Dunn, K. and Grimes, A. (2022) Speed and symmetry : developing effective organisational responses to social media criticism of CSR. Computers in Human Behavior, 134. 107336. ISSN 0747-5632
Abstract
This study examines how organisations can respond effectively to negative user-generated content (NUGC) about their corporate social responsibility (CSR) on social media. Specifically, it investigates the role of speed and symmetry of response in mitigating the impact of NUGC on perceptions of the company's CSR and legitimacy. It was motivated by the fact that, despite the increasing importance of social media as a CSR communication channel, most companies appear unwilling or unable to respond effectively to NUGC, compromising the efficacy of their CSR communication on social media. Using a between-groups experimental design (n = 660), the study finds that: i) NUGC about a company's CSR post negatively impacts stakeholder perceptions of organisations' CSR and legitimacy; ii) NUGC's impact can be partially mitigated by company responses that are either fast or highly symmetrical; iii) NUGC's impact is only fully mitigated when company responses are fast and highly symmetrical. The findings establish speed and symmetry, in combination, as necessary conditions for effectively responding to NUGC about company CSR posts on social media. The authors recommend, to maximise the effectiveness of social media communication of CSR, managers should establish processes to identify, read, and respond to NUGC rapidly and with a high degree of symmetry.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). |
Keywords: | Social media; Corporate social responsibility; Management response; Negative user-generated content; Speed; Symmetry |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Social Sciences (Sheffield) > Management School (Sheffield) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 13 Jul 2022 07:13 |
Last Modified: | 13 Jul 2022 07:13 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Elsevier BV |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1016/j.chb.2022.107336 |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:189021 |