IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/hal/journl/hal-02462583.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

How corporate social responsibility activities influence employer reputation: The role of social media capability

Author

Listed:
  • Jose Benitez

    (ESC [Rennes] - ESC Rennes School of Business, UGR - Universidad de Granada = University of Granada)

  • Laura Ruiz

    (ESC [Rennes] - ESC Rennes School of Business, UGR - Universidad de Granada = University of Granada)

  • Ana Castillo

    (UGR - Universidad de Granada = University of Granada)

  • Javier Llorens

    (UGR - Universidad de Granada = University of Granada)

Abstract

This study analyzes the relation between the firm's corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities, employer reputation, and social media in the academic conversation on business value of technology. Motivated by the controversy over the function of social media in the firm's generation of value from CSR activities, this study hypothesizes that firms that perform CSR activities may become better employers and that this positive relationship may be stronger when firms leverage social media technologies. We explain this effect of social media by arguing that these social technologies enable higher social visibility and exposure/credibility. We tested our research model with data from 100 organizations in Spain. The results provided two key insights: 1) CSR activities enable firms to build greater employer reputation; and 2) social media capability amplifies the effect of CSR activities on employer reputation. This study contributes to Information Systems and Business Ethics research by arguing theoretically and demonstrating empirically that leveraging a technology such as social media generates business value through maximization of the positive impact of CSR activities on employer reputation of the firm.

Suggested Citation

  • Jose Benitez & Laura Ruiz & Ana Castillo & Javier Llorens, 2020. "How corporate social responsibility activities influence employer reputation: The role of social media capability," Post-Print hal-02462583, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:journl:hal-02462583
    DOI: 10.1016/j.dss.2019.113223
    Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://rennes-sb.hal.science/hal-02462583
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://rennes-sb.hal.science/hal-02462583/document
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.dss.2019.113223?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
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Hemphill, Thomas A., 2005. "Rejuvenating Wal-Mart's reputation," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 48(1), pages 11-21.
    2. Rishika Rishika & Ashish Kumar & Ramkumar Janakiraman & Ram Bezawada, 2013. "The Effect of Customers' Social Media Participation on Customer Visit Frequency and Profitability: An Empirical Investigation," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 24(1), pages 108-127, March.
    3. Jose Benitez & Yang Chen & Thompson S.H. Teo & Aseel Ajamieh, 2018. "Evolution of the impact of e-business technology on operational competence and firm profitability: A panel data investigation," Post-Print hal-01998202, HAL.
    4. David L. Deephouse & Peter Jaskiewicz, 2013. "Do Family Firms Have Better Reputations Than Non-Family Firms? An Integration of Socioemotional Wealth and Social Identity Theories," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(3), pages 337-360, May.
    5. Edward E. Rigdon & Jan-Michael Becker & Arun Rai & Christian M. Ringle & Adamantios Diamantopoulos & Elena Karahanna & Detmar W. Straub & Theo K. Dijkstra, 2014. "Conflating Antecedents and Formative Indicators: A Comment on Aguirre-Urreta and Marakas," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 25(4), pages 780-784, December.
    6. Sinan Aral & Chrysanthos Dellarocas & David Godes, 2013. "Introduction to the Special Issue ---Social Media and Business Transformation: A Framework for Research," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 24(1), pages 3-13, March.
    7. Paul A. Pavlou & Omar A. El Sawy, 2006. "From IT Leveraging Competence to Competitive Advantage in Turbulent Environments: The Case of New Product Development," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 17(3), pages 198-227, September.
    8. Thomas Lyon & A. Montgomery, 2013. "Tweetjacked: The Impact of Social Media on Corporate Greenwash," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 118(4), pages 747-757, December.
    9. Lee, Eun Mi & Park, Seong-Yeon & Rapert, Molly I. & Newman, Christopher L., 2012. "Does perceived consumer fit matter in corporate social responsibility issues?," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 65(11), pages 1558-1564.
    10. Jiban Khuntia & Terence J. V. Saldanha & Sunil Mithas & V. Sambamurthy, 2018. "Information Technology and Sustainability: Evidence from an Emerging Economy," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 27(4), pages 756-773, April.
    11. Saeidi, Sayedeh Parastoo & Sofian, Saudah & Saeidi, Parvaneh & Saeidi, Sayyedeh Parisa & Saaeidi, Seyyed Alireza, 2015. "How does corporate social responsibility contribute to firm financial performance? The mediating role of competitive advantage, reputation, and customer satisfaction," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 68(2), pages 341-350.
    12. Jose Benitez & Gautam Ray & Jörg Henseler, 2018. "Impact of Information Technology Infrastructure Flexibility on Mergers and Acquisitions," Post-Print hal-01998000, HAL.
    13. Anja Iseke & Kerstin Pull, 2019. "Female Executives and Perceived Employer Attractiveness: On the Potentially Adverse Signal of Having a Female CHRO Rather Than a Female CFO," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 156(4), pages 1113-1133, June.
    14. Qi Song & Yi Wang & Yang Chen & Jose Benitez & Jiang Hu, 2019. "Impact of the usage of social media in the workplace on team and employee performance," Post-Print hal-02159305, HAL.
    15. Khim-Yong Goh & Cheng-Suang Heng & Zhijie Lin, 2013. "Social Media Brand Community and Consumer Behavior: Quantifying the Relative Impact of User- and Marketer-Generated Content," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 24(1), pages 88-107, March.
    16. Stewart Thornhill & Raphael Amit, 2003. "Learning About Failure: Bankruptcy, Firm Age, and the Resource-Based View," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 14(5), pages 497-509, October.
    17. Andrea Stanaland & May Lwin & Patrick Murphy, 2011. "Consumer Perceptions of the Antecedents and Consequences of Corporate Social Responsibility," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 102(1), pages 47-55, August.
    18. Yi Tang & Daniel Z. Mack & Guoli Chen, 2018. "The differential effects of CEO narcissism and hubris on corporate social responsibility," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(5), pages 1370-1387, May.
    19. Korschun, Daniel & Du, Shuili, 2013. "How virtual corporate social responsibility dialogs generate value: A framework and propositions," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 66(9), pages 1494-1504.
    20. Abagail McWilliams & Donald S. Siegel & Patrick M. Wright, 2006. "Corporate Social Responsibility: Strategic Implications," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(1), pages 1-18, January.
    21. Helm, Sabrina, 2011. "Employees' awareness of their impact on corporate reputation," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 64(7), pages 657-663, July.
    22. Patricia Martínez & Andrea Pérez & Ignacio Rodríguez del Bosque, 2014. "Exploring the Role of CSR in the Organizational Identity of Hospitality Companies: A Case from the Spanish Tourism Industry," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 124(1), pages 47-66, September.
    23. Jose Benitez & Ana Castillo & Javier Llorens & Jessica Braojos, 2018. "IT-enabled knowledge ambidexterity and innovation performance in small U.S. firms: The moderator role of social media capability," Post-Print hal-01998044, HAL.
    24. Kiljae Lee & Won-Yong Oh & Namhyeok Kim, 2013. "Social Media for Socially Responsible Firms: Analysis of Fortune 500’s Twitter Profiles and their CSR/CSIR Ratings," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 118(4), pages 791-806, December.
    25. Wynne W. Chin & Barbara L. Marcolin & Peter R. Newsted, 2003. "A Partial Least Squares Latent Variable Modeling Approach for Measuring Interaction Effects: Results from a Monte Carlo Simulation Study and an Electronic-Mail Emotion/Adoption Study," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 14(2), pages 189-217, June.
    26. Wang, Yi & Chen, Yang & Benitez-Amado, Jose, 2015. "How information technology influences environmental performance: Empirical evidence from China," International Journal of Information Management, Elsevier, vol. 35(2), pages 160-170.
    27. Paul Shum & Sharon Yam, 2011. "Ethics and Law: Guiding the Invisible Hand to Correct Corporate Social Responsibility Externalities," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 98(4), pages 549-571, February.
    28. Xueming Luo & Jie Zhang & Wenjing Duan, 2013. "Social Media and Firm Equity Value," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 24(1), pages 146-163, March.
    29. Chi-Shiun Lai & Chih-Jen Chiu & Chin-Fang Yang & Da-Chang Pai, 2010. "The Effects of Corporate Social Responsibility on Brand Performance: The Mediating Effect of Industrial Brand Equity and Corporate Reputation," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 95(3), pages 457-469, September.
    30. Christian Fieseler & Matthes Fleck & Miriam Meckel, 2010. "Corporate Social Responsibility in the Blogosphere," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 91(4), pages 599-614, February.
    31. Jose Benitez & Javier Llorens & Jessica Braojos, 2018. "How information technology influences opportunity exploration and exploitation firm’s capabilities," Post-Print hal-01774321, HAL.
    32. Ker-Tah Hsu, 2012. "The Advertising Effects of Corporate Social Responsibility on Corporate Reputation and Brand Equity: Evidence from the Life Insurance Industry in Taiwan," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 109(2), pages 189-201, August.
    33. David Eberle & Guido Berens & Ting Li, 2013. "The Impact of Interactive Corporate Social Responsibility Communication on Corporate Reputation," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 118(4), pages 731-746, December.
    34. Ajamieh, Aseel & Benitez, Jose & Braojos, Jessica & Gelhard, Carsten, 2016. "IT infrastructure and competitive aggressiveness in explaining and predicting performance," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(10), pages 4667-4674.
    35. Jessica Braojos & Jose Benitez & Javier Llorens, 2019. "How do social commerce-IT capabilities influence firm performance? Theory and empirical evidence," Post-Print hal-02057780, HAL.
    36. K. D. Joshi & Lei Chi & Avimanyu Datta & Shu Han, 2010. "Changing the Competitive Landscape: Continuous Innovation Through IT-Enabled Knowledge Capabilities," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 21(3), pages 472-495, September.
    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. Dirk Schneckenberg & Jose Benitez & Christoph Klos & Vivek Velamuri & Patrick Spieth, 2021. "Value creation and appropriation of software vendors: A digital innovation model for cloud computing," Post-Print hal-03329065, HAL.
    2. Claudiu George Bocean & Michael Marian Nicolescu & Marian Cazacu & Simona Dumitriu, 2022. "The Role of Social Responsibility and Ethics in Employees’ Wellbeing," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(14), pages 1-15, July.
    3. Wei Wang & Ziyuan Sun & Weixing Zhu & Lin Ma & Yuting Dong & Xiao Sun & Fengzhi Wu, 2023. "How does multi‐agent govern corporate greenwashing? A stakeholder engagement perspective from “common” to “collaborative” governance," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 30(1), pages 291-307, January.
    4. Lin, Shunzhi & Lin, Jiabao, 2023. "How organizations leverage digital technology to develop customization and enhance customer relationship performance: An empirical investigation," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 188(C).
    5. Amira Khattak & Zahid Yousaf, 2021. "Digital Social Responsibility towards Corporate Social Responsibility and Strategic Performance of Hi-Tech SMEs: Customer Engagement as a Mediator," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(1), pages 1-16, December.
    6. Natalia Wagner & Bogusz Wiśnicki, 2022. "The Importance of Emerging Technologies to the Increasing of Corporate Sustainability in Shipping Companies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-20, September.
    7. Ralf Buckley, 2023. "Sector-Scale Proliferation of CSR Quality Label Programs via Mimicry: The Rotkäppchen Effect," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(14), pages 1-11, July.
    8. Hou, Tingting & Luo, Xin (Robert) & Ke, Dan & Cheng, Xusen, 2022. "Exploring different appraisals in deviant sharing behaviors: A mixed-methods study," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 139(C), pages 496-509.
    9. Mei Feng & Chu Chen & Jia Liu & Wei Jia, 2022. "Does Central Environmental Protection Inspector Improve Corporate Social Responsibility? Evidence from Chinese Listed Companies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(22), pages 1-22, November.
    10. Jessica Braojos & Jose Benitez & Javier Llorens & Laura Ruiz, 2020. "Impact of IT integration on the firm’s knowledge absorption and desorption," Post-Print hal-03160729, HAL.
    11. Ashish Kumar Jha & Nishant Kumar Verma, 2023. "Social Media Sustainability Communication: An Analysis of Firm Behaviour and Stakeholder Responses," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 25(2), pages 723-742, April.
    12. Barros, Victor & Verga Matos, Pedro & Miranda Sarmento, Joaquim & Rino Vieira, Pedro, 2022. "M&A activity as a driver for better ESG performance," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 175(C).
    13. Lucie Kvasničková Stanislavská & Ladislav Pilař & Klára Margarisová & Roman Kvasnička, 2020. "Corporate Social Responsibility and Social Media: Comparison between Developing and Developed Countries," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(13), pages 1-19, June.
    14. Tomasz Noga & Milena Le Viet-Blaszczyk, 2023. "The Role of Selected Themes and Formats in Social Media Marketing Communication of CSR Activities," European Research Studies Journal, European Research Studies Journal, vol. 0(2), pages 562-576.
    15. Amoah John & Nutakor Felix & Li Jinke & Jibril Abdul Bashiru & Sanful Benjamin & Odei Michael Amponsah, 2021. "Antecedents of social media usage intensity in the financial sector of an emerging economy: a Pls-Sem Algorithm," Management & Marketing, Sciendo, vol. 16(4), pages 387-406, December.
    16. Souad Hassanie & Georgiana Karadas & Okechukwu Lawrence Emeagwali, 2021. "Do CSR Perceptions Influence Work Outcomes in the Health Care Sector? The Mediating Role of Organizational Identification and Employee Attachment," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(17), pages 1-16, September.
    17. Luis Manuel Cerdá Suárez & Jesús Perán López & Belén Cambronero Saiz, 2020. "The Influence of Heuristic judgments in Social Media on Corporate Reputation: A Study in Spanish Leader Companies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(4), pages 1-17, February.
    18. Enikő Korcsmáros & Bence Csinger, 2022. "Sustainable Competitiveness in the Case of SMEs—Opportunities Provided by Social Media in an International Comparison," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-18, September.

    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. Jessica Braojos & Jose Benitez & Javier Llorens, 2019. "How do social commerce-IT capabilities influence firm performance? Theory and empirical evidence," Post-Print hal-02057780, HAL.
    2. Jessica Braojos & Jose Benitez & Javier Llorens & Laura Ruiz, 2020. "Impact of IT integration on the firm’s knowledge absorption and desorption," Post-Print hal-03160729, HAL.
    3. Braojos-Gomez, Jessica & Benitez-Amado, Jose & Javier Llorens-Montes, F., 2015. "How do small firms learn to develop a social media competence?," International Journal of Information Management, Elsevier, vol. 35(4), pages 443-458.
    4. Muzammal Ilyas Sindhu & Muhammad Arif, 2017. "Corporate social responsibility and loyalty: Intervening influence of customer satisfaction and trust," Cogent Business & Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 4(1), pages 1396655-139, January.
    5. Riggs, Randy & Felipe, Carmen M. & Roldán, José L. & Real, Juan C., 2024. "Information systems capabilities value creation through circular economy practices in uncertain environments: A conditional mediation model," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 175(C).
    6. Bertschek, Irene & Kesler, Reinhold, 2022. "Let the user speak: Is feedback on Facebook a source of firms’ innovation?," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    7. 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.
    8. Qi Song & Yi Wang & Yang Chen & Jose Benitez & Jiang Hu, 2019. "Impact of the usage of social media in the workplace on team and employee performance," Post-Print hal-02159305, HAL.
    9. Cynthia Stohl & Michael Etter & Scott Banghart & DaJung Woo, 2017. "Social Media Policies: Implications for Contemporary Notions of Corporate Social Responsibility," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 142(3), pages 413-436, May.
    10. Leila Meratian Esfahani & Lester W. Johnson, 2018. "Stakeholders’ Engagement and Strategic Management of Social Media," Journal of International Business Research and Marketing, Inovatus Services Ltd., vol. 3(6), pages 47-56, September.
    11. Bardos, Katsiaryna Salavei & Ertugrul, Mine & Gao, Lucia Silva, 2020. "Corporate social responsibility, product market perception, and firm value," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    12. Lisa Baudot & Joseph A. Johnson & Anna Roberts & Robin W. Roberts, 2020. "Is Corporate Tax Aggressiveness a Reputation Threat? Corporate Accountability, Corporate Social Responsibility, and Corporate Tax Behavior," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 163(2), pages 197-215, May.
    13. E. Arikan & D. Kantur & C. Maden & E. Telci, 2016. "Investigating the mediating role of corporate reputation on the relationship between corporate social responsibility and multiple stakeholder outcomes," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 50(1), pages 129-149, January.
    14. Gerda Barauskaite & Dalia Streimikiene, 2021. "Corporate social responsibility and financial performance of companies: The puzzle of concepts, definitions and assessment methods," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 28(1), pages 278-287, January.
    15. Rajesh Sharma & Vranda Jain, 2019. "CSR, Trust, Brand Loyalty and Brand Equity: Empirical Evidences from Sportswear Industry in the NCR Region of India," Metamorphosis: A Journal of Management Research, , vol. 18(1), pages 57-67, June.
    16. Barić Andrija, 2017. "Corporate social responsibility and stakeholders: Review of the last decade (2006–2015)," Business Systems Research, Sciendo, vol. 8(1), pages 133-146, March.
    17. Kim, Yeonshin & Hur, Won-Moo & Lee, Luri, 2023. "Understanding customer participation in CSR activities: The impact of perceptions of CSR, affective commitment, brand equity, and corporate reputation," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    18. Tingting Song & Jinghua Huang & Yong Tan & Yifan Yu, 2019. "Using User- and Marketer-Generated Content for Box Office Revenue Prediction: Differences Between Microblogging and Third-Party Platforms," Service Science, INFORMS, vol. 30(1), pages 191-203, March.
    19. Park, Eunil & Kim, Ki Joon & Kwon, Sang Jib, 2017. "Corporate social responsibility as a determinant of consumer loyalty: An examination of ethical standard, satisfaction, and trust," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 8-13.
    20. John Cantrell & Elias Kyriazis & Gary Noble, 2015. "Developing CSR Giving as a Dynamic Capability for Salient Stakeholder Management," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 130(2), pages 403-421, August.

    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:hal:journl:hal-02462583. 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: CCSD (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/ .

    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.