Communicating Corporate Social Responsibility Performance of Organisations: A Key to Winning Stakeholders’ Goodwill

Abstract

Corporate social responsibility is an approach whereby a company considers the interests of all stakeholders, both within the organisation and in society and applies those interests while developing its strategy and during execution; it offers organisations various opportunities not only to differentiate themselves from competitors, but also, for reducing costs. However, organisations must endeavour to communicate their corporate social responsibility initiatives to the stakeholders. Therefore, this study is an examination of the importance of communicating CSR initiatives of organisations to the stakeholders. The analysis shows that it is important for organisations to communicate their CSR initiatives to the different  stakeholders so as to win their goodwill. A disconnect in communication between CSR initiatives and public awareness will impede any potential benefits to an organisation. Thus, it is important to intelligently and strategically communicate this to the public. Some of the channels for communicating CSR initiatives are: press releases, internal web portals, newsletters, emails, television commercials, print advertisements, billboard advertisements and Internet communications, which offer opportunities to engage and share information with vast audiences. The paper therefore recommends that it is imperative for every organisation to communicate its corporate social responsibility initiatives to the stakeholders through different channels of communication as it is one of the ways to win the goodwill of the stakeholders.

Key words: Communication, corporate social responsibility, initiatives, stakeholders and goodwill