Exploring the explicitness, salience of ethics and transparency of messages in social reports: a cross-national longitudinal content analysis from an institutional perspective

Abstract

Purpose

This study analyzed the explicitness, the salience of ethics and the transparency of messages in firms' social reports based on their significance to strategic corporate social responsibility (CSR) communication.

Design/methodology/approach

Drawing on institutional theory, this content analysis investigated 750 social reports from 125 firms for a ten-year period in liberal market economies (LMEs: US, UK), coordinated market economies (CMEs: Germany, Japan) and state-led market economies (SLMEs: France, South Korea).

Findings

First, firms in CMEs showed the highest level of transparency, and in all market economies, an overall trend of increase in the level of transparency was found. Second, firms in SLMEs communicated their CSR activities least explicitly. Third, firms in CMEs showed the lowest salience of ethics.

Originality/value

Useful theoretical as well as practical implications are provided in relation to the institutional perspective to CSR, and cross-national CSR communication.

Citation

Lee, T.H. (2021), "Exploring the explicitness, salience of ethics and transparency of messages in social reports: a cross-national longitudinal content analysis from an institutional perspective", Corporate Communications: An International Journal, Vol. 26 No. 2, pp. 279-295. https://doi.org/10.1108/CCIJ-04-2020-0071