1. A LIMITED WINDOW AND A LIMITED RANGE:
Corporations’ Published Reputation Response Strategies on
CSR Topics in the News Media
CSR COMMUNICATION CONFERENCE
OCTOBER 2011
Sun Young Lee
University of North Carolina-Chapel hill
Craig E. Carroll, Ph.D.
Lipscomb University
2. Purpose
To examine how corporations defend their corporate
social responsibility (CSR) reputations through
letters to the editors of newspapers.
3. Research Questions
Q1. How does the window of time between the
original content and the published response differ by
the type of authorship?
Q2. How does the news section of the originating
content differ by the type of authorship?
4. Method
Comparing the authorships of letters to the editors
written in response to previously published news and
opinion articles.
Topics are limited to CSR.
5. Method
Sampling
Systematic sample of every 10th opinion piece featuring a
publicly traded company 433-published letters
Nine geographically-distributed U.S. national and regional
newspapers
Time frame: 1980-2004 (25 years)
6. Method
Content analysis
Among 433 letters, 150 letters covered CSR topics
Variables
CSR topics: economic, ethical, legal, and philanthropic
responsibilities
Authorship: company representatives, think
tanks, politicians, NGOs, professionals, labor
unions, community groups, unaffiliated citizens, and pro-
business voices
News section of the originating content
Window of time between the original content and the
published response
7. Findings: Q1
Q1. How does the window of time between the
original content and the published response differ by
the type of authorship?
Mean of the time lags among all authorships:
10-14 days
No difference
Corporations were given a similar window of opportunity to
respond to reputation threats through the news media, compared
to window of time given to their stakeholders.
8. Among all authorships: F (7, 112) = 2.02, p = .06
9. Company vs. Non-Company: F (1, 118) = .05, p = .83
Company (N = 26): M = 12.77, SD = 33.17
Non-Company (N = 94): M = 14.34, SD = 37.28
10. Findings: Q2
Q2. How does the news section of the originating
content differ by the type of authorship?
No difference statistically, however
χ²(12)=9.91, p=.62
Patterns on the graphs
Corporations < Other stakeholders (% within a news section)
Front-page news, Letters to the editors
Corporations ≈ Other stakeholders (% within a news section)
Business page, Column, Op-ed
11.
12.
13. Originality
The first study to examine companies’ reputation
response strategies published through letters to the
editor
The study on the news media in CSR
Longitudinal study
14. Practical Implications
Equal opportunity: A good way to reach the public in
CSR issues
Strategic media relations: More actively monitoring
and responding to business news, column, and op-ed
sections might help.