Corporate Social Responsibility, Sustainability and Public Relations

Negotiating Multiple Complex Challenges

Donnalyn Pompper

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2015
• Print ISBN: 9780415855914
• eBook ISBN: 9781135007225
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Business General
• Index: Business

While public relations offers numerous assets for organization-stakeholder relationship building and for ethical corporate social responsibility and sustainability communication, it also faces challenges linked to negative perceptions of the profession which can lead to accusations of "greenwashing." This innovative book critically explores the growing, complex and sometimes contradictory connections among public relations, corporate social responsibility and sustainability.

This book advocates a postmodern insider-activist role for public relations which can transform organizations into moral places committed to people, planet, and profit. By amplifying voices of nearly 100 for-profit and nonprofit professionals, and using hermeneutic phenomenological theme analyses of CSR/Sustainability reports and websites, this book invokes public relations, postmodern and critical theories to empower public relations professionals to transform organizations into ethical, authentic and transparent actors in the public sphere. It is essential reading for scholars, educators and enquiring professionals working in public relations, corporate communication, sustainability and corporate social responsibility.

1 Forging public relations and CSR/Sustainability connections

DOI: 10.4324/9780203733875-1

Perhaps no concept has gained greater popularity—or notoriety—in business management circles than corporate social responsibility (CSR) and related discourses of sustainability and corporate citizenship. CSR has grown in importance with practitioners and scholars even though it remains a “contested issue” (O'Riordan and Fairbrass 2008: 746). This chapter critically explores the interplay between public relations and CSR/Sustainability as viewed through lenses of culture, economics, and politics. A philosophy increasingly interrogated since the mid-1990s, social responsibility puts corporations squarely in economic and social spaces (Brown 2008). On the one hand, CSR has been heralded as an ideological panacea response to the dotc collapse and a prescription for reversing Worldcom and Enron-sized ethics lapses which robbed stockholders of billions (Verschoor 2005). On the other hand, some call CSR a smokescreen for masking poor accountability and camouflage for exorbitant profit making while carrying on with business as usual. Some researchers warn that overuse of the CSR term threatens its utility (Cheney, Roper, and May 2007). The concept of green, similarly, is contested. Carrie Christopher, Co-owner of the Albuquerque-based consulting firm in the USA, Concept Green, explained: “We really went back and forth about the use of the word green because it's very overused. It means everything and nothing…”

Links between CSR/Sustainability and public relations have been uneasy ones. In fact, CSR has been called an invention of public relations (Frankental 2001, italics added); a tool used for communication, image/reputation management, and relationship-building (Sagar and Singla, 2004). More critically, public relations is considered by some to be a strategy “for complacency and control” (Cheney, Roper, and May 2007: 3) and an instrument for propaganda (Beder 2000). As perceived by Scott Dille, Group Leader at Denmark-based healthcare provider, Novo Nordisk, the public relations profession has lost significant credibility since being paired with CSR/Sustainability:

The true definition of PR is building and maintaining relationships. Where I think CSR has suffered some credibility, globally, is that when it is so aligned with PR when PR is defined as publicity… just corporate advertising trying to squeeze additionally out of CSR efforts. It's also very one-way and you don't get that level of engagement … PR can be helpful and supportive of CSR when we’re talking about stakeholder relationship building and maintenance– and as a research component, finding out where stakeholder perceptions are and how to educate them. It's a bit of a double edged sword is where I am now.

Because interplay between public relations and CSR has yielded overwhelmingly negative critique, some organizations opt instead to use the term sustainability. Fundamentally, the sustainability narrative refers to reactions to unintended consequences of natural resource consumption and commerce (Millar, Hind, and Magala, 2012). Public relations practitioners and scholars use the sustainability narrative to enhance corporate image/reputation, which ultimately supports bottom-line profits. Less plentiful are critical scholars urging for public relations practitioners to act normatively from inside organizations; as a means for inspiring organizations’ authentic, ethical commitment to a wide number of stakeholders (people), while also being respectful of natural environments (planet) and earnings (profit) as illustrated by Elkington's (1999) triple bottom-line model. This book is written from such a standpoint.

Examining interplay between public relations and CSR/Sustainability exposes disparities among operationalizations of the term and raises concerns. Public relations’ involvement in CSR/Sustainability arenas has dominated academic conference papers and journals since the mid-1990s. This book examines these issues and exposes behind-the-scenes perspectives of CSR/Sustainability space professionals as they ponder Friedman's (1970) critique that in a capitalist system corporations primarily are responsible to stockholders—so, to do otherwise constitutes theft and irresponsibility. Also explored are public relations and CSR/Sustainability managers’ perceptions of triple bottom-line thinking and business case arguments.

Primary aims of this book are: 1) to examine overlap of public relations and CSR/Sustainability by comparing/contrasting origins, theories, and attention to stakeholders; 2) to build upon relevant bodies of literature and to reveal empirical findings for the purpose of better understanding CSR/Sustainability's ethics and communicative components; 3) to interrogate the broader scope of the public relations industry for contributing to public communication involving culture, economics, and politics; 4) to enjoin several theory frameworks in order to closely critique public relations; and 5) to examine how/if it is possible for public relations practitioners to navigate CSR/Sustainability even when outcomes may be inconsistent with organizational self-interest. This first chapter addresses connections between public relations and CSR/Sustainability in these contexts: CSR/Sustainability's roots and scope of the field, defining CSR and sustainability, and public relations’ stewardship role in navigating CSR/Sustainability.

CSR/Sustainability's roots and scope of the field

By the end of the twentieth century, big business had earned significant disapproval—especially corporations associated with highly publicized corruption, environmental degradation, and human rights and labor abuses. Holding corporations accountable to more than just profits was inspired by the Earth Charter Initiative, drawn in 2000 following the United Nations World Commission on Environment and Development in 1987. It called for a cross-cultural discussion about shared values and common goals:

The Earth Charter is a declaration of fundamental ethical principles for building a just, sustainable, and peaceful global society in the 21st century. It seeks to inspire in all people a new sense of global interdependence and shared responsibility for the well-being of the whole human family, the greater community of life, and future generations. It is a vision of hope and a call to action.

(Earth Charter n.d.)

Also, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change's Kyoto Protocol in 1997 emphasized “internationally binding emission reduction targets” (United Nations n.d.) and the United Nations Global Compact in 1999 turned worldwide attention to corporations’ impact on the planet. Criticized corporations included Arthur Andersen, Enron, Nestlé, Nike, Parmalat, Shell, and Union Carbide (O'Higgins 2005). The United Nations Global Impact of Ten Principles was a non-legally-binding plea for businesses worldwide to adopt socially responsible and sustainable policies (“Overview” 2013). Particular industries, such as pharmaceuticals, have undergone intense scrutiny (Clark 2000) and the petrochemical industry has experienced widely publicized incidences of catastrophic spills and pollution at various phases of petroleum exploration, production, transportation, and refining (e.g., Unocal Corp. off Santa Barbara, CA, USA in 1969; Texaco/Chevron Corporation in the Amazon rainforest region, Ecuador, since the 1960s). More recently, however, Frynas (2005) ranked “the oil and gas sector” among “the leading industries championing CSR” (p. 581) in moves attributed to international CSR initiatives and the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) which was established by the Coalition for Environmentally Responsible Economies (CERES)—as well as efforts by the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

Possibly the most persistent critique of CSR practice is that it lacks in authenticity. Doane (2005) called CSR an oxymoron. Frankental (2001) identified a paradox “inherent in the phrase” (p. 18), and other skeptics hold that responsibility is a nebulous concept since corporations are profit centric and unmotivated to do anything which could detract from bottom-line earnings. The Economist characterized CSR as “pernicious” and “delusional” (Anonymous 2005). When CSR efforts are voluntary, public relations and environmental image advertising (CorpWatch 2001) are used to spread disinformation and “sinister corporate agendas” (Brown and Fraser 2006: 111). Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) remain highly critical of CSR, too, considering it to be “corporate PR or regulation-dodging” (Heath and Ni 2009).

Academic research on CSR/Sustainability also features shortcomings. Carroll (1994) called it “an eclectic field with loose boundaries, multiple memberships, and differing training/perspectives; broadly rather than narrowly focused, multidisciplinary… ” (p. 14). Some analyses have shown how poorly the literature is mapped, revealing significant opportunities for enhancing knowledge and building theory about CSR. Multiple variables impacting CSR/Sustainability include: culture, size of organization (employees, sales, distribution, etc.), business-to-business and business-to-consumer orientations, national and local government regulations, for-profit versus nonprofit settings, regional/national/global footprint, union versus non-union shops, external and internal stakeholders, and more. A content analysis of academic journals and books dating back to the 1970s in fields of administration, ethics, management, psychology, marketing, and organizational behavior, exposed themes of CSR's utility with regard to financial outcomes, and its normativity for “doing the right thing” (De Bakker, Groenewegen, and den Hond 2005: 943). Garriga and Melé (2004) resolved that the main CSR theories cluster into one of four groups based on economic instrumentality, politics, satisfying social demands, and ethically demonstrating responsibility to society—and concluded that new theory is needed to integrate all four orientations. Recommendations include greater attention to internal CSR impacts and research methods that promote multi-level analyses (Aguinis and Glavas 2012).

Some researchers have responded to negative critique of public relations’ interplay with CSR/Sustainability by advancing an eventual reward of risk aversion and competitive advantage. Some academics have argued that public relations managers must serve as an organizational conscience (Holtzhausen 2014), while Heath and Ni (2009) advocated for a “triangle of reputation, relationship, and responsive rectitude” in order to strategically and measurably engage corporations in the CSR movement. CSR/Sustainability paradigm shortcomings published in other fields call for public relations expertise without actually invoking the term. For example, Frynas' (2005) critique of false promises implied in CSR as practiced by multinational oil companies speaks to the need for authentic relationship building with local communities and attention to culture and employee attitudes; areas where public relations managers are trained to provide support. Research findings have suggested that market forces do not necessarily reward ethical companies and there “is no overwhelming evidence that a company's share price is affected by a lack of social responsibility, even when this results in reputational damage” (Frankental 2001: 19). Researchers have opined that a positive image/reputation among certain stakeholder groups signifies some sort of seal of approval, social contract, or license to operate (Moon, Crane, and Matten 2005). Yet, assumptions that consumers actively support responsible organizations are not well founded in the USA or parts of the EU (Maignan and Ferrell 2003).

Those who emphasize publicity, promotion, and media relations advance a one-way asymmetrical communication model instead of embedding CSR/Sustainability across organizations via a two-way symmetrical communication model which emphasizes dialogue by connecting internal and external stakeholders. Publicists contribute to greenwash critique by advancing business case arguments and recommend CSR as a form of cause marketing for boosting image. For example, a study of CSR effects warned that efforts had better be perceived as sincere among consumers rather than stipulating that the efforts must be authentic (Yoon, Gürhan-Canli, and Schwarz 2006, italics added). Convincing organizational decision makers that public relations’ value is inextricably linked to profits short changes the profession and overlooks public relations’ normative potential as a powerful insider-activist social change agent. A consistent theme among CSR/Sustainability research is the call to integrate it across organizations for the long-term; an arena where public relations coalition-building skills could prove useful. Scott Dille, Group Leader at Denmark-based healthcare provider, Novo Nordisk, opined that in many organizations, CSR/Sustainability still is not embedded in organizations:

We have a Sustainability Committee and it's headed by the VP of Corporate Relations and also has the Chief Science Officer, as well. The rest are populated with other senior management from various parts of the business– product supply, marketing, etc. So, in that way, it's pretty well embedded in the governance structure of the way decisions are made and the way the CEO and the board receives and acts on information, recommendations, and so on… You can say that your first step is to make sure that your own house is in order. Then you’re going to be in a lot better situation … You’re going to be identified by external stakeholders if you have a very strong culture around the values that are true to your heritage, your industry, etc. I know, just talking with colleagues outside of Novo Nordisk, that internal focus of CSR is often extremely lacking– except internal news that highlights great success, donations you’ve made, and so on.

Hank Boerner, Chairman, Chief Strategist and Co-founder of Governance & Accountability Institute, Inc., characterized CSR/Sustainability as cyclical and flexible—which means that public relations insiders must be active and dynamic:

It's an exciting field, still growing; fairly new as a management discipline. In some cases, it's renewed. Early in my career at American Airlines, I was the citizenship officer and we had a lot ...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Half-Title Page
• Series Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication Page
• Table Of Contents
• List of figures
• Foreword
• Preface
• 1    Forging public relations and CSR/Sustainability connections
• 2    CSR/Sustainability, public relations, and ethics: doing no harm and doing the right thing
• 3    Spanning boundaries and building CSR/Sustainability stakeholder relationships
• 4    Communicating CSR/Sustainability and managing information flows
• 5    Engaging employees with CSR/Sustainability
• 6    On being prepared to navigate ethics and CSR/Sustainability
• 7    Measuring and reporting CSR/Sustainability
• 8    Reforming organizations: insider perspectives in three parts
• 9    Considering the future of public relations and links with CSR/Sustainability
• Bibliography
• Index