Abstract A multi-dimensional analysis of large corporations Twitter
This study explored how companies, Patagonia, Seventh
Generation and Burts Bees promote their corporate social
responsibility initiatives on Twitter. In addition, the study
looked at how well their corporate social responsibility
initiatives were being perceived by the media. Through the
use of a qualitative and quantitative analyses, the study was
able to determine how the companies CSR initiatives were
congruent to their mission statements. The findings showed
that some companies are more dedicated to communicating
their CSR initiatives to their Twitter followers than other
companies. Not only are companies promoting CSR
initiatives congruent to their mission statements, but they are
also promoting incongruent CSR initiatives unrelated to their
company. Further research, could look into seeing how their
consumer base reacts to their CSR initiatives.
Introduction
What makes a company stand out? Is it their dedication to
the products they sell, their consumer engagement, their
honesty or their efforts in their corporate social responsibility
initiatives. Many for-profit companies have corporate social
responsibilities (CSR) initiatives whether they promote them
or not. CSR was first introduced in the 80s (Austin, Gaither).
At first, CSR was often used as a way to cover up a crisis or
company blunder (Austin, Gaither). However, today CSR is
a way for a company to stand out and also build
relationships with their consumers. CSR is no longer just a
tab on a website to make a company looks good to
stakeholders or investors. Consumers today want
transparency. The current consumer, is looking for
companies with strong CSR platforms (Moscato). Today,
companies are not only promoting their own CSR initiatives
but, they are also supporting certain social causes
(Moscato). This study will look at three for-profit companies
(Burts Bees, Patagonia and Seventh Generation) CSR
initiatives on Twitter and whether or not they are congruent
to their mission statements.
Method
Using a thematic analysis, three different companies CSR
initiatives were evaluated by whether or not their CSR
initiatives being portrayed on Twitter were congruent to their
mission statements. To begin, each companies mission
statements were evaluated. When looking at each
companies mission statement, content involving CSR was
highlighted. After looking at what each companies mission
statement promised, their Twitter accounts were then
evaluated. Each companies Twitter timelines were analyzed
to see what each company was tweeting about the most. A
sample of tweets were collected for each company based on
the following content: environmental, social, health,
corporate partnerships, employee activism, consumer
activism and other. Then, the tweets were categorized into
the following categories: environmental, social, health,
corporate partnerships, employee activism, consumer
activism and other based on keywords, phrases, graphics
and hashtags. After coding the Tweets collected for each
company, the data showed how congruent the content
theyre tweeting is with each companies mission statement
involving CSR. In addition, news articles will be analyzed as
well to see how well each company is promoting their CSR
initiatives. Looking at how news sources covered each
different companies environmental initiative, will give insight
in to how the posts were being perceived by the popular
press and potentially consumers. The thematic analysis will
be completed by gathering numerous news articles that
covered each companies corporate social responsibility
efforts on Twitter.
accounts and the alignments with their mission statements and
CSR initiatives Discussion
After analyzing each companies CSR related Tweets, the
By: Amelia Hartzell | Advisor: Brittany Rowe-Cernevicius study showed that, Patagonia and Burts Bees are advocating
mostly about environmental causes. However, Seventh
Generation is promoting employee activism the most.
Environmental advocacy is a prevalent topic in all three
companies mission statements. However, these companies
are not just promoting environmental related concerns for
their own benefit. The content they are tweeting goes beyond
their mission statements. In addition, these companies are
taking stances on social issues such as womens rights,
immigration laws and LGBTQ inclusion. Although, these
companies are also tweeting content about their products,
one could argue that one company, Patagonia, is advocating
Results more for CSR than they are for their own company.
Patagonia, is a company who sells outdoor attire and
products (Moscato). They are also a company founded on
Below are three pie graphs of the percentages of each category (content area) each company was tweeting about. With an intercoder
protecting and maintaining a healthy environment (Moscato).
reliability of .8, 80% of the Tweets were agreed upon between coders. The data showed that Burts Bees and Patagonia tweeted mainly
Their Twitter timeline, focuses more on advocating for the
about the environment, which is congruent to their mission statements. Seventh Generation, the data showed that they were tweeting
environment than it does their products. This poses the
mainly about employee activism. Employee activism is included in Seventh Generations mission statement but, not as prevalent as say
question, does Patagonia care more about their CSR than
health or environmental concerns.
the products they are selling? Is there a problem with
Content Areas Featured in Burts Bees Tweets Content Areas Featured in Patagonias Tweets promoting too much CSR ("Is Twitter the News Outlet for the
21st Century?)? Then, there is the company Burts Bees
4% who rarely advocates anything but their products. Lastly, we
have Seventh Generation who promotes their products but,
also promotes their CSR. That leads to the question whether
14% a company should have a healthy balance of promoting CSR
but, also promoting their products ("Is Twitter the News
Outlet for the 21st Century?). Further research will look at
16% the positive and negative connotations with promoting CSR
too much or too little. The second part of this study, will look
to see whether each companies key messages they are
8% trying to promote are getting lost to their target audiences.
Using a second thematic analysis, news articles will be
52%
coded to see once again what categories are each company
62% focusing on. Lastly, the data shown from the qualitative
thematic analysis will show once again whether the content
in the news articles are congruent to each companies
mission statements.
References
Austin, Luncinda, and Barbara, Miller-Gaither. "Campaign
Content Areas Featured in Seventh Generations Tweets and Corporate Goals in Conflict: Exploring
Company-issue Congruence Through a Content
Analysis of Coca-Colas Twitter Feed." Public Relation
Review, vol. 42, no. 4, 2016, pp. 698-709.
EBSCOhost. Web. 18 Dec. 2016.
30% Environmental "Is Twitter the News Outlet for the 21st Century?" Cape
Times [Los Angeles, CA] 7 Jul. 2009, 1st ed.: 2.
Social LexisNexis. Web. 19 Dec. 2016.
Moscato, Derek. The Brand Behind the Activism:
Patagonias DamNation Campaign and the Evolution
60% Health of Corporate Social Responsibility. Case Studies in
Strategic Communication Journal, vol. 5, 2016,
14% Corporate
Partnerships
EBSCOhost. Web. 8 Mar. 2016.
Photos courtesy of burtsbees.com, patagonia.com and
Employee seventhgeneration.com
Activism
Acknowledgements
Consumer
20% Activism I would like to thank Dr. Cernevicius with assisting me
throughout the process of conducting research for my
10% Other capstone In addition, I would like to thank junior, Matt
McDonald for assisting me with coding my research.