusses on the technical possibilities offered by the internet to make CSR communications and reporting available and understandable to stakeholders and to promote dialogue with and among stakeholders.

By focussing on online CSR communication in the DACH region, this study contributes to the current state of research and offers several recommendations for practitioners; it particularly provides critical reflection on online stakeholder dialogues and related paradigms (constitutive vs functionalistic perspective).

The chapter develops a phase model of strategic planning in integrated corporate social responsibility (CSR) communication by presenting CSR as a mindset in communication processes.

The chapter provides rationales for establishing a new phase model of strategic planning in CSR communication by adapting existing models of strategic communications. In this context, the main focus is on the need to involve stakeholders in CSR communication processes (Morsing & Schultz, 2006).

The chapter argues that in the sense of CSR communication, stakeholders should be involved in the strategic planning process from the beginning, with respect to the issues that the corporation and targeted stakeholder groups have in common.

The chapter concentrates on selected key aspects of CSR and CSR communication. In particular the aspects such as reputation, credibility, ethical alignment and stakeholder involvement are considered as prerequisites for understanding the construction of the phase model.

This chapter provides practical implications for developing communication concepts in CSR communication in daily business practice.

This chapter facilitates a comprehensive understanding of strategic CSR communication as part of CSR reflected in the development processes of communication concepts.

A model on the cognitive elements of engagement is adopted and content analysis, along with sentiment analysis, has been used to explore the post characteristics and the levels of stakeholders' interactions in controversial and non-controversial European industries through three Poisson regressions. At last, an ANOVA test has been used to check the level of interaction regarding the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)-related aspects.

The intrinsic characteristics of controversial industries cause the stakeholders’ skepticism about their corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategies. This results in the need to elaborate proper involvement strategies to approach industries' stakeholders. Such need has assumed relevance during the COVID-19 crisis and has traced a certain border between the companies that are more sensitive to the social side of the surrounding environment and the ones that are less involved in risky sectors. The present paper aims to understand the role of social media in stakeholder engagement, and social media's characteristics, and tries to elaborate on companies' CSR communication readiness to the challenges shown by the pandemic.

The study reveals how the success of stakeholder engagement in CSR communication is affected by both controversial sector membership and the characteristics of the posts such as the inclusion of the sustainable development goals (SDGs). In addition, the study emerges how the European companies have focused on social aspects in companies' communication, revealing a certain readiness for the COVID-19 challenges.

Building on a model of cognitive elements of engagement, the present study provides useful insights for companies' next engagement strategies on social media. Moreover, the thematic analysis provides a benchmark for the improvement of current corporations' communication strategies in light of the pandemic effects.

This paper contributes to the literature by investigating the role of Twitter as a stakeholder engagement tool and identifies the drivers for an effective Twitter content strategy. Moreover, the paper provides a useful proxy for current and future research on the COVID-19-related CSR communication.

The purpose of this study is to investigate how hotels practice corporate social responsibility (CSR) communication through social media, including which content type and media type receive the highest level of engagement. Two major aspects are considered, namely, CSR communication activity and stakeholder engagement.

The analysis is conducted for Forbes four-star to five-star hotels in Hong Kong. Facebook data are extracted from the property pages of the sample hotels by Netvizz, which is a Facebook data extraction application. The data analysis includes three steps and combines qualitative and quantitative approaches.

The results indicate that the type of information has a significant influence on engagement and has even more of an affect than the message strategy. Although the number of CSR-related posts is significantly lower than marketing-oriented posts, they achieve a comparable level of popularity and engagement. Posts encouraging CSR practices show the highest level of engagement among CSR-related posts. In terms of media and content types, video achieves the highest engagement, and posts related to discounts achieve the highest engagement.

This study fills the gap in the current literature by conducting a comparison between marketing and CSR communication strategies on social media. It also provides insights on how to draft more effective CSR messages.

Corporations are under increasing pressure to communicate their position and policies with regards to corporate social responsibility (CSR), informing consumers about the corporations’ good intentions and actions to appear trustworthy. Corporations have been asked to engage in dialogue with their consumers. However, academic literature still lacks empirical research that examines how consumers react to asymmetric versus symmetric communication strategies.

The present paper closes this gap and evaluates how consumers react to different CSR communication approaches on social media, specifically on Twitter. The study is based on a sample of 507 respondents in the UK, representing a well-educated population of social media users. The sample was divided into two sub-samples, one receiving a set of tweets with an asymmetric CSR communication approach (N = 242) and the other one with a symmetric CSR communication approach (N = 265).

The main finding of this study is that an asymmetric communication approach performs generally better than a symmetric communication approach. However, consumers’ involvement and their own personal information processing mechanisms also play a significant role when evaluating the trustworthiness of corporations.

The paper provides insights into how corporations should communicate with consumers on Twitter and what characteristics they should take into consideration to achieve consumer trust.

This study aims to examine stakeholder interests in and influence on corporate social responsibility (CSR) implementation in hotels through an instrumental stakeholder theory lens.

Semi-structured interviews with 54 managers from several sectors of the Cyprus tourism industry were undertaken using purposive sampling.

There is a dominance of supply-chain stakeholder interests which in turn outline the CSR orientation of hotels, whereas stakeholder influence, largely shaped by the interdependent, multi-faceted nature of the tourism industry, conditions the implementation of CSR in hotels. Interestingly, stakeholder influence on CSR in hotels is not corresponding to stakeholders’ perceived saliency, indicating that stakeholder analysis needs to move beyond the consideration of salient stakeholders’ interests.

Although the focus of this study has been the perceptions of tourism stakeholders in Cyprus, the exploratory approach adopted in the study sets the ground for further research to consider stakeholder issues regarding CSR in hotels from an instrumental perspective. In addition, insights from this study might inform practitioners in similar destinations.

In encouraging a holistic approach to strategic CSR in hotels, this study contributes a framework of stakeholder roles, emanating from stakeholder responsibility and stakeholder involvement in CSR in the hotel sector that will be of interest to both academics and practitioners.

This research aims to describe sustainability practices adopted by companies and the influence they have with the involvement of stakeholders.

Qualitative investigation, using case study methodology, was undertaken in 17 companies that use strategic sustainability practices in some way. The companies were observed under the theoretical perspective of social responsibility and sustainability, and with the approach of strategic practices.

Interpreting the data produces an alternative framework of analysis for strategic organizational activities oriented toward the understanding of practices of sustainability, especially in processes aimed at catering to and/or involving stakeholders. The research further supports the idea that sustainability practices, regardless of their level of implementation, have a strong relationship, in these companies, with stakeholder interests.

The intent is that the proposed analytical framework will allow further debate toward better understanding of actions focused on environmental determinism and internal company conditions.

Digitalising cities requires new urban governance processes that account for rapidly changing environments and technological advances. In this context, agile development methods have become valuable, if not necessary. However, agile development contradicts public administration practices of risk aversion and long-term planning. The purpose of this study is to discuss practical avenues for navigating these two contradictions by adapting agile development to the needs of public sector organisations.

The authors review the collaborative elaboration of Dresden’s smart city strategy as a critical case study. Dresden’s smart city strategy was developed using agile development and quadruple-helix innovation. The year-long co-creation process involved stakeholders from various groups to conceive an integrated and sustainable vision for digitalisation-based urban development.

Despite the apparent contradictions, this study finds that key aspects of agile development are feasible for public sector innovation. Firstly, risks can be strategically managed and distributed among administration and non-administration stakeholders. Secondly, while delivering value through short iterative loops, adherence to formal processes remains possible. Informal feedback cycles can be harmoniously combined with official statements, allowing iterative progress.

The empirical material is based on a single case study and thus risks overemphasising the general applicability of the proposed methods.

This paper outlines practical steps to greater agility for public administration engaged in digitalising cities. The paper conceptualises a forward and lateral momentum for the agile development of a smart city strategy that aims to reconcile formal policymaking processes with short-term loops and risk aversion with experimental value creation. This approach balanced risks, created value and enhanced the strategy‘s alignment with strategic frameworks, ultimately promoting innovation in the public sector.

This paper proposes a novel, empirically grounded conceptualisation of implementing agile methods that explicitly recognises the peculiarities of public administrations. It conceptualises the orchestrated and pragmatic use of specific agile development methods to advance the digitalisation of cities.

Tourist destinations are constantly changing products, evolving as per the controls exerted by the stakeholders. The study aims to map the pattern of tourism development and identify the strategies formed at the destination over a seven-decade period for a state as a unit of analysis.

The paper evaluates tourism development through the tourism area life cycle (TALC) model and uses Mintzberg's strategy analysis process to identify strategies. The study involves time series analysis, pattern matching and explanation-building techniques. The TALC is plotted for the number of tourist arrivals from 1947 to 2019, and strategies are mapped for each stage.

The TALC shows a cycle-recycle pattern of tourism development. The research revealed several strategies at different stages. Both the central and state governments and entrepreneurs, distinctively and in conjunction, have formed strategies. The pattern shows the period of piecemeal and global strategic changes contributing to tourism development.

The research unearths the strategies that drive the development curves of TALC, emphasising the integration of TALC with other theories. The research also assesses the strategy formed in the pre-tourism stage.

The research brings to light the use of TALC as a strategic road-mapping tool. In addition, the study emphasises the significance of global and piecemeal strategic periods and stakeholder's regulatory and operational roles.

The research uses a unique methodology that maps the strategies, periods of strategic changes and incremental strategies for each stage of TALC, along with identifying the stakeholders.