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Call for Papers: Special Issue of Business & Society

CSR and Communication: Examining how CSR Shapes, and is Shaped by, Talk and Text

Guest editors: Andrew Crane, Schulich School of Business, Mette Morsing, Copenhagen Business School,  Dennis Schoeneborn, Copenhagen Business School

This Special Issue of Business & Society seeks to expand and enrich the body of research on CSR and communication. Specifically, it aims to examine the role of talk and text (including verbal, visual and written communication) in shaping the nature and meaning of CSR – and how CSR meanings in turn shape such communication. This may include scholarly contributions that will extend our understanding of how rhetoric, narrative, discourse, sensemaking, and other frameworks of meaning are involved in CSR communication.

The existing literature on CSR tends to be – at least implicitly – permeated with a normative or    prescriptive    stance    on    CSR    communication:    either    as    optimism    about    how communication of CSR can be used by corporations to foster their reputation and legitimacy (e.g.,  Sen,  Bhattacharaya  &  Korschun,  2006;  Ferrell,  Gonzalez-¬‐Padron,  Hult  &  Maignan, 2010) – or with a rather skeptical stance. These latter works suspect that communication tends to be used by corporations as a powerful means to ward off criticism and give false impressions of 'green-¬‐washing' or 'window-¬‐dressing' (e.g., Roberts, 2003; Banerjee, 2008). Across these perspectives, communication tends to be primarily seen as an instrument that is  employed  by  corporations  to  disseminate  information  about  CSR  practices  (that  have already been implemented to a greater or lesser degree).

However, the prospective,  anticipatory, and formative role of communication for CSR has, thus  far,  tended  to  remain  implicit  or  under-¬‐theorized.  More  specifically,  communicative practices can play an important and formative role, for instance, in constituting networked relationships between business firms and larger society (Castello, Morsing & Schultz, 2013; Schoeneborn  &  Trittin,  2013),  in  driving  organizational  and  social  change  (Christensen, Morsing  &  Thyssen,  2013;  Haack,  Schoeneborn  &  Wickert,  2012),  in  constituting  new subject  relations  in  the  field  of  CSR  (Caruana  &  Crane,  2008),  and  enabling  sensemaking about what CSR can and cannot be (Basu & Palazzo, 2008). In other words, there is a need to understand better what communication does to CSR and what CSR does to communication.

If  CSR  is  a  "moving  target"  (Christensen  et  al.,  2013;  Haack  &  Schoeneborn,  2015),  "in constant  flux"  (Carroll,  1979)  and  "in  a  continuing  state  of  emergence"  (Lockett,  Moon  & Visser,  2006)  as  scholars  and  practitioners  tend  to  agree,  then  a  static  and  tool-¬‐like understanding   of   CSR   communication   seems   to   be   insufficient.   New   information   and communication technologies (e.g., social media) appear to further push and transform the communicative   dynamics   within   and   between   organizations   and   their   environment (Castello et al., 2013; Whelan, Moon & Grant, 2013). These new challenges suggest the need for  communication-¬‐centered  works  that  can  help  understand  how  CSR  is  a  continuous activity  through  which  individuals  and  organizations  "explore,  construct,  negotiate  and modify  what  it  means  to  be  a  socially  responsible  organization"  (Christensen  &  Cheney, 2011, p. 491).

We therefore suggest bringing a formative view of communication to the forefront of CSR research in this Business & Society special issue. We invite contributions that take stock of our existing knowledge and advance CSR communication theory through new conceptual considerations, empirical insights, and critical reflections. We particularly encourage papers that approach CSR communication through talk and text by drawing on concepts like rhetoric, narratives, discourse, sensemaking, as well as other frameworks that help inform the formative role of communication in CSR. This also may involve papers grounded in more general constructionist perspectives, including works that follow emergent ideas of "communicative institutionalism" (Cornelissen, Durand, Fiss, Lammers & Vaara, 2015) or the "communicative constitution of organizations" (CCO) perspective (Cooren, Kuhn, Cornelissen & Clarke, 2011). In this way, we hope to be able to compile a rich set of articles that help enhance our understanding of what communication does to CSR and what CSR does to communication.

We welcome a broad range of questions and topic areas within the broad theme – some indicative questions include:

How do different forms of communication shape stakeholder interpretations of the meaning and scope of CSR? In what ways is CSR communication performative with material impacts (see also the idea of "aspirational talk" by Christensen et al., 2013)?

How do different actors respond to, resist, and engage with specific rhetorical strategies and figures (e.g., allusion, analogy, hyperbole, metaphor, metonymy, or humor), employed by corporations in their CSR communication?

What narrative structures and components are used to give meaning to the process of CSR design and implementation?

How do actors in organizational settings differ in their sensemaking of CSR, including productive forms of misunderstanding?

In  what  ways  does  intensified  "CSR  talk"  influence  the  formation  and  change  of individual, professional and organizational identities in the workplace (e.g., in terms of improved self-¬‐enhancement and identification as well as cynicism and "CSR fatigue")?

How is CSR knowledge embedded in micro and macro discourses of organization and what role do governmentality and responsibilization play in discursive formations of CSR?

By whom, and for what purpose is the meaning of CSR (as an "empty signifier") constituted through signs and symbols? What new semiotic language does CSR bring into economic life?

To what extent does the formative role of communication for CSR become intensified by new information and communication technologies (ICTs), such as social media? For example,  in  what  ways  does  it  influence  and  change  image-¬‐identity  relations  for individuals and organizations?

To what extent do new ICTs enable the creation of new, fluid, and networked forms of communication structures that, in turn, create new issues of corporate social responsibility (e.g., transparency, privacy, and surveillance) and different forms of accountability and disclosure?

SUBMISSION PROCESS AND DEADLINES

The deadline for submission of full papers is December 12, 2016. Authors should submit their manuscripts through ScholarOne Manuscripts at http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/bas.

Authors should be sure to specify in the submission system that the manuscript is for the special issue on "CSR and Communication". Manuscripts should be prepared following the Business & Society author guidelines: http://www.sagepub.com/journals/Journal200878/manuscriptSubmission.

All articles will be subjected to double-¬‐blind peer review and editorial process in accordance with the policies of Business & Society.

Special Issue Workshop

To help authors prepare their manuscripts for submission, a Special Issue Workshop will be held on July 6, 2016, prior to the European Group of Organizational Studies (EGOS) Colloquium 2016 in Naples, Italy. The workshop will be facilitated by the Special Issue editors.

Authors are invited to present and discuss their papers during the workshop and to receive feedback for further improvement of their manuscripts. Acceptance for presentation at the workshop does not guarantee acceptance of the paper for publication in Business & Society.

To  be  considered  for  the  workshop,  authors  will  need  to  submit  a  short  paper  (max.  10 double-¬‐spaced  pages,  incl.  references  and  exhibits)  via  the  EGOS  website  by  March  31, 2016. More information about the submission procedure will be made available in January, 2016 on the Business & Society website (http://bas.sagepub.com – see updated call in the "Call for Papers" section). Note that submission of a short paper to the workshop is not a precondition for submission of a full paper to the Special Issue.

ABOUT THE JOURNAL

Business & Society is one of the leading journals at the intersection of business and society, covering issues of social responsibility, ethics and governance. It is the official journal of the International Association of Business and Society and is published by Sage. Its current two-¬‐ year Citation Impact Factor is 1.468 (2014) and its five-¬‐year Citation Impact Factor is 2.103. It is a 3-¬‐rated journal in the 2015 UK Association of Business Schools Journal Ranking Guide, a B-¬‐journal in the German Academic Association for Business Research, and an A-¬‐journal in the Australian Business School Dean's list. For further details see http://bas.sagepub.com.

ABOUT THE GUEST EDITORS

Andrew Crane is a Co-¬‐editor of Business & Society, and the George R. Gardiner Professor of Business  Ethics  and  Director  of  the  Centre  of  Excellence  in  Responsible  Business  at  the Schulich  School  of  Business,  York  University.  He  is  the  author  or  editor  of  eleven  books, including  an  award-¬‐winning  textbook  on  Business  Ethics  and  the  Oxford  Handbook  of Corporate   Social   Responsibility.   His   latest   book   is   Social   Partnerships   and   Responsible Business: A Research Handbook.  He  has  published  in  a  range  of  top  tier  journals  including Academy  of  Management  Review,  Organization  Studies,  Journal  of  Management  Studies, California  Management  Review,  Annals  of  Tourism  Research,  Business  &  Society,  Journal  of Business  Ethics,  European  Journal  of  Marketing,  and  Marketing  Theory.  He  serves  on  the editorial board of Academy of Management Review and the Journal of Management Studies.

Mette  Morsing  is  Professor  of  Communication  and  CSR  at  the  Centre  of  Corporate  Social Responsibility  (cbsCSR),  Department  of  Intercultural  Communication  and  Management, Copenhagen Business School, Denmark, and the Co-¬‐Director of CBS Sustainability Platform (2011-¬‐2016). Her research focuses on organizational communication, identity-¬‐image theory and media studies in the context of CSR. She is particularly interested in studying the role of

communication   for   governance   of   business-¬‐society   relations.   Her   research   has   been published in Journal of Management Studies, Organization, Human Relations, Harvard-¬‐Deusto Business  Review,  Journal  of  Business  Ethics,  Management  Communication  Quarterly  and Corporate Governance: The International Journal of Business in Society among others, and at publishers such as Sage, Routledge, Palgrave MacMillan and Oxford University Press. She is an Associate  Editor  of  Scandinavian  Journal  of  Management  (since  2015),  serves  as  Editorial Board Member of Business & Society (since 2015), Business Ethics – A European Review (since 2010), Corporate Communication: an International Journal (since 2009), Corporate Governance: an  International  Journal  of  Business  in  Society,  (since  2004)  and  is  a  Series  Editor  of  the Cambridge  University  Press  series  on  "Business,  Value  Creation  and  Society"  with  Edward Freeman and Jeremy Moon. She has edited eight books and two journal special issues

Dennis  Schoeneborn  is Professor (MSO) of Communication, Organization, and CSR at the Centre    of    Corporate    Social    Responsibility    (cbsCSR),    Department    of    Intercultural Communication  and  Management,  Copenhagen  Business  School,  Denmark.  His  research interests  include  organization  theory,  organizational  communication,  CSR  communication, and computer-¬‐mediated communication. His current research places a particular emphasis on  studying  the  constitutive  and  formative  role  of  communication  for  organizations  as responsible  social  actors.  From  2015-¬‐2018,  he  serves  as  the  head  coordinator  of  the Standing  Working  Group  "Organization  as  Communication"  at  the  European  Group  of Organizational   Studies   (EGOS).   His   research   has   been   published   in   the   Academy   of Management  Review,  Human  Relations,  Journal  of  Business  Ethics,  Journal  of  Management Inquiry,   Journal   of   Management   Studies,   Management   Communication   Quarterly,   and Organization   Studies,   among   others.   He   serves   on   the   editorial   board   member   of Management Communication Quarterly (since 2013), Organization Studies (since 2014), and Business  &  Society  (from   2016).   He   is   also   co-¬‐editor   of   the   volume   "Organization   as Communication:  Perspectives  in  Dialogue"  (with  Steffen  Blaschke)  that  is  forthcoming  at Taylor & Francis.

REFERENCES

Banerjee S.B. (2008) Corporate social responsibility: The good, the bad and the ugly. Critical Sociology, 34(1), 51-¬‐79.

Basu, K., & Palazzo, G. (2008). Corporate social responsibility: a process model of sensemaking. Academy of Management Review, 33(1): 122-¬‐136.

Carroll, A.B. (1979). A three-¬‐dimensional conceptual model of corporate performance. Academy of Management Review, 4(4), 497-¬‐505.

Caruana, R., & Crane, A. (2008). Constructing consumer responsibility: exploring the role of corporate communications. Organization Studies, 29: 1495-¬‐1519.

Castelló, I., Morsing, M., & Schultz, F. (2013). Communicative dynamics and the polyphony of corporate social responsibility in the network society. Journal of Business Ethics, 118(4), 683-¬‐694.

Christensen, L. T. & Cheney, G. (2011). Interrogating the communicative dimensions of corporate social responsibility. In Ø., Ihlen, J. L. Bartlett & S. May (Eds.), The Handbook of Communication and Corporate Social Responsibility (pp. 491-¬‐504). Oxford, UK: Wiley ¬‐Blackwell.

Christensen, L.T., Morsing M., & Thyssen, O. (2013). CSR as aspirational talk. Organization 20(3), 372–393.

Cooren, F., Kuhn. T., Cornelissen, J.P. & Clarke, T. (2011). Communication, organizing and organization: An overview and introduction to the special issue. Organization Studies, 32(9), 1149-¬‐1170.

Cornelissen, J. P., Durand, R., Fiss, P. C., Lammers, J. C., & Vaara, E. (2015). Putting Communication Front and Center in Institutional Theory and Analysis. Academy of Management Review, 40(1), 10-¬‐27.

Ferrell, O.C., Gonzalez-¬‐Padron, T. L., Hult, T. M., Maignan, I. (2010). From Market Orientation to Stakeholder Orientation. Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, 29(1), 93-¬‐96.

Golob, U., Podnar, K., Elving, W. J., Ellerup Nielsen, A., Thomsen, C., & Schultz, F. (2013). CSR communication: quo vadis? Corporate Communications: An International Journal, 18(2), 176-¬‐192.

Haack, P. & Schoeneborn, D. (2015). Is decoupling becoming decoupled from institutional theory? A commentary on Wijen. Academy of Management Review, 40(2), 307-¬‐310.

Haack, P., Schoeneborn, D., & Wickert, C. (2012). Talking the talk, moral entrapment, creeping commitment? Exploring narrative dynamics in corporate responsibility standardization. Organization Studies, 33(5-¬‐6), 815-¬‐845.

Lockett, A., Moon, J., & Visser, W. (2006). Corporate social responsibility in management research: Focus, nature, salience and sources of influence. Journal of Management Studies, 43(1), 115–136.

Roberts J. (2003). The manufacture of corporate social responsibility: Constructing corporate sensibility. Organization 10(2), 249-¬‐265.

Schoeneborn, D., & Trittin, H. (2013). Transcending transmission: Towards a constitutive perspective on CSR communication. Corporate Communications: An International Journal, 18(2), 193-¬‐211.

Sen, S., Bhattacharaya, C. B. & Korschun, D. (2006). The role of corporate social responsibility in strengthening multiple stakeholder relationships: A field experiment. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 34(2), 158-¬‐166

Whelan, G., Moon, J. & Grant, B. (2013). Corporations and citizenship arenas in the age of social media. Journal of Business Ethics, 118, 777-¬‐790.

Venlig hilsen / Kind regards,

Luisa Murphy

Project Manager & Research Assistant, Velux Chair in Corporate Sustainability

Dep. of Intercultural Communication and Management (ICM / IKL)

Copenhagen Business School

Porcelænshaven 18A, Office 0.131 – DK 2000 Frederiksberg

Phone: +45 3815 4273

Email: lmu.ikl@cbs.dk

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