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Fostering Stakeholder Engagement through Companies’ Website: A Comparison between Sector

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  • Eva Cerioni

Abstract

During the years, different authors underline the role of CSR communication as an instrument of transparency towards the stakeholders of each company. In the scenario emerge the importance of stakeholder engagement for estabilish between company and stakeholders “proactive and ongoing dialogue†, trough Internet and it’s tools as a facilitator of corporate communicative action. With the aim of communicating with the stakeholders, companies can implement different methods of engagement. Operating in different sectors many time it is an additional variable that influences the practice of CSR communication, will it be the same for the stakeholder engagement methods adopted? This contribution analyses, through a content analysis, all the stakeholder engagement tools used by the 316 companies listed in DJSI on their institutional websites. The DJSI companies are strongly motivated to commit in economic, social and environmental terms and belonging to 24 different sectors thus allowing to carry out inter-sectoral analyzes. There are two main results- prevailing use of one-way communication tools regardless of the sector of the company and a widespread choice to use social media as the main two-way communication tool. If the sector of belonging, in other study has turned out to be an influential variable, the same cannot be said in relation to stakeholder engagement tools. This study has three main limitations- data change speed, language and method. In the future, understanding the expectations and needs of stakeholders related to CSR communication could be intersting to analyse.

Suggested Citation

  • Eva Cerioni, 2023. "Fostering Stakeholder Engagement through Companies’ Website: A Comparison between Sector," International Journal of Business and Management, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 16(2), pages 1-96, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:ibn:ijbmjn:v:16:y:2023:i:2:p:96
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    JEL classification:

    • R00 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General - - - General
    • Z0 - Other Special Topics - - General

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