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Corporate Social Responsibility in the News Media
The agenda-building power of news factors in corporate social responsibility-related press releases
Gwen Gerritsen 10972463
Master’s Thesis
Graduate School of Communication Master’s programme Communication Science
Corporate Communication Supervisor: Dr. Pytrik Schafraad
Abstract
This study explores the role that news factors play in the agenda-building process of corporate social responsibility-related press releases. This research also explores the
differences between the Netherlands and the United States in this process. The purpose of this study is to investigate which news factors are most effective in generating news media
succession and explore the role of corporate social responsibility issues in both press releases and news articles. A content analysis of 371 press releases from a total of twenty-two
corporations and 85 news articles from seven news outlets shows that the news factors surprise and positive consequences increase a CSR-related press release’s chance of media succession. Furthermore, this research reveals a disparity in the focus on CSR-issues between the Netherlands and the United States. While Dutch news articles’ focus aligned with the overall focus of news articles on the environment CSR issue, American news outlets favored the employee issue in their content. This research shows that corporate press releases face the competition of other entities within the issue arena and consequently corporations are not alone in determining the CSR-related news agenda. It further confirms that when more news factors are present in a press release, the press release will receive more news media
succession.
Keywords: agenda-building, corporate social responsibility, CSR, content analysis,
Introduction
“In terms of power and influence you can forget about the church, forget politics. There is no more powerful institution in society than business, which is why I believe it is now more important than ever before for businesses to assume a moral
leadership. The business of business should not be about money, it should be about responsibility. It should be about public good, not private greed” (Roddick qtd. in Idowu and Leal Filho, 2010, pp. 11).
This statement by Anita Roddick, founder of the beauty franchise The Body Shop and corporate social responsibility pioneer, illustrates the growing sentiment among businesses. Since the 1980s both corporations and the wider public are increasingly seeing the value of efforts by organizations to do something that benefits society and goes beyond their own interests and legal obligations (Lee and Carroll, 2011; Du et al., 2010). Known as corporate social responsibility (CSR), CSR is defined by Du et al. (2010) as “a commitment to improve societal well-being through discretionary business practices and contributions of corporate resources” (p. 8). CSR-efforts can range from charity or disaster relief efforts to activities related to the corporation’s own staff (Tam, 2015).
Aside from the societal advantages of CSR, engaging in CSR-activities can also have numerous advantages for corporations. Corporations that engage in CSR-activities are perceived to perform better financially, attract more foreign investors, have greater customer satisfaction ratings, create loyal customers, and experience increased employee commitment (Bayoud and Kavanagh, 2012; Du et al. 2007). One overarching advantage of CSR for businesses is that it helps establish a positive corporate reputation (Pérez, 2015). Corporate reputation is defined by Gotsi and Wilson (2001) as the “stakeholders’ overall evaluation of a company over time. This evaluation is based on the stakeholders’ direct experiences with the company, any other form of communication and symbolism that provides information about
the firm’s actions” (p. 29). A positive corporate reputation is highly important to businesses for it is more durable and resilient against competition than more tangible aspects of a company such as goods or services (Illia and Balmer, 2012; Pérez, 2015; Hetze, 2016).
However, CSR-activities alone do not generate beneficial effects like a positive corporate reputation. As Du et al. (2010) found, without communication – irrespective of the type or number of CSR-activities – the effect of CSR on stakeholder perceptions will be nonexistent or even negative. This is echoed by Pérez (2015) who states that “the disclosure of CSR information is part of the dialogue between an ethical company and its stakeholders that helps legitimize corporate behavior and thus contributes to generate a positive corporate reputation” (p. 11). Thus, to realize the positive corporate reputation often associated with CSR-efforts, companies need to ensure that the public is informed on these activities. For this, corporations depend on the news media to publish stories on their CSR-efforts (Tam, 2015). An effective way for corporations to inform the news media is through press releases (Kiousis et al., 2006).
However, certain press releases are more likely to be used as a basis for news items than others. This can be attributed to the presence of certain elements in these press releases known as “news factors.” Yet, little is known on the news factors that could potentially increase the media succession of CSR-related press releases. Both Tam (2015) and Lee and Riffe (2017) explored the process – also known as agenda-building – in which entities such as corporations attempt to influence the content of news reports. While the focus of these studies was on the news coverage of CSR-related press releases, they used the presence of certain CSR issues – rather than news factors – in predicting news media succession. Research on the effects of news factors on news media succession, on their turn, did not focus on CSR (e.g. Schafraad et al., 2016; Kroon and Schafraad, 2013). With this study, a contribution is made to existing academic literature on agenda-building theory, news factor
theory, and CSR research. Here these worlds are combined in an effort to explain media succession of CSR-related press releases through the news factors present in these press releases. Moreover, this study adds a cultural domain to both news factor research and CSR literature through its comparison of the Netherlands and the United States.
This research intends to examine CSR-related press releases in relation to news factors and a cultural domain: the Netherlands versus the US. These two countries are selected in order to compare a country that has a long history of an active CSR presence within companies – the US – with a European country where CSR gained a more prominent position in the corporate world at a later stage (Maignan and Ralston, 2002). For the
European comparative country, we select the Netherlands since it behaves like most other European member states according to the Central Bureau of Statistics (“The Netherlands… 2016,” 2016). Thus, a comparison can be made between the US where CSR is a more accepted part of corporate communication and the Netherlands, a quintessential European country, where CSR is less developed.
In order to explore the effect that the presence of news factors within a press release have on its news media succession, and to compare these effects for the US and the
Netherlands, the following research question is posed:
Which news factors in corporate press releases concerning CSR determine whether or
not the press releases receive attention by the news media and do these factors differ
when comparing US corporations and Dutch corporations?
Theoretical framework
In this section, the different theories relevant for this research are discussed. We have structured our theoretical framework according to the agenda-building process we wish to explore with our research question.
As this research also includes a cultural domain, each of the hypotheses or research questions stated below will also be tested or answered per country and the difference between those countries will also be reported on.
Building the news and public agenda
At the basis of this research lays the notion that what is reported on by the news media can be influenced by parties other than the news media themselves. This is particularly relevant for corporations that partake in CSR-activities. For, as stated previously, corporations participate in CSR-efforts in order to contribute to society but also to generate a positive corporate reputation. According to Tam (2015) the discussion on the CSR-efforts by a corporation largely takes place in the news media. Thus, for corporations it is beneficial that their CSR-activities are reported on in the news media in a positive manner.
To ensure CSR-effort reporting in the news media, corporations can participate in the “agenda-building process.” Weaver and Elliot (1985) define this process as “how the press interacts with other institutions in society to create issues of public concern” (p. 88).
According to agenda-building theorists, the media do not operate alone in determining what is addressed by the news media. Rather, the news agenda – what is discussed by news outlets – is the result of the competing influences of different organizations and individuals (Kroon and Schafraad, 2013; Lee and Riffe, 2017). Ohl et al. (1995) describe this as a “give-and-take process in which sources seek to get their information published and the press seeks to get that information from independent sources” (p.90).
Through this agenda-building process, external parties do not only gain the ability to influence what is discussed by the news media but also what is discussed by the public. For what is discussed in the news media is also likely to be discussed by the wider public. In other words: the news agenda that is built with the help of outside stimulus can, on its turn, influence what the public thinks about and to some extent how it thinks about these issues.
This process is also known as agenda-setting and is described by Carroll and McCombs (2003) as “the salience of elements on the news agenda influences their salience on the public agenda” (pp. 36-37). The public agenda is “the focus of public attention and thought” and through placing an issue on this public agenda, “the first stage in the formation of public opinion” is initiated (Carroll and McCombs, 2003, p. 37). Consequently, the influence that corporations have on the news agenda also indirectly influences the public agenda and public opinion.
Different entities can influence the news agenda and therefore the public agenda, yet, we are still to determine why and how this influence can be exerted. Due to the limited time and resources available to journalists, they are encouraged to use information provided by external sources. This allows for the involvement of external organizations in the agenda-building process (Lee and Riffe, 2017). This is echoed by Schafraad et al. (2016) who state that the agenda-building process is “shaped by the supply of information to journalists by organizations” (p. 452). Thus, organizations can anticipate on the limited time and resources of journalists by providing them with their own information. This information can come in various shapes such as interviews, press conferences, and press releases.
According to Kiousis et al. (2006) one of the most effective means for companies to participate in this agenda-building process is through press releases. This is supported by other scholars who found positive associations between the salience of topics and issues in press releases and the salience of those same issues and topics in the news media (Kiousis et al., 2007; Ragas et al., 2011). Press releases imitate news report conventions in order to make them more attractive for journalists to use (Jacobs, 1999). For example, similar to news articles, in a press release a third person perspective on the events is provided and the past tense is often used even when writing about future events. Research (Jacobs, 1999; Reich,
2010) shows that these press release characteristics combined with the pressures that journalists face encourage the use of press releases as news sources.
As previously established, corporations want their CSR-efforts to be reported on in the news media. Organizations can influence what is reported on in the news media by participating in agenda-building. One well used and effective means of participating in the agenda-building process is through the issuing of press releases. Thus, in order for
corporations to put their CSR-efforts on the news agenda, they are likely to issue press releases on these activities. Combined with the tendency of journalists to base their work – to some extent – on press releases, we believe that out of all the news articles in our sample discussing CSR, the majority will be based on press releases. This leads to our first hypothesis:
H1: The presence of CSR in news articles can be attributed to press releases.
Influencing the salience of a CSR issue in the news media: first-level agenda-building
As addressed above, companies intend for their CSR-efforts to not only be reported on but also to be portrayed in a positive manner. This relates to the two levels of the media agenda: the cognitive agenda (the first-level agenda) and the attribute agenda (the second-level agenda) (Lee and Riffe, 2017). What Kiousis et al. (2007) label as first-level agenda-building refers to the salience of topics or issues in the news media. Lee and Riffe (2017) perceive this first-level agenda as “what people think about” (p. 296). Thus, first-level agenda-building determines the topics or issues addressed in the news media. In the context of this study we see the first-level agenda as the CSR issues (Lee and Riffe, 2017).
As will be elaborated upon in the method section, based on the research by Carroll (1979), Lee and Carroll (2011), Tam (2015) and Lee and Riffe (2017) we selected four CSR issues to be measured in this research. These four CSR issues are: ‘donations and
Table 1
CSR issues accompanied with their description and academic origin.
CSR Issue Description Academic origin
and overlap Donations and
sponsorships Making a donation for a cause or sponsoring an event run by another organization or in co-operation with another organization.
Carrol, 1979; Tam, 2015
Community A community issue is one that deals with a company’s activities related to serving community welfare and building positive relationships with the community. It entails running a community program for the purpose of serving or educating members of the community. It concerns a directly distinguishable community. The community concerns individuals outside the company, employees are not considered part of the community.
Carrol, 1979; Tam, 2015; Lee and Riffe, 2017
Environment An environmental issue is one that deals with a company’s involvement in environmental issue or the development of environmentally friendly
products/services; this also includes a company’s concern for the preservation of the natural environment, either in general or in the communities where it
operates. Running an environmental program for the purpose of preserving the environment or promoting awareness about the environment.
Carrol, 1979; Tam, 2015; Lee and Riffe, 2017
Employee An employee issue is one that deals with a company’s programs or policies related to serving employees’ welfare: this also includes a company’s programs or policies to take care of employees’ health, safety, fair pay and working conditions. An employee issue also addresses diversity: a company’s statements or actions to promote diversity in the company.
Carrol, 1979; Lee and Riffe, 2017
Given the interest of corporations in the agenda-building process – in particular when it concerns their CSR-efforts – it is relevant for this research to examine whether a certain CSR issue will be included more in news reports than other CSR issues. We base our predictions on the prevalence of a certain CSR issue in the news media on the research by Tam (2015) and Lee and Riffe (2017) who both concerned themselves with the salience of CSR issues in the news media. While examining their results it becomes evident that what we would categorize as employee-related CSR is featured most by the news media in both
studies. We understand an employee issue to be one that is related to a corporation’s plans or policies to improve the welfare of its employees in the areas of health, safety, wage, working conditions and diversity. Possible reasons for the observed prevalence of this particular issue in the news media is the high impact it can have on society, how it resonates with the public and the inevitable connection it has with the core operations of a corporation. While the ‘environment’ issue is a highly impactful issue for society as well, it often does not have a strong overt link with the core operations of a company and is therefore less reported on (Tam, 2015). According to Lee and Riffe (2017) reasons for the ‘donations and sponsorships’ and ‘community’ issues to be less popular among the press are the local nature of these efforts.
The findings of Tam (2015) show that in order for a CSR issue to be reported on it should be overtly connected to the core operations of a company. We believe that the employee issue can be connected to the core operations of any company, as opposed to the other three issues that are less likely to be relevant to the daily proceedings of the majority of corporations. Given that the corporations included in our sample operate in various fields and based on our previous reasoning we argue that the employee-related CSR issues will be featured most frequently in CSR news coverage. This leads to our second hypothesis:
H2: The CSR issue of ‘employee’ will occur most frequently in news messages addressing CSR.
While H2 examines the presence of CSR issues in news messages, it does not address the agenda-building process central to this study. To explore the role of CSR issues in the agenda-building process we need to examine the effect that the presence of a CSR issue in a press release can have on the news media succession of that press release. Research (e.g. Schafraad et al., 2016; Boukes and Vliegenthart, 2017) found that, aside from the personal preferences of journalists, the salience of topics or issues in the news media can be influenced
example, found that the presence of the topics “financial performance” and “employees and management” in press releases led to increased media successions of these press releases in the field of business news (p.457). Consequently, it is worth examining whether the presence of particular CSR issues in a press release can have a similar effect on the news media succession of said press release. We examine this potential effect through the following research question:
RQ3: Is there a difference in succession by the news media between CSR issues?
Influencing the tone of CSR-media coverage: second level agenda-building
Through first-level agenda-building corporations are able to influence the presence of certain topics in the news media. For corporations who concern themselves with CSR-efforts, mere presence in the news media is often not sufficient. Rather, in order to generate public favor, the reports on their CSR-activities need to be positive as well. To achieve this, corporations can try to influence the second-level agenda.
The latter is seen as the perceived characteristics and traits of the aforementioned topics or issues (Lee and Riffe, 2017). According to Kiousis et al. (2006) the second-level of agenda-building can determine “how people think about a topic” through the selection and emphasis of attributes (p. 269). An attribute is understood as “a property, quality, or characteristic that describes an object” (Kiousis et al., 2006, p. 269). In addition, attributes can either be substantive or affective. Lee and Riffe (2017) define substantive attributes as “attributes that call attention to particular aspects of subjects or issues or interpretations of a particular situation” (p. 296). Affective attributes, on the other hand, should be seen as the level of favorability ascribed to a topic or issue: favorable, unfavorable, or neutral. As will be elaborated on in the method section our focus is on the affective attributes when examining second-level agenda-building. All in all, the second-level of agenda-building determines how
the issues or topics on the media agenda are discussed. Here, we see the second-level agenda as the tone of news coverage of a CSR issue (Lee and Riffe, 2017).
The study by Kiousis et al. (2006) found support for a relationship between the affective attribute agendas (tone) in press releases and media coverage. In a later study, Kiousis et al. (2007) found support for a positive correlation between the tone in press
releases and the tone of the related media coverage. Research that focused on the tone of CSR news coverage such as the studies of Buhr and Grafström (2007) and Lunenberg et al. (2016) found that the tone of most media coverage on CSR was positive. However, these studies did not include the potential role of press releases in their research.
Corporations intend for their CSR-related press releases to be reported on in a positive manner. In addition, given that previous studies have established a positive relation between the tone in a press release and the tone in a news message, and since corporations have an invested interest in positive news coverage, we argue that the tone of the CSR-related press releases will be positive. This leads to the following sub-hypothesis:
H4a: The majority of CSR-related press releases are positive in tone.
Consequently, based on the logic that the salience of a certain tone in press releases leads to a similar tone in the news coverage concerning that release, we argue that we will find similar results when focusing on CSR-related press releases and their corresponding news coverage. This leads us to the next sub-hypothesis:
H4b: The tone of the news message discussing CSR-efforts will be similar to the tone
expressed in the corresponding press release.
Intermedia agenda-building and the CSR issue arena
Corporations are not the only entities that participate in the agenda-building process, the news media themselves also influence each other. This process is often referred to as
to another” (Tam, 2015, p. 124). According to Vliegenthart and Walgrave (2008), “intermedia agenda-setting cause the mass media coverage of issues to follow similar patterns” (p. 861). Despite the common use of the term ‘setting’ in the literature discussing intermedia setting, here we refer to this as the phenomenon of intermedia agenda-building. We refer to intermedia agenda-building for the construction of the news media agenda and the influence of external sources in the process is generally understood as agenda-building.
As established by Lee and Riffe (2017), multiple parties are involved in building the CSR agenda in the news media. One could even argue that the CSR agenda in the news media serves as an issue arena where the public, the media, and the corporations themselves address CSR. Issue arenas are defined by Luoma-aho et al. (2013) as “real or virtual places in which topics of shared interest are discussed” (p. 3). In the context of intermedia agenda-building and CSR we can see the issue arena as the space where CSR-related press releases are issued and news stories are written in response to those press releases. Yet, an opposite process also takes place: news stories are written and press releases are issued as a response. In this same issue arena news articles can also respond to other news articles and the voice of the public can also be heard.
In order to further explore this process of intermedia agenda-building and the CSR issue arena we pose two sub-research questions.
RQ5a: To what extent are CSR-related press releases issued in response to news messages?
RQ5b: To what extent are CSR-related news messages published in response to other news
messages?
Characteristics that impact news media succession: news factors
As aforementioned, some events or issues are more likely to be reported on in the news media than others. The success of these events or issues can be attributed to their particular
characteristics, also known as “news factors” (Eilders, 2006). In order to fully comprehend news factors and how they operate, the concept of newsworthiness needs to be addressed. When something is considered “newsworthy” it is deemed interesting enough to be reported on in the media (Caple and Bednarek, 2016). The concept of newsworthiness is highly relevant for press releases since “news decisions depend on the newsworthiness journalists ascribe to an event or information subsidy” (Schafraad et al., 2016, p. 452). Newsworthiness can be split into news factors and news values. The term “news factor” refers to “the qualities of a news story” whereas the term “news value” refers to “the journalistic assessment of how important these factors are” (Boukes and Vliegenthart, 2017, pp. 6-7). While these two concepts are at times used interchangeably by scholars, our focus is on news factors for “news factors lend news value to an event” and thus news factors play an important role in the process of selecting press releases to be reported on (Eilders, 2006, p. 6). In other words, our intention is to examine what elements – or news factors – of a CSR-related press release make it more attractive for news outlets to report on.
The research on news factors originates from the work of Galtung and Ruge (1965). Since then many scholars have updated and applied the news factor theory which has resulted in numerous sets of news factors (e.g. Harcup and O’Neill, 2017; Harcup and O’Neill, 2001; Eilders, 2006). Based on these works we selected six news factors applicable to our study: surprise, positive consequences or success, negative consequences or damage, eliteness, prominence and reach. The exact selection process of these news factors will be outlined in the method section. Schafraad et al. (2016) found that the presence of certain news factors in a press release increased its chance on succession in news media. Among these news factors, several are applicable to our research: negative consequences, surprise and elite
organizations. This study also found that the news factor positive consequences negatively impacted the chance of news media succession. The findings in the article by Boukes and
Vliegenthart (2017) indicate that – of the news factors applicable to our study – eliteness was most represented in news articles. Given that this shows overlap with the findings of
Schafraad et al. (2016) we have formulated the two following sub-hypotheses:
H6a: The presence of any of the news factors in a press release – aside from the news factor
‘positive consequences or success’ – will have a positive impact on its chance of news media
succession.
H6b: The presence of the news factor ‘positive consequences or success’ in a press release
will have a negative impact on its chance of news media succession.
Schafraad et al. (2016) assert that “the presence of news factors in a press release generally increases the odds of receiving media attention” (p. 456). However, the mere presence of news factors alone does not guarantee media attention for a press release: quantity also plays an important role. According to Kroon and Schafraad (2013), the more news factors present in an event or information subsidy, the higher the chance of media attention. We intend to examine whether or not these findings by Kroon and Schafraad (2013) can also be applied within the domain of CSR, and thus H7 is formulated as follows:
H7: The more news factors present in a CSR-related press release, the more media attention it receives.
Method Research design
Press releases and news media are the information sources for this thesis. Since the content of these press releases and news media expressions are readily available either online or in paper form there is no need to entertain the idea of other research methods than content analysis. Quantitative content analysis in particular will be the method of choice, this is based on the fact that manifest content rather than latent content is our main focus (Riff et al., 2014). Some benefits of using quantitative content analysis here are that it allows for a
non-intrusive examination of a large amount of data, this data can be taken from a large period of time that can be extended if necessary (Macnamara, 2005).
Sampling method
Here, press releases and news media content will be taken from the first of January 2016 till the first of January 2017. This period was selected to ensure that the study is applicable to recent events.
Multistage sampling was utilized to gather the final sample. Based on the Fortune 500 (US) and the Elsevier Top 500 (NED), the top twenty biggest companies for both the United States and the Netherlands were selected. The segments in which the corporations operated needed to be roughly similar for the two countries and the corporations also needed to have issued press releases regarding CSR. To ensure this, we first categorized the forty companies in different segments and then checked how many CSR-related press releases were issued per corporation. We verified the amount of CSR-related press releases per company in a manner similar to the actual gathering of the press releases. The corporations either had a special website dedicated to media relations or a “newsroom” on their own website. Here we first selected our timeframe and then we checked – based on the titles of the press releases – if the press releases fell within one of the four CSR issues. If this could not be determined based on the title alone, the whole press release was read. This resulted in an overview of the twenty biggest corporations of both nations, their respective sectors and the number of CSR-related press releases issued per company. Of these companies, nine American companies and thirteen Dutch companies were selected for the final sample. A higher number of Dutch corporations was included for Dutch companies issued fewer CSR-related press releases per company than their American counterparts and the number of press releases per country needed to be roughly equal.
In order to gather the news media content, a selection of the different news media was made. Due to time constraints, we focused on the biggest newspapers and online news
website of both countries. This resulted in the following outlets for the US: The New York Times, The Washington Post (newspapers) and CNN (online) and for the Netherlands: de Telegraaf, Het Algemeen Dagblad (AD) and de Volkskrant (newspapers) and NOS.nl (online). For the Netherlands one extra newspaper was selected due to the dispersed readership in the country (Bakker, 2017). Next, the newspaper content was gathered in the electronic database LexisNexis. In order to measure for intermedia agenda-building our online news content was gathered within the same time frame as our press releases. In this search, no specific reference was made to CSR only to the company. By doing so we ensured that all CSR-related news regarding a company was included in our sample. This method provided us with CSR-related press releases of twenty-two corporations in total and the news items relating to those corporations and their CSR-efforts. All in all, 371 press releases and 85 news messages were gathered for both countries. Of the press releases, 210 were from American companies and 161 were from Dutch companies. Of the news messages, 51 originated from the United States and 34 from the Netherlands.
Operationalization and procedure
In Table 2 the concepts relevant to this study, their operationalization and academic origin are outlined. The entire codebook can be found in Appendix A.
All questions of the codebook were added to the online-survey tool “Qualtrics.” The units of analysis were either press releases or news articles (both online and offline). The 456 items were coded by one coder, however, in order to ensure that the codebook was reliable a intercoder reliability test was conducted with the help of another coder. In order to determine the intercoder reliability of this study two coders coded the same 47 items. Given that the entire sample consists out of 456 items, the minimum of 10% as established by Lombard et
al. (2002) is met. Intercoder reliability was measured by calculating Krippendorff’s Alpha (Kalpha) and the percent agreement. These indices were selected for they represent one conservative index (Kalpha) and one liberal index (percent agreement). Given Kalpha’s conservative nature we determined the threshold of acceptability to be 0.70 (Lombard et al., 2002). Since the percent agreement index is considered to be more liberal, a higher threshold of 90% agreement is applied here. Of all variables, only one falls below the 90% agreement threshold (Appendix B). However, the Kalpha of this variable is higher than the previously established threshold of 0.70. Thus, the intercoder reliability of this variable is still deemed acceptable. The Kalpha of the other variables ranges from 0.99 to 0.70 and thus none of the remaining variables falls below the 0.70 threshold. Therefore, we can conclude that all variables tested for intercoder reliability are considered acceptable.
Table 2
Operationalization of concepts accompanied by academic origin and codebook items.
Concept Operationalization Literature Items codebook
First level agenda-building: CSR issues.
• Based on overlap in CSR studies, four CSR issues were selected: donations and sponsorships, community, environment and employee.
• The presence of a single CSR issue was tested in one corresponding variable. • Each variable was labelled with the name of the CSR issue followed by
definition of what the issue entailed.
• Coded on a dichotomous scale: the CSR issue was either not present or present.
Tam (2015); Lee and Riffe (2017); Carroll (1979).
CSR issues in press releases: V2G, V2H, V2I, V2J. CSR issues in news articles: V3E, V3F, V3G, V3H.
First level agenda-building: reference to a press release in a news article.
• Measured through a newly computed variable (Reference_To_PR) which combines the items in the codebook for both direct and indirect reference to a press release.
• Coded on a dichotomous scale: reference to a press release is either not present or present.
Tam (2015); Lee and Riffe (2017).
Direct reference to a press release by a news article: V3K
Indirect reference to a press release by a news article: V3M
Second-level agenda-building: tone
• We argue that through second level agenda-building, the tone present in press releases will be mimicked by the tone in news articles addressing that
particular press release.
• The tone of press releases (Tone_PR) was measured through a newly computed variable ((V4B – V4C) * 0.5).
• The variable for news media tone needed to be recoded and computed into a new variable (NM_Tone) in order to match the scale of the tone of press release variable.
• Scale ranges from -1 (negative tone) to 1 (positive tone).
Lee and Riffe (2017)
News factor positive consequences or success: V4B
News factor negative consequences or damage: V4C
News media tone: V3J
Intermedia agenda-building
• Intermedia agenda-building is operationalized through two separate variables. • One measures whether or not a press release was written in response to a news
message. The other measures whether a news message refers to other news content or not.
• Coded on a dichotomous scale: reference to a press release/news article is either not present or present.
Lee and Riffe (2017)
Reference to news message within press release:
V2K
Reference to news message within news message: V30
News factors • We selected six news factors: surprise, positive consequences or success, negative consequences or damage, eliteness, prominence and reach.
• The selection of the news factors was made by first looking for overlap in the use of news factors in different studies. Second, the most frequently occurring news factors were cross referenced with CSR studies in order to guarantee applicability for the corporate social responsibility domain.
• The presence of a single news factor was tested in one corresponding variable. • Each news factor was first defined followed by coding instructions and
indicators when necessary.
• Each news factor – aside from reach – was coded on the following scale: no presence, low presence or high presence of the concerning news factor. • The news factor reach was also provided with a three-point scale: regional
reach, national reach or international reach.
Eilders, 2006; Maier and Strömback, 2006; Maier and Ruhrmann, 2008; Harcup and O’Neill, 2016; Boukes and Vliegenthart, 2017; Tam, 2015; Lee and Riffe, 2017; Lee and Carrol, 2011; Schafraad et al. 2013. News factors: V4A, V4B, V4C, V4D V4E, V4F
Results Hypothesis 1
In hypothesis 1 we stated that the presence of CSR in news coverage can be attributed to press releases. This is tested using a cross-tabulation and Chi-square test with country as independent variable and reference of a news message to a press release as dependent variable.
Our cross tabulation shows that of the total amount of news articles on CSR (N = 85), 49% was not written as a response to a press release in comparison to 51% of news articles that was written in response to a press release (Table 3). Thus, we cannot conclude that the presence of CSR in news articles is based on press releases for nearly half of the news articles was not written as a response to a press release. Consequently, we need to reject our first hypothesis.
However, when looking at country differences, we detect other results. While the majority of the news articles from the US regarding CSR was not written based on a press release (63%), the majority of Dutch CSR-related news articles was written in reference to a press release (71%). Our Chi-square test affirms these findings with its significant outcome, p = .003, which indicates that a relationship exists between the country in which a CSR-related news article has been published and whether or not it based itself on a press release.
Goodman and Kruskal’s tau provides us with the strength of association between country and reference to press releases. The overall strength of association is weak (0.11) but significant (p = .003).
All in all, H1 needs to be rejected when considering news articles from both countries, for half of the CSR-related news articles in our sample were not written as a response to a press release. However, our results also show that H1 is valid for Dutch CSR-related articles.
Table 3
Cross tabulation with country as independent variable and reference of a news message to a press release as dependent variable.
n
The Netherlands
34
The United States
51 Both countries 85 Reference to press release present 24 (71%) 19 (37%) 43 (51%) Note. Chi-square: 9.07, p = .003. Hypothesis 2
In our second hypothesis, we argue that out of all CSR issues the employee issue will occur most frequently in news messages addressing CSR. This hypothesis, was examined using the descriptive statistics of all four CSR issues. Followed by individual cross-tabulations and Chi-square tests per CSR issue with country serving as independent variable and the CSR issue as dependent variable.
From the descriptive statistics we can draw the conclusion that with a presence of 27% in all CSR-related news articles (N = 85), the employee issue is not the most frequently occurring CSR issue in our news articles (Table 4). Rather, the environment issue is most prevalent in CSR-news (42%). Thus, when it concerns the presence of the employee issue in CSR-related news articles from both countries, we need to reject H2.
For both countries individually, this hypothesis can only be partially confirmed. The results of our cross-tabulations and Chi-square tests show that of the US news articles (n = 51), the employee issue was most prevalent among the CSR-related news articles (41%). However, with 6% the same employee issue was the least prevalent among CSR-related news articles in the Netherlands (n = 34). Rather, Dutch CSR-news includes mainly the
environment issue (53%). Since the Chi-square test with the employee issue as dependent variable was the only significant Chi-square test, we can confirm that a relationship exists
between the country of the news article and the employee issue (p < .001). Yet, as shown by Goodman and Kruskal’s tau (0.15), the association between the employee issue and country is significant (p < .001) but weak.
To conclude, H2 is only valid for the US. When no differentiation is made between countries, the employee issue is not the most frequently occurring CSR issue in news articles. When such differentiation is made, the employee issue is the most prevalent among US news, but the least common CSR issue among Dutch news.
Note. * p < .05, ** p < .01, *** p < .001.
Research question 3
Through research question 3 we intend to examine the role of CSR issues in the agenda-building process. We do this by answering the following question: is there a difference in media succession between CSR issues? This is examined through a multiple regression using the number of times a press release was succeeded by the news media as dependent variable and the different CSR issues as independent variables. In order to examine whether or not a difference in the impact of these CSR issues exists based on country the interaction terms Table 4
Cross-tabulation with country as independent variable and presence of CSR issue in news message as dependent variable.
Chi-square
CSR issue Present:
The Netherlands
Present:
The United States
Present: Both countries
n 34 51 85
Donations and sponsorships 10 (29%) 10 (20%) 20 (24%) 1.09
Community 14 (41%) 18 (35%) 32 (38%) 0.30
Environment 18 (53%) 17 (33%) 35 (41%) 3.24
(CSR issue * country) are included in our multiple regression as independent variables. For these interaction variables – and the interaction variables of upcoming hypotheses – country was recoded into a dichotomous variable (1 = the Netherlands; 0 = the United States).
The assumptions required for multiple regression such as multicollinearity, normal distribution of residuals and homoscedasticity are all met. However, our model as a whole is not significant, F(8, 370) = 1.03, p = .413. Therefore, no further analysis is justified and we conclude that no difference in media succession between CSR issues can be seen.
Hypothesis 4a
In H4a we assert that the majority of CSR-related press releases are positive in tone. This hypothesis is tested through a cross-tabulation using country as independent variable and our newly computed variable press release tone as dependent variable. The relationship between the country of the press release and the tone of that press release is tested through a Chi-square test.
The cross tabulation shows that of all press releases (N = 371), 93% is positive in tone (Table 5). The same holds for the US where 90% of press releases (n = 210) is positive in tone. In addition, 96% of all Dutch press releases concerning CSR (n = 161) is written in a positive tone. The Chi-square is significant (p = .046), however, Goodman and Kruskal’s tau indicates that the association is weak (0.02, p = .004).
Thus, H4a can be accepted: the majority of CSR-related press releases are positive in tone. In addition, for both the US and the Netherlands the majority of CSR-related press releases are positively toned. While a relationship does exist between the country from which a press release was issued and the tone in which it was written, the association between the variables is weak.
Table 5
Cross-tabulation with country as independent variable and press release tone as dependent variable.
Tone The Netherlands The United States Both countries
n 161 210 371 Negative 0 (0%) 1 (0.48%) 1 (0.27%) Neutral 6 (4%) 21 (10%) 27 (7%) Positive 155 (96%) 188 (90%) 343 (93%) Total 161 (100%) 210 (100%) 371 (100%) Note. Chi-square: 6.14, p = .046. Hypothesis 4b
In H4b we argued that if the tone in the press release is positive, the tone of the news article will also be positive. In order to test this hypothesis, we intend to conduct a linear regression with the tone of the press release as predictor variable and the tone of the news articles as outcome variable.
Prior to the actual regression analysis, we need to check whether the assumptions have been met. Unfortunately, the assumptions have not been met: the residuals are not normally distributed, nor is the assumption of homoscedasticity met. In addition, our
predictor variable does not meet the requirements as set by Field (2016) for there is too little variance in the variable present.
Thus, a linear regression could not be conducted. Alternatively, we computed a new variable – difference in tone – which measures whether the tone between the press release and corresponding news message is similar. A cross tabulation was conducted with country as independent variable and difference in tone as dependent variable. In 57% of the cases, the tone in press release was matched by the corresponding news article (Table 6). Thus, in 43% of cases the tone in the press release was not matched by the news article. Although the large
majority of press releases is positive in tone, this tone is only matched in 57% of the news reports. Thus, we cannot accept our hypothesis.
Furthermore, since the Chi-square test generates an insignificant result (p = .829) no significant disparity can be assumed between the Netherlands and the US concerning difference in tone between press releases and the corresponding news articles.
Table 6
Cross-tabulation with country as independent variable and difference in tone as dependent variable.
The Netherlands The United States Both countries
n 31 20 51
Similar tone 18 (59%) 11 (55%) 29 (57%)
Note. Chi-square: 0.05, p = .829.
Research questions 5a and 5b
Through research questions 5a and 5b we intend to examine the extent to which press releases are issued in response to news messages and whether these news messages are also published in response to other media. We do this through two separate cross tabulations and Chi-square tests to examine whether a difference between both nations is present. In our first cross tabulation, country serves as the independent variable and reference in a press release to a news message serves as the dependent variable. In the second cross tabulation, the
dependent variable is changed into the variable which measures whether a news message refers to other news content.
Of all press releases (N = 371), 11% indicated it was written as a response to a news message (Table 7). Thus, the majority of the press releases (89%) was not issued as a response to a news release. In addition, of all news messages (N = 85), the majority (82%) was not inspired or provoked by other news content (Table 8). Therefore, we can conclude
that the majority of both CSR-related press releases and CSR-related news articles was not inspired by other news content.
Examination of the difference between both countries shows that – given the insignificance of the Chi-square tests of both cross-tabulations – no significant difference between the countries exists in terms of press releases or news articles being written as a response to a news message.
Table 7
Cross-tabulation with country as independent variable and reference in a press release to a news message as dependent variable.
The Netherlands The United States Both countries
n 161 210 371 Reference to news message within press release 14 (9%) 27 (13%) 41 (11%) Note. Chi-square: 1.61, p = .205. Table 8
Cross-tabulation with country as independent variable and reference in a news message to other news content to as dependent variable.
The Netherlands The United States Both countries
n 34 51 85
Reference to other news content within news message
5 (15%) 10 (20%) 15 (18%)
Note. Chi-square: 0.34, p = .561.
Hypothesis 6a
In H6a we claim that the presence of any of the news factors in a press release – except for the presence of the news factor positive consequences or success – will have a positive
impact on the press release’s chance of news media succession. In order to test this hypothesis and hypothesis 6b a multiple regression is used with all news factors as
independent variables and the amount of times a press release was succeeded by the media as dependent variable. Similar to research question 3, interaction terms are made of the
independent variables in order to check for the moderating effect of country (news factor * country).
All the assumptions of a multiple regression are met and thus we proceed with our analysis. The regression shows that the model as a whole is significant F(12, 369) = 11.54, p < .001. The independent variables predict 28% of the variance in media succession (R2 =
0.28). The news factors negative consequences (b* = -0.02, t = -0.50, p = .615, 95% CI [-0.26, 0.16]), eliteness (b* = 0.10, t = 1.46, p = .146, 95% CI [-0.03, 0.17]), prominence (b* = -0.06, t = -0.85, p = .394, 95% CI [-0.21, 0.08]) and reach (b* = 0.01, t = 0.20, p = .844, 95% CI [-0.09, 0.12]) have no significant effect on the amount of times a press release was
succeeded by the media (Table 9). The news factor surprise (b* = 0.18, t = 3.12, p = .002, 95% CI [0.07, 0.32]) does have a positive significant effect on the number of times a press release was succeeded by the news media. Therefore, H6a can be rejected for only one out of the five news factors that we argued to have a positive significant effect on news media succession showed to have such a positive, significant effect.
To determine whether the news factors present in press releases will have a different effect on news media succession when including the moderating effect of country, we
examine the interaction terms. Our results show that except for the news factor surprise, none of the other news factors are moderated by country. The interaction between the news factor surprise and country (b* = 0.25, t = 3.87, p < .001, 95% CI [0.21, 0.70]) has a significant, positive, effect on news media succession. Thus, there is a significant difference in news media succession per country when the news factor surprise is included in the press release.
Based on these results and given the dichotomous nature of the country variable we can conclude that Dutch press releases receive greater news media succession for the news factor surprise when compared to US press releases.
In conclusion, H6a needs to be rejected, as only the news factor surprise shows to have a significant and positive effect on news media succession.
Table 9
Multiple regression with news factors as independent variables and news media succession as dependent variable, including country as moderator (N = 371).
Multiple regression b* Constant -0.35 (b)*** Surprise 0.18** Positive consequences 0.19*** Negative consequences -0.02 Eliteness 0.10 Prominence -0.06 Reach 0.01 Surprise * country 0.25***
Positive consequences * country 0.04 Negative consequences * country 0.04
Eliteness * country 0.05 Prominence * country 0.002 Reach * country 0.01 R2 0.28 F 11.54*** Note. * p < .05, ** p < .01, *** p < .001. Hypothesis 6b
In H6b we claim that the presence of the news factor positive consequences or success in a press release will have a negative impact on the chance of said press release to be succeeded
in the news media. This hypothesis was tested in the same multiple regression as H6a. By testing both hypotheses in one multiple regression we ensure that the possible effect of the news factor positive consequences on news media succession will not seem artificially large due to the omission of the other news factors in the analysis.
Since this hypothesis was tested in the same multiple regression as H6a, we will only address the news factor positive consequences and its interaction term here (see Table 9 for all variables included in the regression).
While H6b states that the presence of the news factor positive consequences would have a negative effect on the amount of media succession, our regression shows opposite results. The news factor positive consequences (b* = 0.19, t = 3.33, p < .001, 95% CI [0.09, 0.38]) has a significant, positive, effect on the amount of media succession a press release receives. Therefore, our hypothesis has to be rejected.
The interaction term of positive consequences moderated by country (b* = 0.04, t = 0.34, p = .737, 95% CI [-0.18, 0.26]) is not significant. Therefore, we can conclude that no significant difference in news media succession per country exists when the news factor positive consequences is included in the press release.
All in all, H6b needs to be rejected for the presence of the news factor positive consequences had a positive significant effect on news media succession rather than the predicted negative effect.
Hypothesis 7
In H7, we argue that the more news factors present in a CSR-related press release, the more media attention it will receive. We test this hypothesis by conducting a multiple regression with the number of times a press release is succeeded by the news media as dependent variable and a newly computed variable representing the number of news factors present in a press release as independent variable. Here too, we add an interaction term consisting of the
independent variable moderated by country (number of news factors in press release * country) as additional independent variable.
The assumptions for a multiple regression have been met and thus we can continue interpreting our results. The regression shows that the model is significant, F(2, 369) = 15.79,
p < .001. The independent variables predict 8% of the variance in the number of times a press
release is succeeded in the news media (R2 = 0.08). The number of news factors in a press release (b* = 0.19, t = 2.80, p = .005, 95% CI [0.04, 0.24]) has a positive, significant effect on the succession rate of that press release (Table 10). With each added news factor in a press release, news media succession increases with 0.14. Thus, our hypothesis can be accepted: when more news factors are present in a press release, the press release will receive more media succession.
Our interaction term (b* = 0.12, t = 1.78, p = .075, 95% CI [-0.01, 0.24]) is not significant. Therefore, we can conclude that no significant difference in news media succession per country exists when we take the number of news factors present in a press release as independent variable.
Thus, we can accept H7: the more news factors present in a CSR-related press release, the more media attention it will receive. However, no significant difference between the Netherlands and the United states was found.
Table 10
Multiple regression with the number of news factors in a press release as independent variable and news media succession as dependent variable, including country as moderator (N = 371).
Multiple regression
b*
Constant 0.04 (b)
Number of news factors in press release 0.19** Number of news factors in press release * country 0.12
R2 0.08
F 15.79***
Note. * p < .05, ** p < .01, *** p < .001.
Discussion
The purpose of this study was to examine the role of news factors in CSR-related press releases and their subsequent media succession. In addition, this study also intended to compare the role of news factors in these CSR-related press releases between corporations from the United States and the Netherlands. Our research forms a potential addition to the works by Lee and Riffe (2017), Tam (2015) and Du et al. (2010) and others in the field of CSR agenda-building in the news media.
Our findings show that, contrary to our expectations, the presence of CSR in the news media can be attributed to press releases in only half of the news articles. In this CSR news coverage, the environment issue was most prominently represented. Furthermore, while the large majority of press releases concerning CSR were positive in tone, this tone was not matched by the corresponding news reports in nearly half of the cases. In addition, the majority of the CSR-related press releases and news articles in our study were not provoked by other news content. Moreover, the news factors surprise and positive consequences showed to have a significant and positive effect on news media succession. We also found
that the more news factors are present in a press release, the more it will be succeeded by the news media. Finally, our results show that no difference in news media succession between CSR issues was detected.
While the Netherlands and the United States showed similar patterns in some of our results, we did find several disparities between the countries. In contrast to the US, the majority of Dutch CSR-related news articles was written based on a press release. While the focus of Dutch CSR-related news was mainly on the environment issue and least on the employee issue, American news articles showed a strong favor for the employee issue. Finally, Dutch press releases received more media succession in comparison to American press releases when the news factor surprise was included in the press releases.
As shown in our results section, not all of our hypotheses could be corroborated. We argued that the presence of CSR in the news media could be attributed to press releases, yet, our results show that this can only be confirmed in half of the cases. This suggests that other sources are used in reporting on CSR-efforts. The notion that press releases are no longer leading in the agenda-building process is a recent topic of discussion among PR professionals (Salzman, 2016; Rampton, 2016; Jonas, 2013). While the effectiveness of press releases is not entirely dismissed, professionals do indicate that there are other means to participate in the agenda-building process such as blogs or videos through which they are able to reach both news outlets and members of the public directly. It is therefore likely, that in order for their CSR-efforts to reach the news media and public, corporations also utilize these more direct means of communication. Thus, while press releases are still used they are most likely complemented – and in some cases – replaced by other communication forms. Aside from the additional means of communication that corporations themselves can use to communicate their CSR-activities to the public, as in any issue arena, other actors can also contribute to CSR news coverage (Luoma-aho et al., 2013). This can be entities unrelated to the media or
the corporation in question such as non-profit organizations invested in CSR-activities. The opinions or activities of these entities in relation to corporations’ CSR-efforts can be
addressed by the news media. The news media themselves can also contribute to the issue arena on CSR through reports made on their own initiative. All in all, while press releases still play a significant role in assuring the presence of CSR in the news media, our results indicate that other sources and entities play a role in CSR-reporting as well. Aside from additional means of communication by the corporations themselves, other entities or
organizations with a stake in CSR-efforts can influence the news media, and lastly, the news media themselves can write CSR-related news articles on their own initiative.
Based on the research by Tam (2015) and Lee and Riffe (2017) we argued that the employee issue would occur most frequently in CSR news. However, this could only be confirmed for American news articles since both the overall and Dutch results showed a dominance of the environment issue. Lee and Carroll (2011) state that news articles are reflective of the social norms of a time period and thus “the shift in salience among CSR dimensions over time may reflect the public’s changing expectations regarding CSR” (p. 128). Combined with the observed increase in environmental awareness globally, the prevalence of the environment issue over the employee issue can be credited to the public’s changing expectations regarding CSR (Anderson, 2017; European Environment Agency, 2016; Cohen, 2014). The perceived difference in issue salience between the US and the Netherlands, on their turn, can be attributed to cultural differences in terms of environmental awareness (Anderson, 2017; European Environment Agency, 2016). Another potential reason for the difference in issue salience between both countries is the difference in socio-economic models. The US or Anglo-Saxon model which is more focused on the power of the individual stems from mistrust from over-powerful governance. The European social-democratic model relies on “the state as a guardian of the rights of the individual” (Bremmer, 2010, p. 252).
These socio-economic models also affect the necessity and nature of CSR-efforts in both countries. In the US, where governmental interference is less accepted than in European countries, the social safety net is small and according to some even non-existent (Potts, 2016; Tach and Edin, 2017). As is stated by Ioannou and Serafeim (2012), “in individualistic societies that actively encourage broader discretion of economic actors [such as the United States], CSR materializes in a more explicit, proactive … form” (p. 852). Thus, the American focus on employee CSR issues can also stem from the necessity of corporations to play an active role in providing a social safety net for the American public. As opposed to the Netherlands where the government is more involved in providing a social safety net.
Contrary to our predictions, the tone of a press release was not matched by news releases in nearly half of the cases. This expectation was based on previous studies on second-level agenda-building who found that the tone in a press release was often matched by the tone in the corresponding news message. However, these studies did not focus on
CSR-communication. As confirmed in H4a, the tone in the press releases was overwhelmingly positive. Such an overwhelming presence of a positive tone in press releases, however, is unlikely to be matched by all news articles due to journalistic values of neutrality and source selection (Boudana, 2011). Journalists have the professional “duty” to take on the role of an objective informer and in order to do so they have to use a variety of sources and present a balanced view on the situation at hand (Franklin and Richardson, 2002; Olsson and Nord, 2015). Thus, the press release used as a source for a news article will most likely be
supplemented with other – not as overtly positive in tone – sources in order to present a more objective report.
In terms of news factors, contrary to our expectations, the presence of negative consequences, prominence, eliteness and reach did not have a significant effect on news media succession. Through examination of our descriptive statistics it becomes clear that
negative consequences, prominence and eliteness are not present in the large majority of press releases which makes it nearly impossible for these news factors to have a positive, significant, effect on media succession. In addition, concerning the reach news factor, nearly half of the press releases have a regional reach and as reported on by Lee and Riffe (2017) a local nature of CSR-efforts is not beneficial for the media attention it will receive.
The news factor positive consequences had a significant, positive – rather than the
expected negative – effect on news media succession. We included the other news factors and their interaction terms in our analysis to ensure that the effect of the news factor positive consequences on news media succession would not be artificially large. Yet, even in the context of the other news factors, the news factor positive consequences had a significant, positive, effect on news media succession. Here too, a closer examination of the descriptive statistics of the presence of this particular news factor in press releases provides clarification for our results. Since this news factor is present in nearly all press releases – which could be attributed to the positive nature inherent to CSR – it is inevitable for this news factor to be included in the majority of press releases succeeded by the news media.
Finally, we found that no difference existed in media succession between CSR issues. In other words, CSR issues did not function in a similar way as news factors for their presence in a press release did not increase the media succession of that press release. The results of H2 show that multiple CSR issues are often present in a single press release which makes differentiating the effects of a single CSR issue on media succession impossible. Tam (2015) circumvented this problem by establishing what she claims are “mutually exclusive
categories” of CSR issues. When multiple of these categories were present within the same press release, Tam would code for the “main” category within the press release. However, our study shows that, more often than not, multiple CSR issues can be present within one press release and hence no claim of mutually exclusive CSR categories should be made.
Tam’s solution to maintain her mutually exclusive categories by only coding for a main category poses a problem for her validity and thus her findings. As echoed by our results, in reality multiple CSR issues are present within the same press release and in many instances no overarching issue can be identified. By coding for the presence of multiple CSR issues in one press release this research provides a more accurate picture of reality.
This relates to the implications of our study, for a theoretical implication could be that the notion of mutually exclusive CSR categories will be re-examined. As shown above, mutually exclusive CSR categories do not form an accurate measurement of reality, and future
research would benefit from acknowledging that multiple CSR issues can be present within the same press release.
In terms of practical implications, corporations can include the news factors that are proven to positively influence news media succession – surprise and positive consequences – in their CSR-related press releases in order to stimulate press coverage. Moreover,
corporations should refocus their CSR-campaigns to include issues that are important for both the news media and the public in order to achieve the news media succession they aim for. As social norms and values are ever-changing, corporations need to monitor the
expectations the public holds of corporations and adjust their CSR-efforts accordingly. While press releases on CSR-activities are succeeded to some extent by the news media, our
research also indicates that news outlets base their CSR-related articles on other sources or their own initiative as well. Thus, corporations should – if they are not doing so already – invest in other means of reaching news media and the wider public. Some examples of alternatives are company blogs, social media content and videos. In addition, corporations should actively monitor the issue arena in which they or their CSR policies are discussed. By doing so, corporations remain involved in the discussion surrounding them and their
CSR-activities. In addition, through monitoring the issue arena, corporations can anticipate on potential issues or difficulties in relation to the corporation or their CSR-efforts.
Finally, several potential limitations of our study need to be addressed. Firstly, the sample size of news articles made it more difficult to measure the effects of news factors on news media succession. Secondly, the news factors measured in this study were not used in CSR-related studies previously which could have potentially resulted in an imperfect fit with the actual news factors present in the press releases. Thirdly, of each country we only included one online news outlet, and given the increasing dependence on online news sources of the public this could have contributed to our relatively small sample of news articles.
We conclude with several suggestions for further research. One way to elaborate on this study would be to include other forms of CSR-communication by corporations such as social media posts or corporate blogs. Future research could further explore the role of the issue arena in the CSR agenda-building process. In addition, future research could elaborate on the cultural differences in CSR-reporting on a larger scale by for example focusing on the
differences between continents.
References
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