IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/jbuset/v177y2022i3d10.1007_s10551-021-04755-x.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Is Femvertising the New Greenwashing? Examining Corporate Commitment to Gender Equality

Author

Listed:
  • Yvette Sterbenk

    (Ithaca College)

  • Sara Champlin

    (The University of North Texas)

  • Kasey Windels

    (University of Florida)

  • Summer Shelton

    (Idaho State University)

Abstract

This study examined the potential for a new area of corporate social responsibility (CSR) washing: gender equality. Companies are increasingly recognized for advertisements promoting gender equality, termed “femvertisements.” However, it is unclear whether companies that win femvertising awards actually support women with an institutionalized approach to gender equality. A quantitative content analysis was performed assessing company leadership team listings, annual reports, CSR reports, and CSR websites of 61 US-based companies (31 award winners and 30 non-winning competitors) to compare the prevalence of internal and external gender-equality CSR activities of companies that have (versus have not) won femvertising awards. When controlling for number of employees and annual revenue, award-winning companies committed to more internal efforts that support women than non-award-winning companies. However, no significant differences were found in the number of external efforts or representation in female leadership between companies with and without award-winning femvertisements. Overall, a majority of award-winning companies (81%) engaged in less than ten of the possible 23 gender-equality CSR activities, suggesting these companies’ female empowerment commercials were often not in line with their broader CSR activities. While more research is needed in this area, we propose the term “fempower-washing” to describe CSR-washing in the context of gender equality.

Suggested Citation

  • Yvette Sterbenk & Sara Champlin & Kasey Windels & Summer Shelton, 2022. "Is Femvertising the New Greenwashing? Examining Corporate Commitment to Gender Equality," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 177(3), pages 491-505, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:177:y:2022:i:3:d:10.1007_s10551-021-04755-x
    DOI: 10.1007/s10551-021-04755-x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10551-021-04755-x
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10551-021-04755-x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Pascual Berrone & Andrea Fosfuri & Liliana Gelabert, 2017. "Does Greenwashing Pay Off? Understanding the Relationship Between Environmental Actions and Environmental Legitimacy," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 144(2), pages 363-379, August.
    2. Michael Hopkins, 2005. "Measurement of corporate social responsibility," International Journal of Management and Decision Making, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 6(3/4), pages 213-231.
    3. Craig D. Macaulay & Orlando C. Richard & Mike W. Peng & Maria Hasenhuttl, 2018. "Alliance Network Centrality, Board Composition, and Corporate Social Performance," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 151(4), pages 997-1008, September.
    4. Julie Pirsch & Shruti Gupta & Stacy Grau, 2007. "A Framework for Understanding Corporate Social Responsibility Programs as a Continuum: An Exploratory Study," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 70(2), pages 125-140, January.
    5. Gergely Nyilasy & Harsha Gangadharbatla & Angela Paladino, 2014. "Perceived Greenwashing: The Interactive Effects of Green Advertising and Corporate Environmental Performance on Consumer Reactions," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 125(4), pages 693-707, December.
    6. Fabrizio Zerbini, 2017. "CSR Initiatives as Market Signals: A Review and Research Agenda," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 146(1), pages 1-23, November.
    7. Kent Walker & Fang Wan, 2012. "The Harm of Symbolic Actions and Green-Washing: Corporate Actions and Communications on Environmental Performance and Their Financial Implications," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 109(2), pages 227-242, August.
    8. Lori Holder-Webb & Jeffrey Cohen & Leda Nath & David Wood, 2009. "The Supply of Corporate Social Responsibility Disclosures Among U.S. Firms," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 84(4), pages 497-527, February.
    9. Bouten, Lies & Everaert, Patricia & Van Liedekerke, Luc & De Moor, Lieven & Christiaens, Johan, 2011. "Corporate social responsibility reporting: A comprehensive picture?," Accounting forum, Elsevier, vol. 35(3), pages 187-204.
    10. Wolin, Lori D., 2003. "Gender Issues in Advertising—An Oversight Synthesis of Research: 1970–2002," Journal of Advertising Research, Cambridge University Press, vol. 43(1), pages 111-129, March.
    11. Sandro Castaldo & Francesco Perrini & Nicola Misani & Antonio Tencati, 2009. "The Missing Link Between Corporate Social Responsibility and Consumer Trust: The Case of Fair Trade Products," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 84(1), pages 1-15, January.
    12. Hanna Kim & Won-Moo Hur & Junsang Yeo, 2015. "Corporate Brand Trust as a Mediator in the Relationship between Consumer Perception of CSR, Corporate Hypocrisy, and Corporate Reputation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(4), pages 1-12, March.
    13. Siano, Alfonso & Vollero, Agostino & Conte, Francesca & Amabile, Sara, 2017. "“More than words”: Expanding the taxonomy of greenwashing after the Volkswagen scandal," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 27-37.
    14. Denise Fischer & Malte Brettel & René Mauer, 2020. "The Three Dimensions of Sustainability: A Delicate Balancing Act for Entrepreneurs Made More Complex by Stakeholder Expectations," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 163(1), pages 87-106, April.
    15. Varghese, Neema & Kumar, Navin, 2020. "Femvertising as a media strategy to increase self-esteem of adolescents: An experiment in India," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 113(C).
    16. Béatrice Parguel & Florence Benoît-Moreau & Cristel Russell, 2015. "Can evoking nature in advertising mislead consumers? The power of ‘executional greenwashing'," Post-Print hal-01463025, HAL.
    17. Siv Skard & Helge Thorbjørnsen, 2014. "Is Publicity Always Better than Advertising? The Role of Brand Reputation in Communicating Corporate Social Responsibility," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 124(1), pages 149-160, September.
    18. Krishna Udayasankar, 2008. "Corporate Social Responsibility and Firm Size," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 83(2), pages 167-175, December.
    19. Donia, Magda B.L. & Tetrault Sirsly, Carol-Ann, 2016. "Determinants and consequences of employee attributions of corporate social responsibility as substantive or symbolic," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 34(3), pages 232-242.
    20. Susanne Arvidsson, 2010. "Communication of Corporate Social Responsibility: A Study of the Views of Management Teams in Large Companies," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 96(3), pages 339-354, October.
    21. Becker-Olsen, Karen L. & Cudmore, B. Andrew & Hill, Ronald Paul, 2006. "The impact of perceived corporate social responsibility on consumer behavior," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 59(1), pages 46-53, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Vicky Ching Gu, 2023. "How independent should a board be? Examine the corporate social responsibility performance in the US healthcare sector," Service Business, Springer;Pan-Pacific Business Association, vol. 17(3), pages 695-721, September.
    2. Bradley J. Koch & Pamela Tremain Koch & Yiheng Deng, 2023. "China and U.S. organizational culture via value statements: an emic-etic yin-yang approach," Asian Business & Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 22(3), pages 1094-1130, July.
    3. Anike Sult & Janice Wobst & Rainer Lueg, 2024. "The role of training in implementing corporate sustainability: A systematic literature review," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 31(1), pages 1-30, January.
    4. Luca Pistilli & Alessia Paccagnini & Stefano Breschi & Franco Malerba, 2023. "Gender Bias in Entrepreneurship: What is the Role of the Founders’ Entrepreneurial Background?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 187(2), pages 325-346, October.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Marta Pizzetti & Lucia Gatti & Peter Seele, 2021. "Firms Talk, Suppliers Walk: Analyzing the Locus of Greenwashing in the Blame Game and Introducing ‘Vicarious Greenwashing’," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 170(1), pages 21-38, April.
    2. Menno D. T. Jong & Mark Meer, 2017. "How Does It Fit? Exploring the Congruence Between Organizations and Their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Activities," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 143(1), pages 71-83, June.
    3. Torelli, Riccardo & Balluchi, Federica & Lazzini, Arianna, 2019. "Greenwashing and Environmental Communication: Effects on Stakeholders’ Perceptions," OSF Preprints 97vxn, Center for Open Science.
    4. Jennifer L. Robertson & A. Wren Montgomery & Timur Ozbilir, 2023. "Employees' response to corporate greenwashing," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(7), pages 4015-4027, November.
    5. Gatti, Lucia & Pizzetti, Marta & Seele, Peter, 2021. "Green lies and their effect on intention to invest," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 127(C), pages 228-240.
    6. Andrea Venturelli & Fabio Caputo & Simona Cosma & Rossella Leopizzi & Simone Pizzi, 2017. "Directive 2014/95/EU: Are Italian Companies Already Compliant?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(8), pages 1-19, August.
    7. Mahrinasari MS, 2019. "Determinants of Brand Equity: Communication of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) versus CSR itself and Company Credibility," Contemporary Economics, University of Economics and Human Sciences in Warsaw., vol. 13(3), September.
    8. Riccardo Torelli & Federica Balluchi & Arianna Lazzini, 2020. "Greenwashing and environmental communication: Effects on stakeholders' perceptions," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(2), pages 407-421, February.
    9. Simone Pizzi, 2018. "The Relationship between Non-financial Reporting, Environmental Strategies and Financial Performance. Empirical Evidence from Milano Stock Exchange," Administrative Sciences, MDPI, vol. 8(4), pages 1-9, November.
    10. Wei Li & Weining Li & Veikko Seppänen & Timo Koivumäki, 2022. "How and when does perceived greenwashing affect employees' job performance? Evidence from China," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 29(5), pages 1722-1735, September.
    11. Bazlur RAHMAN, & Idris ALI, & Alexandru Mircea NEDELEA, 2017. "Greenwashing In Canadian Firms: An Assessment Of Environmental Claimsgreenwashing In Canadian Firms: An Assessment Of Environmental Claims," EcoForum, "Stefan cel Mare" University of Suceava, Romania, Faculty of Economics and Public Administration - Economy, Business Administration and Tourism Department., vol. 6(2), pages 1-8, july.
    12. Zhang, Dongyang, 2023. "Can environmental monitoring power transition curb corporate greenwashing behavior?," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 212(C), pages 199-218.
    13. Torelli, Riccardo, 2020. "Sustainability, Responsibility and Ethics: Different Concepts for a Single Path," OSF Preprints hb92c, Center for Open Science.
    14. Silvia Ruiz-Blanco & Silvia Romero & Belen Fernandez-Feijoo, 2022. "Green, blue or black, but washing–What company characteristics determine greenwashing?," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 24(3), pages 4024-4045, March.
    15. Subhajit Bhattacharya, 2017. "Does corporate social responsibility contribute to strengthen brand equity? An empirical study," International Review on Public and Nonprofit Marketing, Springer;International Association of Public and Non-Profit Marketing, vol. 14(4), pages 513-533, December.
    16. Vera Ferrón‐Vílchez & Jesus Valero‐Gil & Inés Suárez‐Perales, 2021. "How does greenwashing influence managers' decision‐making? An experimental approach under stakeholder view," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 28(2), pages 860-880, March.
    17. Ioannis Ioannou & George Kassinis & Giorgos Papagiannakis, 2023. "The Impact of Perceived Greenwashing on Customer Satisfaction and the Contingent Role of Capability Reputation," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 185(2), pages 333-347, June.
    18. Wei Li & Weining Li & Veikko Seppänen & Timo Koivumäki, 2023. "Effects of greenwashing on financial performance: Moderation through local environmental regulation and media coverage," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(1), pages 820-841, January.
    19. Lee, Michael T. & Raschke, Robyn L., 2023. "Stakeholder legitimacy in firm greening and financial performance: What about greenwashing temptations?☆," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 155(PB).
    20. Ronald J. Ferguson & Kaspar Schattke & Michèle Paulin, 2021. "Persuasions by Corporate and Activist NGO Strategic Website Communications: Impacts on Perceptions of Sustainability Messages and Greenwashing," Humanistic Management Journal, Springer, vol. 6(1), pages 117-131, April.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:177:y:2022:i:3:d:10.1007_s10551-021-04755-x. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.