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Facets of CSR communication: papers from the First International CSR Communication Conference
Edited by Ursa Golob, Wim J.L. Elving, Anne Ellerup Nielsen, Christa Thomsen, Friederike Schultz and Klement Podnar
Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has established itself as an important aspect for corporations. The corporate interest in CSR is driven by the potential benefits to be derived from CSR initiatives, such as improved reputations ([17] Fombrun, 2005; [33] Lewis, 2003). This reflects the idea that corporations "do well by doing good". Other benefits associated with CSR include avoiding excessive government regulation, cost-savings, attracting favorable media coverage, and reducing resistance from stakeholders ([32] Levine, 2008; [56] Tench et al. , 2007). Stakeholders must be aware of CSR activities to derive reputational benefits from them while skepticism about CSR motives can prevent the accrual of business benefits ([13] Du et al. , 2010). Researchers have been seeking ways to inhibit stakeholder skepticism ([18] Forehand and Grier, 2003). One way to increase the acceptance of CSR reporting is transparency.
There is an emerging corporate discourse that posits that the internet creates corporate transparency. The idea is that corporations cannot hide anything any more because of the internet ([54] Tapscott and Ticoll, 2003). Transparency, sometimes called radical transparency, exists because the internet lays corporate actions open to stakeholder inspection even when a corporation seeks to conceal them ([23] Goleman, 2009). As the Public Affairs Council ([43] Pinkham, 2010) posits: "The power of the Internet has enabled activist groups to show video of human rights abuses and create databases that help citizens figure out which companies are polluting the air in their neighborhood" (para. 12). The link to CSR is the assumption that CSR reporting is credible because transparency provided by the internet ensures that any irresponsible corporation actions will be exposed and punished.
In this sense the informational capabilities of the internet mirror the physical structure of the panopticon. Jeremy Bentham created the idea of the panopticon. He envisioned it as a prison where prisoners could be observed at all times but were not aware of when they were being observed because the all-seeing observers were invisible to the prisoners. [19] Foucault (1977) later noted that this type of surveillance provides a disciplinary structure that regulates behavior and ensures conformity...