Communicating Corporate Social Responsibility: The Role of Employees
The paradox between economically driven CSR policies and practices and value-driven CSR communication: A case study of Albert Heijn
Chantal van den Ouweland | 10358013 | 21 June 2018 | Final thesis | Amsterdam Business School UvA | MSc. in Business Administration – Strategy Track | Supervisor: dr. S.N. Bøe-Lillegraven
Statement of originality
This document is written by Chantal van den Ouweland who declares to take full responsibility for the contents of this document. I declare that the text and the work presented
in this document is original and that no sources other than those mentioned in the text and its references have been used in creating it. The Faculty of Economics and Business is responsible solely for the supervision of completion of the work, not for the contents.
Table of content
Statement of Originality ...2
Abstract ...5
1. Introduction ...6
2. Theoretical framework ...9
2.1 Corporate Social Responsibility and the underlying motives ...9
2.2 The role of the employee in the CSR communication process ...10
2.3 CSR communication is key ...10
2.4 Making the difference: perceived underlying motives of CSR ...12
3. Case setting and methods ...16
3.1 Research setting ...16
3.2 Data collection ...18
3.3 Data analysis ...20
4. Findings ...23
4.1 Firms’ framing of their CSR policies and practices in their CSR communication ...23
4.1.1 Impact area: healthy eating ...26
4.1.2 Impact area: reducing food waste ...28
4.1.3 Impact area: establishing a healthy and inclusive workplace ...29
4.1.4 Analysis of sub question 1: how do firms frame their CSR policies and practices in their CSR communication? ...30
4.2 Employees’ perceptions on their firm’s CSR policies and practices ...31
4.2.1 Perspectives on CSR ...31
4.2.2 Focus area: promotion of healthy choices ...32
4.2.3 Focus area: food waste reduction ...33
4.2.4 Focus area: commitment to the neighbourhood ...34
4.2.5 Perspectives on the underlying motives of CSR ...35
4.2.6 Analysis of sub question 2: how do employees perceive their firm’s CSR policies and practices? ...37
4.3 Employees’ considerations of their role in the firm’s CSR policies and practices and CSR communication ...38
4.3.1 Perspectives on involvement in and commitment to the firm’s CSR policies and practices 39 4.3.2 Perspectives on the CSR communication process ...41
4.3.3 Analysis of sub question 3: how do employees consider their role in their firm’s CSR policies and practices and CSR communication process? ...44
4.4 Towards a process model of the CSR communication process ...45
5. Discussion ...47
5.1 The CSR communication process and the role of the employee ...47
6. Conclusion ...52
Acknowledgements ...53
Bibliography ...54
Appendices ...58
I. Documents ...58
II. Interview guide employees ...58
III. Notes interviews ...59
IV. Examples coding and themes ...73
V. Examples method of analysis ...77
VI. Background information: CSR and food retailers ...78
List of tables and figures 1. Figure 1. The process of CSR communication as described in current literature ...14
2. Table 1. Overview of Albert Heijn’s stores ...17
3. Table 2. Anonymous list of respondents, N=7 ...19
4. Table 3. Overview of the used research methods, their objectives and their scope ...20
5. Table 4. Overview of the final themes ...22
6. Table 5. Overview of the strategy of Ahold Delhaize ...26
7. Table 6. Overview of the focus areas shown on the website and in the magazine ...30
8. Table 7. Comparison between focus areas as described in the firm’s communication and as perceived by the employees ...38
9. Figure 2. Process model of the CSR communication process of Albert Heijn...46
10. Figure 3. The role of the employee in the CSR communication process ...48
11. Table A1. Overview of the used documents and sources ...58
12. Table A2. Overview of themes and codes in the analysis of the annual report ...73
13. Table A3. Overview of themes and codes in the analysis of the sustainability report ...74
14. Table A4. Overview of themes and codes in the analysis of the interviews ...75
15. Figure A1. Example of the method of analysis process ...77
Abstract
This inductive study examined how firms attend to the paradox of CSR communication. The paradox of CSR communication results from the seemingly conflicting economically driven goals of CSR policies and practices and the need to communicate these CSR policies and practices in a value-driven way. Current literature have ignored the underlying tensions in the CSR communication process. However, understanding and resolving the underlying tensions is essential for a credible CSR message. Therefore, this study examined the paradox by examining the case of Albert Heijn, in which the role of the employee in the CSR communication process is identified. The findings show a gap between the employees’ perceptions of the firm’s CSR policies and practices and the firm’s CSR communication as identified in documents. The analysis suggests that this is caused by the top-down, task-related CSR communication, resulting in low involvement and commitment of employees in the CSR activities of Albert Heijn. This has consequences for the employees’ CSR
communication towards consumers, due to the important role of employees in this process. These findings have theoretical implications, by illustrating the importance of the employee’s role in the firm’s CSR communication process, and practical implications, by helping
1. Introduction
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives become increasingly important for firms, due to globalisation, governmental regulations and pressure from society (Aguinis & Glavas, 2012; Hartmann, 2011). In this study, CSR is defined as: ‘a business organisation’s
configuration of principles of social responsibility, processes of social responsiveness, and policies, programs, and observable outcomes as they relate to the firm’s societal relationships (Wartick & Cochran, 1985, in Wood, 1991, p. 693). From a business case perspective of CSR, firms engage in CSR initiatives in a way that these initiatives contribute to the firm’s financial performance (Carroll & Shabana, 2010). Based on this rational, a large amount of studies analysed the evaluation and reputation of the firm or brand in relation to CSR and found a direct link between these variables (e.g. Aguilera, Rupp, Williams, & Ganapathi, 2007; Hartmann, 2011; Lev, Petrovits, & Radhakrishnan, 2010; Pivato, Misani, & Tencati, 2008). Additionally, a considerable amount of studies show that an essential condition to establish the direct link between evaluation and reputation of the firm or brand and CSR, is that the CSR initiatives of the firm must be communicated in a value-driven way (Arvidsson, 2010; Du, Bhattacharya, & Sen, 2010). Thus, CSR communication is considered as an instrument to influence stakeholders’ perception of the firm in order to achieve a positive relationship between social activities and business revenues (Golob et al., 2013).
Although many studies provided important insights in CSR related to financial
performance and insights in the importance of CSR communication, the tensions between the underlying motives of CSR and the communicated motives remained underexposed (e.g. Aguinis & Glavas, 2012; Carroll & Shabana, 2010; Du et al., 2010). When firms, engaged in CSR, communicate about their CSR activities, they are likely to encounter a paradox, which is defined as “contradictory, yet interrelated elements that exist simultaneously and persist over time” (Smith & Lewis, 2011, p. 382). On the one hand CSR policies and practices serve
business related outcomes of firms. On the other hand CSR communication should
convincingly show that the underlying motives of the firm’s CSR initiatives go beyond their business related outcomes.
In this study, a paradox in CSR communication is identified. The paradox of CSR communication is examined at a retailer in the food industry. During the study the differences between the communicated CSR by the firm and the perceived CSR policies and practices by the employees became clear. Current literature argue that employees’ involvement in and commitment to their firm’s CSR policies forms the basis of trustworthy CSR communication (Morsing, Schultz, & Nielsen, 2008). Furthermore, employees who directly interact with consumers form a significant part of the CSR communication towards consumers (Dawkins, 2004). However, interviews with the food retailer’s employees indicate that the employees experience little commitment to and involvement in the CSR activities of their firm. Documents and the interviews with employees are used to answer the following research question: how do firms attend to the paradox between economically driven CSR policies and
practices and value-driven CSR communication? To analyse the data, the business case
perspective on CSR is used, which assumes that firms engage in CSR only if the CSR
activities contribute to the firm’s financial performance (Carroll & Shabana, 2010). Adopting this perspective, the employees’ perspectives of the firm’s CSR activities are distinguished from the firm’s preferred CSR communication.
The analysis of the food retailer’s CSR communication and the perceptions of the food retailer’s employees yields several key insights. First, a gap between the firm’s
communication of its motives to engage in CSR and the employees’ perceptions of the firm’s motives to engage in CSR policies and practices is found. Second, the data suggest that the internal top-down communication towards employees causes low feelings of commitment to and involvement in the firm’s CSR policies and practices among employees, shown by the
differences in commitment and involvement among employees of different levels. Third, the analyses suggest that employees play an important role in the CSR communication process towards consumers.
These insights contribute to the current literature about CSR communication by developing a deeper and more nuanced understanding of the CSR communication process, in which the employee plays an important role. In contrast to current literature, that tend to focus on CSR communication as a mean to establish a favourable reputation and consider
employees as subject of the firm’s CSR communication (e.g. Arvidsson, 2010; Du et al., 2010), this study explores the consequences of the tensions between the underlying motives to engage in CSR and the communicated motives in the CSR communication process. This study uncovers the importance of CSR communication towards employees and considers the
employees as part of the CSR communication process, in order to establish a credible CSR image.
In order to answer the research question, a theoretical framework is provided in chapter 2. The theoretical framework expands the described literature in the introduction and focuses on the current CSR communication literature. Chapter 3 presents the research setting and methods of this study. Chapter 4 sets out the findings, showing analyses of CSR
communication framing, employees’ perceptions of their firm’s CSR policies and practices and employees’ considerations about their role in the firm’s CSR policies and practices and CSR communication process. Chapter 5 includes the discussion of the study, followed by the conclusion in chapter 6.
2. Theoretical framework
2.1 Corporate Social Responsibility and the underlying motives
This study defines CSR as ‘a business organisation’s configuration of principles of social responsibility, processes of social responsiveness, and policies, programs, and observable outcomes as they relate to the firm’s societal relationships’ (Wartick & Cochran, 1985, in Wood, 1991, p. 693). Since firms’ practices have an impact on societal issues, social responsible firms do not act in isolation of these issues (Golob et al., 2013).
The underlying motives to engage in CSR vary across firms. The model of Quazi and O’Brien (2000) shows that motives of CSR can be roughly divided in two categories, namely value-driven or economically driven. Value-driven CSR entails that firms consider their social responsibility wider than only safeguarding their financial performance. Firms with
economically driven CSR consider their social responsibility limited to their financial performance. Therefore, from this perspective CSR initiatives should contribute to the
financial performance of the firm. Economically-driven CSR is aligned with the business case of CSR (Carroll & Shabana, 2010). According to the business case perspective of CSR, a firm should justify their CSR initiatives in a way that these initiatives are rewarded in economic and financial terms (Carroll & Shabana, 2010). Taking a business case perspective on CSR, a firm can accomplish beneficial financial outcomes by engaging in CSR initiatives (Carroll & Shabana, 2010). However, in order to contribute to the firm’s financial performance, CSR initiatives should be communicated value-driven (Du et al., 2010). The tensions between the economically driven CSR policies and the value-driven CSR communication can be
considered as a paradox, which is defined as “contradictory, yet interrelated elements that exist simultaneously and persist over time” (Smith & Lewis, 2011, p. 382). The discrepancy between CSR policies and practices and CSR communication is framed as a paradox, because
there are underlying tensions between the economically driven motives and value-driven motives.
2.2 The role of the employee in the CSR communication process
It is known that CSR communication plays a crucial role in the process through which firms harvest from their engagement in CSR, but so far the role of employees has largely been overlooked. However, employees play a significant role in both CSR activities and CSR communication towards consumers. First, low commitment of employees to CSR activities in the firm could result in employees’ scepticism towards the top management (Morsing & Schultz, 2006). Moreover, employees simply carry out CSR policies, which make them essential for the CSR activities of the firm. Furthermore, the employees’ development of a sense of ownership of the CSR activities is essential for a trustworthy communication about these CSR activities (Morsing et al., 2008). Thus, the employees’ involvement in and
commitment to CSR policies of the firm forms the basis of trustworthy CSR communication (Morsing et al., 2008). Also, employees who directly interact with consumers form an important part of CSR communication towards consumers (Dawkins, 2004). Thus, the employee’s position in the CSR communication process is especially important in a firm where consumer interaction frequently exists.
2.3 CSR communication is key
CSR could contribute to the firm’s financial performance. For example, firms can accomplish beneficial consumer related outcomes by engaging in CSR initiatives (e.g. Hartmann, 2011; Lev et al., 2010; Pivato et al., 2008). However, CSR initiatives of the firm must be visible and accessible for consumers, in order to be perceived, evaluated or judged as a socially
responsible firm (Du et al., 2010). Firms can achieve visibility and accessibility by
communicating their CSR (Arvidsson, 2010). CSR communication aims to have three goals (Du et al., 2010). First, CSR communication should result in the consumers’ awareness of the
CSR initiatives of the firm. Second, consumers’ scepticism towards the firm’s CSR initiatives can be reduced. Third, consumers could develop positive attributions of the motives
underlying the firm’s CSR activities. The firm can emphasize through CSR communication its involvement in CSR initiatives, its commitment and impact on the issue, its CSR motives in the initiative, and the ‘CSR fit’, or the suitability between the issue and the firm’s business (Du et al., 2010). These characteristics should result in a convincing and credible CSR message to the consumer.
Research found a relationship between CSR and consumers’ evaluation, or moral judgment, of firms and consumers’ behaviour. Therefore, CSR initiatives, and thus CSR communication, are particularly relevant for firms that are highly sensitive to consumer perceptions, for example firms that serve consumers’ daily needs and are highly visible for consumers (Hartmann, 2011). Various studies examined the underlying mechanism of the relationship between CSR and consumers’ evaluation and behaviour. Research shows a positive impact of CSR on consumer trust (Pivato et al., 2008). Moreover, research found an impact of corporate charity growth on sales growth, explained by consumers’ satisfaction (Lev et al., 2010). The consequences of both negative and positive CSR information proves the importance of consumers’ perceptions of firms. Strikingly, negative CSR information has stronger negative consequences for consumers’ evaluation of the firm compared to the positive consequences of positive CSR information (Hartmann, 2011). This bias in moral judgment can be explained by the prospect theory, which proposes that a reference point is used to evaluate gains or losses, whereby losses are experienced worse than equally sized gains (Kahneman & Tversky, 1979). This implies that consumers’ reference points include the expectation that firms behave ethically. Thus, CSR initiatives of firms are valued and expected by consumers.
expectations of the stakeholders, which results in perceptions of voluntary disclosure and eventually in legitimacy from these stakeholders (Arvidsson, 2010). Legitimacy theory is based on a social contract between the firm and society (Castelo Branco & Lima Rodrigues, 2006). This social contract implies that the firm should act according to the expectations and norms of society. In return, the firm exists and receives rights from society. Therefore, firms seek legitimacy through substantive and symbolic management (Ashforth & Gibbs, 1990). Substantive management is the actual change in organisational strategy. Symbolic
management involves the way firms portray themselves. Thus, firms should voluntarily disclose CSR activities in line with the norms and expectations of both their internal and external stakeholders. CSR communication is an appropriate form of disclosure, because this results in visibility and accessibility of CSR activities to internal and external stakeholders. However, CSR communication is a powerful tool and firms should be careful with this tool. A firm can obtain the opposite of the desired effect if they overemphasize their CSR initiatives, which is defined as the self-promoters’ paradox (Morsing & Schultz, 2006).
Ashforth and Gibbs (1990) argue that the self-promoters’ paradox arises from the double-edge nature of legitimation. On the one hand, firms express their legitimation, because they benefit from the positive perceptions of their stakeholders. On the other hand, these stakeholders are aware of the benefits firms experience if they build a positive reputation. Possibly, the efforts of firms to seek legitimation lead to perceptions of self-serving or manipulation. Therefore, communicating too much about CSR risks scepticism about the credibility of the firm’s message among stakeholders. The self-promoters’ paradox is more likely to occur among firms that are socially visible, because these firms are more exposed to public scrutiny.
2.4 Making the difference: Perceived underlying motives of CSR
The firm’s approach to CSR turns out to be a crucial factor in the relationship between CSR and consumers’ moral judgment about the firm, because the effect of CSR initiatives depends
on the perceived motives of the firm’s CSR initiatives (Yoon, Gürhan-Canli, & Schwarz, 2006). This is shown by the finding that CSR initiatives are increasingly used to maintain or repair a favourable corporate image, but the success varies between companies (Yoon et al., 2006). This research highlights the importance of perceived sincerity of value-driven motives underlying the CSR activities (Yoon et al., 2006). Sen and Bhattacharya (2001) connect to this research, by emphasizing the mediating role of consumers’ perceptions of congruence between their own characters and that of the company in the relationship between CSR initiatives and consumers’ reactions. Thus, a firm will not experience the beneficial effects of their CSR initiatives if these are not perceived as value-driven. Therefore, the main goal of CSR communication is that the firm communicates the CSR initiatives in a way that these initiatives are value-driven and explicitly not economically driven. The process of CSR communication described in the current literature is illustrated in Figure 1.
Figure 1. The process of CSR communication as described in current literature
Current literature suggests that the CSR communication process is as simple as illustrated in Figure 1. However, the question arises whether CSR policies and practices can be easily translated into CSR communication, which results in beneficial outcomes for the firm, or if the CSR communication process is more complex. Moreover, the role of the employee in the CSR communication process is largely overlooked. Therefore, it is interesting to explore the tensions between the underlying motives of CSR policies and practices and CSR communication and gain a deeper understanding of the role of the employee in the CSR communication process.
By examining these issues in CSR communication, this study aims to answer the following research question: how do firms attend to the paradox between economically driven
CSR policies and practices and value-driven CSR communication? Therefore, three sub
and practices in their CSR communication. This results in sub question 1: how do firms frame
their CSR policies and practices in their CSR communication? Thereafter, this study focuses
on the role of employees in the CSR communication process. It is interesting to examine how employees perceive their firm’s CSR policies and practices in order to compare the
employees’ perspectives with the firm’s framing of its CSR. This results in sub question 2:
how do employees perceive their firm’s CSR policies and practices? Lastly, this study focuses
on the perceived role of the employees in their firm’s CSR policies and practices and CSR communication process. This results in sub question 3: how do employees consider their role
3. Case setting and methods
3.1 Research setting
This study used a qualitative, multi method research design. A qualitative design is
appropriate to answer the research question, since the research question has an exploratory character (Robson, 2011). As the literature review showed, the current literature is not sufficient to conduct a quantitative research, but leaves room for exploratory research as a deeper understanding of this underexposed aspect of CSR communication is necessary. This study used inductive research, which starts with observations and tries to explain the observed phenomenon by generating new theory. More specifically, a case study design, according to the “Gioia method”, is used to answer the research question of this study. The “Gioia method” focuses on a single case which is chosen for revelatory potential and richness of data (Langley & Abdallah, 2011). Case studies are ‘rich, empirical descriptions of particular instances of a phenomenon that are typically based on a variety of data sources (Yin, 1994; in Eisenhardt & Graebner, 2007). By examining a delimited case, it is possible to gain a deeper understanding of a complex phenomenon (Robson, 2011).
This study is based on a case study of a food retailer, Albert Heijn. With a market share of 35.2%, Albert Heijn is the biggest food retailer in the Netherlands and is part of Ahold Delhaize. Ahold Delhaize is an international operating company and originates from a merge between Ahold and Delhaize Group completed in 2016 (Ahold Delhaize annual report 2016, 2016). Ahold Delhaize has brands in the United States, the Netherlands, Belgium and Central and Southeastern Europe. Also, Ahold Delhaize has joint ventures in Portugal and Indonesia (Ahold Delhaize annual report 2016, 2016). Albert Heijn operates in the
Netherlands, Belgium and Germany and offers supermarkets, convenience stores and online shopping (Ahold Delhaize annual report 2016, 2016). In total, Albert Heijn has 1,011 stores.
Table 1 provides an overview of the scope of Albert Heijn’s stores. Appendix VI provides
more background information about the Dutch food retail industry.
Table 1. Overview of Albert Heijn’s stores
Initially, this study focused on CSR communication in the food industry. The food sector deals with specific challenges related to CSR, since the food sector has a high impact on and strongly depends on the economy, the environment and on society (Hartmann, 2011; Jones, Comfort, Hillier, & Eastwood, 2005). Moreover, food retailers, especially large ones as Albert Heijn, have both a powerful and a vulnerable position in the food supply chain.
Powerful, because they have an intermediate position between suppliers and consumers (Tencati, 2002: in Castaldo, Perrini, Misani, & Tencati, 2009). Vulnerable, because retailers are socially more visible and therefore more exposed to public scrutiny compared to other parties in the food supply chain (Castelo Branco & Lima Rodrigues, 2006). Therefore, food retailers are especially confronted with the challenge to communicate their CSR initiatives. The food retailer Albert Heijn provided the ideal context for this study. On the one hand, Albert Heijn aims to be a local firm and communicates its CSR initiatives to its direct consumers. On the other hand, Albert Heijn is part of an international firm, which results in big impact with CSR initiatives. After studying the documents and learning about the
organisational context and firm’s CSR communication, several employees were interviewed. During these interviews, it was noticed that the employees’ perceptions of the firm’s CSR activities differed from the analysed CSR communication in the documents. Therefore, this
Albert Heijn Neighbourhood store Albert Heijn XL Albert Heijn to go Albert Heijn online
Established 1955 2002 1999 1997
Assortment 8.000-22.000 > 30.000 1.000 22.000
Size 800-2.500 m2 >3.000 m2 75-150 m2 Delivers to 70% of
perceptions on the firm’s CSR initiatives. Eventually, the role of the employee in the firm’s CSR communication process was examined.
3.2 Data collection
The study’s fieldwork lasted from 19 February to 3 June and consisted of document collection and conducting interviews. The documents consisted of the annual report and the
sustainability report of Ahold Delhaize, Albert Heijn’s free magazine ‘Allerhande’, and the website of Albert Heijn. Both reports were purchased from the website of Ahold Delhaize. The ‘Allerhande’ magazines were purchased via a web application, where all the ‘Allerhande’ magazines are accessible. The annual report and sustainability reports originate from 2016, because this was the most recent year from which the reports can be purchased. For the same reason, the magazines originate from 2017 (12 magazines in total) and the website content originates from 2018. The most recent years were chosen, because in this way the timeframe of the data is aligned with the data gathered from the interviews with the employees.
Next to the documents, seven semi-structured interviews were conducted. Interviews are a unique way to gain direct access to the field. Semi-structured interviews provide a structure to gain insights for answering the research question, but also provide flexibility for the interviewer in case interesting subjects present themselves in the conversation (Robson, 2011). This provides the possibility to deviate from the standard questions. Moreover, interviews are an efficient way to gain rich data (Eisenhardt & Graebner, 2007). In order to gain a complete insight in the food retailer, different employees were interviewed. More specifically, employees who are directly involved in consumer-related tasks and employees who are part of a management team or headquarters were interviewed. By interviewing several employees within one firm, it is aimed to get a realistic and complete insight in the firm. Several steps were taken to recruit respondents. First, the customer service of Albert Heijn was contacted and asked for permission to interview employees of the firm. The contact
information was found on the website. Unfortunately, the customer service rejected this request, because the food retailer has a policy stating that it does not engage in research from educational institutions. Also, the employees at the service desk in several supermarkets were unwilling to participate. Moreover, most employees on the headquarters were unwilling to participate, to protect their inside information from competitors. Therefore, self-selection sampling was used, which allows respondents to respond to social media recruitment (Facebook, Linkedin) themselves. Also, snowball sampling was used, which includes members who are sampled and then asked to identify other members to sample (Saunders, Lewis, & Thronhill, 2012). Furthermore, via friends, family and other connections employees were requested to participate. Thereafter, the employees received an information letter with more details about the study, privacy conditions and contact information. Also, practical information was given. Once a meeting was established, the interview took 45-60 minutes. The interviews were conducted in Dutch. Table 2 shows an overview of the respondents.
Date interview Respondent
April, 4, 2018 Employee A, quality control employee (supermarket)
April 11, 2018 Employee B, cashier B (service desk, supermarket)
April 12, 2018 Employee C, shelf filler (supermarket)
April 24, 2018 Employee D, senior sales employee (bread department, supermarket)
May 1, 2018 Employee E, floor planner (headquarter)
May 2, 2018 Employee F, team leader (department fresh products, supermarket)
May 8, 2018 Employee G, team leader (department cashiers, supermarket)
Table 2. Anonymous list of respondents, N = 7
Table 3 shows an overview of the used research methods, their objectives and their
Research method Examples Objective Scope Document Annual report (1)
Sustainability report (1) Website (1)
Magazines (12)
CSR communication – general
CSR communication – consumer oriented
108 p. 29 p. 33 p. 1740 p. Semi-structured interviews
Employees (7) CSR communication and perspectives – employee oriented
354 min
Table 3. Overview of the used research methods, their objectives and their scope
3.3 Data analysis
This study used an iterative approach and moved back and forth between the empirical material and the literature. During this process, the gathered data were constantly challenged and critically reviewed. The data analysis started with the identification of the framing of the communication of CSR initiatives, or policies and practices of the firm. This is done by analysing the annual report and sustainability report. Both reports were analysed using Adobe Acrobat Reader and Excel. First, in Adobe Acrobat Reader codes were given to parts of the text and to the lay-out of the reports. Thereafter, the parts of the text and the lay-out elements were organised in Excel together with an overview of the codes. Next, the codes of the annual report were categorised into 12 themes and the codes of the sustainability report were
categorised into 2 themes. In Table A1 and Table A2 in Appendix III an overview of the identified themes and codes of the reports is given as an example of the analyses. The same approach is used for the analyses of the website and the magazines. The website and
Allerhande magazines were analysed in order to identify the framing of the external, consumer oriented communication of the firm’s CSR initiatives. These documents were chosen, because these are the most used consumer-oriented communication channels. These channels are particularly interesting, because these channels are centrally regulated by the headquarters. Therefore, the analysis of these channels provides a reference of the preferred
CSR communication of the food retailer.
After the analysis of the documents, the framing of CSR communication towards employees and the employees’ perceptions of the firm’s CSR initiatives and CSR communication were examined, by conducting seven semi-structured interviews. An interview guideline was used, which can be found in Appendix II. During every interview notes were made (see Appendix III). Afterwards, the interview record was listened in order to verify the notes. Thereafter, the notes of every interview were coded in Excel, which resulted in 10 to 16 codes per interview. After all the interviews were conducted, all the codes of every interview were combined and patterns were identified. This resulted in a categorisation of 46 codes into 9 themes. Table A3 in Appendix IV shows the themes and codes which resulted from the interviews.
After all the documents and interviews were analysed, the codes from the different sources were combined accordingly to the Gioia method. In this way, not only patterns across all sources could be identified, but also contrasts. An example of the combination of the different analyses can be found in Table A4 in Appendix V. Eventually, 10 themes were identified in order to answer the sub questions, which are shown in Table 4. These themes formed the basis of the findings section.
Sub question Themes
1. How do firms frame their CSR policies and practices in their CSR communication?
1. Impact area: healthy eating 2. Impact area: reducing food waste
3. Establishing a healthy and inclusive workplace
2. How do employees perceive their firm’s CSR policies and practices?
4. Perspectives on CSR
5. Focus area: promotion of healthy choices 6. Focus area: food waste reduction
7. Focus area: commitment to the neighbourhood 8. Underlying motives of CSR
3. How do employees consider their role in their firm’s CSR policies and practices and CSR communication process?
9. Involvement and commitment
10. Perspectives on CSR communication process
4. Findings
To provide the insights into the paradox between economically driven CSR policies and practices and value-driven CSR communication, the findings are presented as three answers on the sub questions with regard to Albert Heijn. First, the findings according to sub question 1 about firms’ framing of their CSR policies and practices in their CSR communication are described. More specifically, it is described how Albert Heijn communicates its CSR policies and practices, as framed in the CSR communication provided by the headquarters. The analyses of the annual report and sustainability report, the website and the ‘Allerhande’ magazines form the core of the descriptions. Second, the findings according to sub question 2 about employees’ perceptions of the firm’s CSR policies and practices are described. More specifically, the employees’ perceptions of Albert Heijn’s CSR policies and practices are described. The core of these descriptions is the analysis of the interviews with Albert Heijn’s employees. Lastly, the findings according to sub question 3 about employees’ considerations about their role in the firm’s CSR policies and practices and the firm’s CSR communication process are described. More specifically, employees’ perceptions of their commitment and involvement in Albert Heijn’s CSR policies and practices and their role in the communication process of these CSR policies and practices are described. The descriptions of sub question 3 are also based on the interviews with the employees of Albert Heijn.
4.1 Firms’ framing of their CSR policies and practices in their CSR communication
Albert Heijn is part of the retailgroup Ahold Delhaize and acts accordingly to the overarching strategy of Ahold Delhaize. Therefore, the CSR communication of Albert Heijn is analysed by using the annual report and sustainability report of Ahold Delhaize. Moreover, consumer oriented communication channels are analysed in order to examine how Albert Heijn frames its CSR policies and practices in their communication towards consumers. More specifically,
these CSR communication channels, Albert Heijn’s preferred communication of its CSR policies and practices can be examined, because these communication channels are determined by the headquarters.
The “Better Together strategy” forms the core of the retail group, inspired by the successful merge between the two well-established retail groups Ahold and Delhaize Group. The Better Together strategy is characterised by four elements: an emphasize on together or teamwork, great local brands, innovation and daily relevance. In all of these elements sustainable retailing is key. Together stands for a strong cooperation position of the two original retail groups Ahold and Delhaize Group. Teamwork results in mutual learning and sharing best practices, based on a common purpose and commitment to sustainable retailing. The concept of great local brands is based on the combination of global scale together with local and personal service. All local brands of Ahold Delhaize are concerned with becoming a more and more sustainable business. Quality, value and experiences to customers are
considered important, as well as attention to local communities. Innovation focuses on supporting customers to prepare affordable, healthy and tasty meals every day, by offering fresher and healthier products and inspiration. The theme innovation connects to daily
relevance, because all brands fulfil customers’ daily needs. The strategy is summarised in the
purpose of the retail group: “Together, we build Great Local Brands, bringing Fresh Inspiration Every Day. We strive to live up to our purpose in everything we do.” (Ahold
Delhaize Annual Report 2016, 2016, p. 14)
Next to the Better Together strategy, Ahold Delhaize wields a sustainable business model. The sustainable business model is mainly focused on customers: saving for customers, investing in the customers’ proposition and funding growth in key channels. Ultimately, the desired result of the sustainable business model is creating value for all stakeholders,
Delhaize is convinced that shareholders benefit if customers, associates, communities and the environment are well served. The goal of the sustainable business model is summarised in a promise: “We promise customers, associates and communities to always work to be a better place to shop, a better place to work, and a better neighbour – every day. All of our brands share these promises and each fulfils them according to what’s best for their local markets.” (Ahold Delhaize Annual Report 2016, 2016, p. 29). The strategy and business model are complemented with shared values among all brands: courage, integrity, teamwork, care and
humour.
In order to bring strategy to practice and meet the diverse interests of all stakeholders, Ahold Delhaize identifies the relevance of sustainability topics (Supplementary report on
Sustainable Retailing performance 2016, 2016). More specifically, together with
stakeholders, Ahold Delhaize examines which material sustainability topics, related to social, economic, and environmental issues, are important for stakeholders and identifies the impact Ahold Delhaize has on these topics. This analysis results in the Sustainable Retailing strategy, which is mainly focused on three impact areas: healthy eating, food waste reduction, and
healthy and inclusive workplaces. Beyond these three impact areas, Ahold Delhaize also
commits to product safety and sustainability, climate impact, associate development, safety at
work and local community connection. Table 5 shows an overview of both the Better Together
Better Together Strategy Great local brands Innovation Daily relevance Sustainability retailing strategy
Impact areas
Healthy eating Food waste reduction
Healthy and inclusive workplace Sustainability retailing strategy
Secondary impact areas
Product safety and sustainability Climate impact
Associate impact Safety at work
Local community connection
Table 5. Overview of the strategy of Ahold Delhaize
Albert Heijn acts accordingly to the well-outlined strategy of Ahold Delhaize: the ‘Better Together strategy’. This strategy contains a CSR approach which clearly focuses on three main impact areas: healthy eating, food waste reduction and healthy and inclusive
workplaces. Additional impact areas are: product safety and sustainability, climate impact, associate development, safety at work and local community connection. These topics are
explained in the annual report and sustainability report, but are also represented on the website of Albert Heijn and the ‘Allerhande’ magazines. The main impact areas will be elaborated upon in the following sections.
4.1.1 Impact area: healthy eating
The impact area ‘healthy eating’ is clearly represented both on Albert Heijn’s website and in the ‘Allerhande’ magazines. First, this is shown by the order of products on the website, with healthy products on the top of the webpage and less healthy products on the bottom of the webpage. For example, this is done on the homepage where the weekly offers are shown. Albert Heijn offers for 7 days discount on a set of products. Also, on the website, the first tab
‘Products’ shows the complete assortment of Albert Heijn, structured in 18 categories. The categories in the first row are ‘potatoes, vegetables and fruit’, ‘meat, chicken, fish and vegetarian’, ‘cheese, meat products and delicacies’, ‘fresh pre-prepared meals and salads’, ‘dairy, eggs’, and ‘bakery’. This range shows the priorities Albert Heijn set for healthy food. However, it is arguable whether ‘fresh pre-prepared meals and salads’ are healthy, because fresh pizzas and pancakes belong to this category as well. Nevertheless, this category is structured in a way that more healthy food choices are shown on the top of the page and less healthy food choices are shown on the bottom of the page. Moreover, the first row shows the standard products or basics for the average household. The second row shows ‘breakfast cereals, spreads and snacks’, ‘soft drinks, juices, coffee and tea’, ‘wines’, ‘beers, liquor and aperitifs’, ‘pasta, rice, international kitchen’, and ‘soups, canned food, sauces and food
tasters’. In the category ‘soft drinks’, a so-called ‘soft drinks guide’ is given, which shows the amount of sugar in the products. Also, alternatives are presented in the form of products with less or without sugar. The same strategy is used for breakfast cereals, a so-called ‘sugar guide’ is provided, which shows the amount of sugar in each product. The last row shows ‘sweets, cookies, chips’, ‘frozen products’, ‘drugstore & baby’, ‘conscious food’, ‘household, pets’, and ‘cooking, dining, non-food’. The tab ‘Bonus’ or weekly offers shows the same order of categories.
Furthermore, the website offers a large database of recipes. Initially, these recipes are published in the ‘Allerhande’ magazines. Subsequently, these recipes are published online. Filters offer the opportunity to choose for example for fast prepared meals, so-called ‘slim meals’ or budget meals. Furthermore, the opportunity to choose for healthy, vegetarian, gluten free, meat or fish free meals is given. Apart from facilitating the visitor of the website in his search for recipes by providing filters, Albert Heijn aims to inspire customers through its website. One can visit a page called ‘moments’, which provides recipes for specific moments,
for example ‘summer’ or ‘Christmas’. Another example is a page called ‘cooking techniques’, which shows only recipes which are prepared using grilling or baking for example. This connects to the pillar ‘daily relevance’, as described in the annual report of Ahold Delhaize, by providing recipes for every day and every moment. The focus area ‘healthy eating’ is not only clearly reflected on the website, but also in the ‘Allerhande’ magazines. Every month a new ‘Allerhande’ magazine is published, including new recipes and inspiration. Every edition has a main theme and consists of news from the supermarkets, recipes varying from daily meals to more culinary dinners, cooking tips and tricks, and in-depth information about specific products or production of food. An example of a theme focused on healthy food is shown in the first edition of 2017, which has the typical theme “Good start in 7 steps”. This edition has an educational character. Step by step tips are given for a more healthy diet, supplemented with matching recipes. Furthermore, experts about food explain more about the importance of these steps. Notably, every edition of 2017, except the edition of December, has a healthy meal, with a focus on vegetables, on the cover. Furthermore, every recipe shows a clear overview of the amount of calories, proteins, fat, carbs, salt and price per person.
4.1.2 Impact area: reducing food waste
Besides the focus on promoting healthy eating, Albert Heijn communicates about its impact area food waste reduction. The tab ‘more’ on the website shows additional information about Albert Heijn as a retailer. The tab ‘food waste’ gives an explanation about the initiatives of Albert Heijn which are taken in order to reduce food waste. For example, Albert Heijn donates products to the ‘Voedselbank’, which is a Dutch institution which offers food packages to Dutch people who live under the poverty threshold (Welkom bij de Vereniging van Nederlandse Voedselbanken, n.d.). Moreover, Albert Heijn offers imperfect fruit and vegetables, for example misshapen apples or cucumbers. Normally, among other retailers, these ‘imperfect’ products are rejected for sale. Also, Albert Heijn collaborates with Instock, a
restaurant which offers culinary meals from surplus food. Lastly, products which are close to the expiration date are sold with a discount, to encourage customers to buy these products, which results in less waste. Information about food waste is also provided in the ‘Allerhande’ magazines. For example, tips for consumers to reduce food waste at households are given.
4.1.3 Impact area: establishing a healthy and inclusive workplace
Furthermore, Albert Heijn’s impact area ‘establishing a healthy and inclusive workplace’ is communicated towards consumers. On the website, one can find under the tab ‘people’ and ‘employees’ information about the initiatives to create a healthy and inclusive workplace. Albert Heijn maintains a policy in which every supermarket should hire two young people with a disability or with a distance to the labour market. Also, Albert Heijn collaborates with UWV, the national institution for unemployment facilities. Albert Heijn pays special attention to young, inexperienced employees, who have their first job at Albert Heijn. Managers are experienced in supporting these type of employees. Special attention is not only given to employees of Albert Heijn itself, but also for employees who are involved in the supply chain. For example, Albert Heijn purchases coffee directly from coffee farmers. This leads to
transparency in the supply chain of Albert Heijn and fair prices for the suppliers. Thus, the slogan ‘Everybody Appie’ can be interpreted in multiple ways and could refer to the
consumer, the supplier and the employee. The CSR communication towards consumers based on the website and ‘Allerhande’ magazines is summarised in Table 6.
Healthy eating Prioritising healthy food* Food/health information* Inspiring recipes*
Transparency in price, nutrition*
Reduce food waste Discount on product close to expiration date Support for projects as ‘Instock’
Donation to ‘Voedselbank’
Offering ‘imperfect’ fruit and vegetables Tips for the consumer to reduce food waste* Inclusive + healthy workplace Slogan ‘Everybody Appie’
Policy: hiring young employees with distance to labour market
Support for young, inexperienced employees Transparency in supply chain
Table 6. Overview of the focus areas shown on the website and in the magazine
All elements are on the website, elements with star (*) are also in the magazines.
4.1.4 Analysis of sub question 1: how do firms frame their CSR policies and practices in their CSR communication?
The CSR communication of Ahold Delhaize and Albert Heijn shows clearly areas where Albert Heijn aims to make a difference. The main conclusion which derives from the description of Albert Heijn’s communication of their CSR policies and practices is that its CSR communication is framed as value-driven. First, this appears from the focus on sustainability, which results in a distinguished, dedicated strategy for sustainable retailing. Second, values for the interests for consumers are embedded in the entire strategy. Both the annual report and the sustainability report are focused on the social responsibilities Ahold Delhaize wants to take and how it takes these responsibilities. These impact areas are
reflected in the consumer oriented communication channels, as the website and ‘Allerhande’ magazines. This appears from the focus on promotion of healthy food, food waste reduction and initiatives for a healthy and inclusive workplace. More specifically, Albert Heijn
communicates its collaborations with external instances (e.g. Instock and Voedselbank) and the focus on values for sustainability in the extended CSR information on the website. Thus, it can be concluded that the CSR communication is framed as value-driven.
4.2 Employees’ perceptions of their firm’s CSR policies and practices
In the previous section, the framing of Albert Heijn’s CSR communication is described. Thereafter, it is interesting to examine how the employees perceive the firm’s CSR policies and practices and compare the perceptions with the framing of the CSR policies and practices in the firm’s CSR communication. Therefore, this section presents the findings from the interviews with Albert Heijn’s employees according to the employees’ CSR perceptions, in order to gain insight in the employees’ perceptions of Albert Heijn’s CSR policies and practices.
4.2.1 Perspectives on CSR
All employees are more or less familiar with the term ‘corporate social responsibility’. Clarifying CSR, the term is explained to all employees as ‘the action of a firm to take its responsibility for the impact of the organisation practices on stakeholders’. Every respondent acknowledges that he or she values CSR, finds CSR very important and urgent, and especially thinks that CSR is most important for big firms, as Albert Heijn, because these firms have a big impact on society and environment.
“Big organisations have an exemplary role. They can show how you can do business in a different [sustainable] way.” – Team leader B
Moreover, several respondents mention that retailers have a lot of power over consumers and suppliers.
“As a retailer you have a lot of power about many people all over the world. From agriculture to consumer. You should carefully handle this responsibility.” – Floor planner
Therefore, specifically retailers should take their responsibility about the impact they make and can make. In relation to Albert Heijn, the employees describe a considerable amount of CSR activities. Three CSR areas come forward: promotion of healthy choices, reduction of food waste and commitment to the neighbourhood. These topics will be elaborated upon in the following sections.
4.2.2 Focus area: promotion of healthy choices
The focus area ‘promotion of healthy choices’ is prominent in all of the interviews. The shelf filler is involved in changes in the assortment and notices that the assortment changes with trends as ‘power food’ and organic products. More employees notice changes in the
assortment of Albert Heijn. For example, recently, Albert Heijn introduced soda drinks with a reduced amount of sugar. Information about the sugar reduction is given at the shelf with soda drinks. A similar approach is taken for the assortment with beers. A separate shelf for non-alcohol beers or beers with a low level of non-alcohol is promoted.
“One of the values of Albert Heijn is promoting a healthy choice. […] There are more and
more products as organic meat and meat alternatives. Also, there are more sugar free products and half litre energy drinks are no longer sold.” – Team leader A
Healthy choices are not only promoted among consumers, but also among employees. Employees receive a discount on a fitness membership and there is fruit available in the canteen. Twice a year a survey is conducted among employees about their commitment to the firm. One of the questions is “Albert Heijn stimulates a healthy diet”. Team leader B says that the management team of the supermarket tries to take the task of promoting healthy choices among their employees into account. Team leader A admits that this question receives a low score every year. The senior sales employee argues that is it contradictory that on the one hand Albert Heijn promotes their healthy image, but on the other hand the workload is very high.
“It [Albert Heijn] pretends to be a healthy company, but this falls short in practice. In our
supermarket the workload is very high, although this is not the case in every supermarket.” – Senior sales employee
4.2.3 Focus area: food waste reduction
Besides the promotion of healthy choices, the employees observe that Albert Heijn tries to reduce food waste in some amount. A quality control employee tells that special techniques are used to optimise supply management. In this way, a better estimation for the supply can be made, which results in less food waste. However, the shelf filler mentions that for hundreds of euros of vegetables and fruit are wasted on a daily basis. Also, the senior sales employee says that one tries to manage the supply as good as possible, but that sometimes things go wrong. Based on the techniques for supply management, Albert Heijn handles margins for the amount of unsold products.
customer has too little choice. Sometimes customers are indignantly if a product is sold out. They expect us to have everything.” – Senior sales employee
Every supermarket should stay within the margins, otherwise it receives a warning from the headquarters. Therefore, every supermarket puts effort in staying within the margins, by using different strategies.
“By carefully cutting the prices you could reduce the amount of unsold products. This is primarily to meet the numbers. Every week, there is a plan for revenues, wages, price cutting
and unsold products.” – Team leader A
Thus, there is a financial interest in both reducing food waste and not too much reduction of food waste. On the one hand, remaining with too many unsold products is a waste of money, on the other hand, Albert Heijn aims to offer enough products for their consumers. Fortunately, the unsold products find their way back to the distribution centres and are used as food for animals. Moreover, Albert Heijn donates part of the unsold products to the ‘Voedselbank’.
4.2.4 Focus area: commitment to the neighbourhood
The collaboration of Albert Heijn with the ‘Voedselbank’ connects to the pillar ‘better for the neighbourhood’.
“[Albert Heijn’s] initiatives are focused on ‘better for the consumer, better for the employee
and better for the neighbourhood. However, better for the neighbourhood is less obvious. I noticed that this received more attention at Albert Heijn over the last few years.”
Several employees explain that Albert Heijn aims to commit consumers, by being a ‘local supermarket’. In other words, consumers will come back for the personnel and the personal, friendly service. Moreover, Albert Heijn encourages its employees to make an effort for the neighbourhood. For example, by cleaning the streets surrounding the supermarket. Furthermore, Albert Heijn aims to contribute to social cohesion.
“We made commitments to our neighbourhood. For example, we ensure that there is no inconvenience of shopping trolleys. Also, we have a table with coffee and tea in our supermarkets, which attracts a lot of elderly people.”– Shelf filler
4.2.5 Perspectives on the underlying motives of CSR
All employees struggle with the underlying motives and the ultimate goals of CSR. Most of the employees state that profit is the main driver of CSR and that Albert Heijn is an extremely commercial company. The respondents explain that new products respond to consumer trends and demand of consumers, the revenues are the most important and eventually the profit is all that matters.
“It is very simple. If the revenues are good, the managers smile.” – Senior sales employee
On the other hand, team leader A and the floor planner explain that retailers in general are under pressure. Albert Heijn is heavily competed by Jumbo, the second largest retailer in the Netherlands. Therefore, Albert Heijn is continually innovating how they can adapt,
improve and optimise their formats. CSR is one of the tools to gain a competitive advantage.
“You’re not in the game if you don’t do anything with CSR.” – Floor planner
Team leader B thinks on the one hand that well-sold soda drinks with a high amount of sugar will kept instore, and notices on the other hand that more and more alternatives are offered. The floor planner argues that it is very important that Albert Heijn focuses on the promotion of healthy food choices. As a retailer, she states, you have a lot of power over consumer behaviour and this responsibility should be taken seriously. However, the quality control employee concludes that the price is the most important driver to reach the majority of the people. He proposes that legislation could offer a solution, for example remove the VAT rates from organic products. Furthermore, he states that the consumer determines for ninety percent what is offered in the supermarket. Other respondents disagree, and state that the assortment determines what the consumer buys.
Nevertheless, the respondents agree upon the goal of CSR initiatives: creating a positive image.
“Locally, Albert Heijn is mainly promoted as ‘supermarket of the neighbourhood’. Overall, it
is promoted that Albert Heijn offers sustainable and fair products. The image of Albert Heijn is a store which provides more than just your groceries.” – Cashier B
“I think CSR initiatives results in a positive image.” – Shelf filler
“After the merge with Delhaize, the logo of the company became green. […] A shift occurred; both in the vision and in the types of projects which are carried out.” – Floor planner
According to the employees, the image of Albert Heijn is the most important intangible asset it has. Albert Heijn uses the slogan ‘Everybody Appie’, which implies that Albert Heijn should be available for everyone. The cashier B explains that Albert Heijn does a lot to commit consumers to their supermarket. By offering extra service and commit to CSR they aim to achieve a competitive advantage.
“At the moment, I think CSR could mean a lot for your competitive advantage. Albert Heijn
invested heavily in CSR, which resulted in the image it has now. For example, Jumbo and Lidl invested way less in their sustainable image.” – Floor planner
4.2.6 Analysis of sub question 2: how do employees perceive their firm’s CSR policies and practices?
The interviews with the employees show that the employees argue that CSR plays an
important role in their organisation. The respondents distinguish three impact areas on which the CSR policies of Albert Heijn are focused. These three impact areas are: promotion of healthy choices, reducing food waste, and commitment to the neighbourhood. As the prior analyses show, these impact areas are partly aligned with the other CSR communication channels of Albert Heijn (see Table 7). Both healthy eating and food waste reduction are salient for the employees. Interestingly, the employees did not focus on the focus area ‘healthy and inclusive workplace’, but rather focused on the focus area ‘commitment to the neighbourhood’.
Focus areas: reports, website, ‘Allerhande’ Focus areas: employees
Healthy eating Healthy eating
Food waste reduction Food waste reduction
Healthy and inclusive workplace Commitment to the neighbourhood
Table 7. Comparison between focus areas as described in the firm’s CSR communication and as perceived by
the employees
The employees find it difficult to identify the underlying motives of Albert Heijn’s CSR policies and practices. On the one hand, the employees are convinced of the value-driven character of some activities. For example, offering healthier alternatives for soft drinks and alcoholic drinks and managing the supply in order to reduce food waste. On the other hand, the employees are well aware of the commercial interests intertwined with the CSR policies and practices. For example, creating a positive image, which contributes to financial
performance. Also, some employees recognise the need to engage in CSR activities, in order to gain a competitive advantage. Thus, the employees are not convinced that the CSR policies and practices of their firm are completely value-driven.
4.3 Employees’ considerations of their role in the firm’s CSR policies and practices and CSR communication process
In the previous section, employees’ perceptions of their firm’s CSR policies and practices are described. Thereafter, it is interesting to examine how the employees consider their role in their firm’s CSR policies and practices and the firm’s CSR communication process. Therefore, this section presents the findings from the interviews with Albert Heijn’s employees according to the employees’ commitment and involvement in the firm’s CSR policies, practices and communication, in order to gain insight in the perceived employees’ role in Albert Heijn’s CSR policies and practices and CSR communication process.
4.3.1 Perspectives on involvement in and commitment to the firm’s CSR policies and practices
Despite the fact that all respondents value CSR, as mentioned in the previous section, they initially argue that they do not have much to do with CSR in their daily tasks. CSR is
perceived as “something for the management”. Tasks are mainly delegated and employees do not feel like they can influence the CSR activities of Albert Heijn in their work. The top-down organisation structure comes clearly forward in every interview.
“It is explained how I should do my tasks, but not why.” – Cashier B
“I primarily do what is expected from me. Tasks are clearly delegated, I do not feel room to
determine how I approach my work” – Senior sales employee
“Actually, everything is determined at the headquarter; the supermarkets just follow their
orders.” – Team leader B
The communication about CSR initiatives towards employees is described as top-down and containing general information. The respondents mention a platform, posters and folders as main communication channels towards employees. For example, videos and vlogs about current CSR initiatives of Albert Heijn are posted on the platform.
Some differences are noticed between the employees of different levels. Where the shelf filler and cashier B feel uncommitted and uninvolved in CSR initiatives in the supermarkets, the team leaders feel slightly more involved in and informed about the CSR initiatives. The team leaders are part of the management team of the supermarket and seem to receive more detailed information about the CSR initiatives of Albert Heijn compared to the other employees.
“Every Thursday we have a meeting, where you get room to participate in the decision making
process.” - Team leader B
Both team leaders confirm that the management team plays an important role in the communication towards the other employees. For example, the team leader receives a message about changes in the assortment, including the underlying reason of the change. If a cashier is involved in this change, he or she gets information about the change. Team leader B acknowledges that she mainly focuses on the tasks the cashier should carry out instead of the underlying reason of the task.
Team leader A thinks that it is difficult to reach all the employees, in all the levels of the organisation. Also, the floor planner doubts if anyone pays attention to the videos and vlogs posted on the platform. The general communication material is provided by the
headquarters. In de end, it is up to the supermarket manager of each supermarket to determine which information is communicated and which information is not communicated to its
employees and consumers.
Besides providing general information about CSR activities, Albert Heijn does try to involve employees in the decision-making process in some extent. For example, Albert Heijn organises projects for employees. Several employees mention that posters about these projects for employees are hung in the canteen. For example, the project ‘AHfrika’ enabled team leaders to go to Africa, where they visited and helped local farmers. Interestingly, this project is for team leaders only, which results again in a greater information flow to the members of the management team.
The floor planner argues that Albert Heijn stimulates its employees to proactively think about the company. An example is the organising of so-called ‘product pitches’, where
employees can pitch their ideas about new products of Albert Heijn. Often sustainable products win.
4.3.2 Perspectives on the CSR communication process
The consumer-oriented communication about the CSR initiatives of Albert Heijn is mainly perceived as implicit.
“The initiatives of CSR are not extremely clear communicated. […] Albert Heijn prioritises
the performance of CSR initiatives rather than the communication of these initiatives.” – Cashier B
“There is attention for the CSR communication, but I think the communication will reach mainly the consumers who are already aware of CSR.” – Team leader A
Almost all the employees acknowledge that the implicit communication about CSR is good, because this communication should not be too explicit.
“I think CSR is more communicated towards the employee than towards the customer
because too much communication [towards customers] is annoying.” – Floor planner
“You should be careful with the things you do and say. You are quickly judged if things are
not as expected. […] The bigger you are, the harder you fall.” – Quality control employee
Nevertheless, some employees think Albert Heijn could communicate more about their CSR activities.
“Communication could create awareness and inspiration among your consumers”
– Team leader A
Contrary, team leader B states that Albert Heijn aims to create a certain image and that communication about CSR is crucial to succeed in creating this image.
“Albert Heijn wants to excel in CSR, this has no goal at all if nobody notices. In that case, the CSR image receives no attention from consumers.” – Team leader B
Indeed, there are some subtle ways of CSR communication towards consumers. The ‘bonus system’, the discount system of Albert Heijn, is partly used to stimulate specific choices. For example, healthy products or organic products are promoted. However, several employees argue that Albert Heijn could use the ‘bonus system’ even more to stimulate the consumerism of organic products.
“Soda drinks are always discounted and there are a lot of discount packages available.
Contrary, organic juices are almost never discounted.” – Shelf filler
Nevertheless, team leader B mentions that the planning of ‘bonus products’ is carefully made. One of the requirements of this planning is that healthy products should be placed at the entrance of the supermarkets. Moreover, consumers can win organic products when participating in lotteries organised by Albert Heijn. In this way the consumer gets the chance to try products, and therefore might be encouraged to buy these organic products in the future.
More explicit communication channels which are used to reach consumers include television, Internet, and social media. The shelf filler explains that the supermarket where he
