The rhetoric and reality gap : a sensemaking perspective on corporate social responsibility

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The thesis investigates the gap between rhetoric and reality in how organisations use Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) for marketing and brand differentiation. The rhetoric reality gap is the gap that develops between what organisations say they do and what they actually do. In terms of CSR, this gap is present as the phenomenon of greenwashing, whereby organisations embellish claims about their social and environmental activities. This leads to sceptical consumers and the discrediting of CSR activities in general. Left unmanaged, the gap presents significant reputation risk. However, the identification of the gap also has the potential for driving the organisation towards more responsible business practices.Previous research focused almost exclusively on organisations' CSR activities and the resultant outcomes and not on the views and judgments about CSR found inside organisations. A shift in focus towards the organisational sensemaking around CSR may better explain the dynamics of the rhetoric and reality gap. Basu and Palazzo's process model of sensemaking for the study of CSR, describes the cognitive, linguistic and conative aspects of sensemaking along seven dimensions to produce a CSR profile of organisations.The thesis uses Basu and Palazzo's model to study CSR in the food retail sector. Comparative case studies were undertaken in three of the largest retailers in South Africa in which various people involved with CSR were interviewed after Basu and Palazzo's (2008) model was operationalised. Thereafter a content analysis of the observed outcomes of organisations' CSR activities was undertaken. The observed outcomes were produced by analysing the organisations advertising strategy, website, use of social media, awards won, integrated reports and media reporting. Combining the content analysis with an analysis of the interviews produced a CSR profile for each of the cases which served as the basis for comparison.It was found that the rhetoric and reality gap of the organisations involved in this study could be explained by the organisations' CSR profiles. The implications for the management of the rhetoric and reality gap varied between organisations. The success of the classification of the case studies meant that Basu and Palazzo's model is able to produce a CSR profile for an organisation which can be linked to the observed CSR outcomes. In addition particular CSR profiles can explain the origins of specific rhetoric and reality gaps and how best to manage it.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University