Search Results (29)

Corporate communication of sustainability within the fashion industry operates in a sector with high reputational exposure and increasing demands for environmental and social accountability. Despite the growing volume of research, the field remains conceptually and methodologically dispersed, with a predominant focus on discourse and limited emphasis on verification and structural integration. This study presents a systematic review of 80 peer-reviewed articles published between 2015 and 2025 in Scopus and Web of Science, examining how sustainability communication in the fashion industry has been conceptualised, investigated, and operationalised across the literature. Following the PRISMA protocol and employing a mixed-method approach combining bibliometric and content analyses, four thematic lines were identified: (1) corporate communication and reputation; (2) digital communication and social media; (3) CSR and sustainability; (4) transparency and greenwashing. Keyword co-occurrence and conceptual clusters were mapped using VOSviewer. Results reveal a predominance of content analysis, case studies, and corporate narratives, with fewer quantitative and mixed-method designs. Research largely focuses on discourse interpretation and credibility-building rather than on empirically verifying sustainability commitments. Thematic developments indicate a shift from general CSR frameworks toward transparency, digital traceability, and social media communication. Key gaps persist in message authenticity, greenwashing evaluation, and communicating public sustainability funds, including Next Generation EU programs. Overall, the review portrays an expanding yet fragmented field in which sustainability communication operates primarily as a reputational mechanism. Methodologically, the study combines a PRISMA-guided systematic literature review with bibliometric mapping techniques to support thematic synthesis and field contextualisation. Full article

In the hospitality industry, corporate social responsibility practices are getting more recognition as a strategic driver of stakeholders’ sustainable behaviors. This study creates and tests a moderated serial mediation model that connects hotel CSR activities to guests’ pro-environmental behavior (PROE). In addition, moral elevation (ME) and pro-social behaviors of guests (PSO) are posited as affective and behavioral mediating mechanisms, whereas the perceived transparency (TRA) of hotel actions is investigated as a moderator. The survey data were collected from 426 hotel guests who had stayed in hotels in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) and used partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) to analyze it. The findings reveal that CSR does have a positive effect on ME, which sequentially makes ME affect PSO and PROE behavior positively. The research shows that the moderator TRA also amplifies the relationship strength between CSR and ME, which suggests that transparent actions of hotels do have a positive emotional impact on guests. The research contributes to hospitality literature and also sustainability literature by identifying ME as an emotional mechanism and TRA as a moderating condition that alter guests’ behaviors. As managerial implications, the research underlines the value of creating CSR practices that are both transparent and authentic to guests and stakeholders to ultimately maximize the engagement of guests in the context of sustainability. Full article

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has evolved from philanthropy to a strategic capability, but its role in recovering economies remains underexplored. This study examines how CSR strategies affect consumer perceptions in the Greek retail sector, where firms face fragile trust and constrained resources. Using survey data from 322 consumers, the research tested three drivers of CSR effectiveness: strategic integration into core business and community engagement, emphasis on sustainability-oriented initiatives, and localization to cultural and stakeholder expectations. Data were analyzed through exploratory factor analysis to validate the constructs, followed by hierarchical multiple regression to assess their influence on perceived CSR performance. Results showed that CSR embedded transparently into strategy had strong effects on consumers’ overall evaluations of CSR effectiveness, sustainability-oriented actions emerged as the most powerful predictor of perceived CSR performance, and localized initiatives enhanced trust and authenticity by signaling responsiveness to community needs. Perceived CSR performance was conceptualized as an integrative construct, capturing outcomes such as brand equity, consumer engagement, and loyalty in a unified evaluative measure. These findings suggest that CSR is a credible driver of consumer value even during economic recovery and that its effectiveness depends on authenticity, environmental relevance, and cultural fit. The study offers theoretical contributions by contextualizing CSR in fragile markets and provides practical guidance for retailers seeking resilience through responsible, strategically aligned practices. Full article

With growing public concern over environmental issues, organizations are facing increasing pressure to demonstrate a genuine and measurable commitment to environmental sustainability. In this context, understanding how corporate environmental responsibility (CER) shapes employee engagement (EE) is essential. This understanding helps align organizational behavior with both internal goals and broader societal expectations. Although the impact of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on EE has been widely studied, the specific role of CER—a key subdimension of CSR—remains underexplored. To address this gap, we developed a moderated mediation model grounded in social exchange theory, social identity theory, and signaling theory. This model aims to reveal how CER influences EE and through which mechanisms. Based on survey data from 418 employees in large Chinese manufacturing firms, our results show that perceived CER significantly enhances EE. This effect occurs primarily through the strengthening of organizational pride. Furthermore, online media coverage reinforces the relationship between perceived CER and organizational pride. It also amplifies the indirect impact of perceived CER on EE via this pride. These findings contribute to the corporate sustainability literature by showing how credible and visible environmental actions can enhance employee alignment and engagement. Practical implications are discussed for organizations seeking to connect managerial priorities with society’s call for transparent and authentic environmental initiatives. Full article

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) disclosures are critical for sustainable value creation. However, traditional evaluation methods struggle to quantify authentic performance and detect disclosure biases. In response, this study proposes an automated CSR polarity dictionary construction method that innovatively combines natural-language-processing technology and the multinomial inverse regression (MNIR) method. This method analyzes the correlations between corporate CSR reports and CSR ratings and constructs a dictionary that best reflects the CSR level of listed companies. We also used the CSR dictionary to construct a CSR disclosure level index for listed companies’ annual reports. This study reveals that CSR disclosure levels in annual reports expose manipulative disclosure practices and image management. However, this behavior has been proven to fail in generating excess returns for the company in the stock market. This phenomenon provides novel insights into corporate stock market performance management. In addition, the CSR disclosure level index is shown to effectively reflect the CSR level of enterprises in different industries and provides a theoretical reference for the social responsibility management of companies with different pollution levels. These findings facilitate efficient information release and strengthen ESG assessment frameworks through data-driven standardization. Full article

The chemical industry plays a pivotal role in the health of the world’s economies despite facing significant criticism for its contribution to environmental degradation, particularly in pollution management and sustainable development. This paper investigates the key factors motivating executives in chemical companies to engage in corporate social responsibility (CSR), including regulatory pressure, profit maximization, stakeholder demands, and environmental concerns. Data were collected through a cross-sectional survey of over 400 executives worldwide, and structural equation modelling (SEM) was employed to test four hypotheses examining the relationships among various variables. The findings indicate that regulatory pressure positively influences CSR adoption, although a profit-maximization orientation negatively moderates this relationship. This suggests that companies with an excessive focus on profits are less likely to engage in meaningful CSR activities beyond mere compliance. Additionally, unmet stakeholder needs drive environmental commitment, highlighting that managers and executives are responsive to the environmental expectations of consumers, society, and investors. In turn, environmental commitment strongly correlates with implementing pollution-prevention mechanisms, emphasizing the role of intrinsic motivations in promoting authentic CSR practices. This research expands on prior studies of CSR in high-impact industries by proposing a more integrated theoretical framework, drawing from Institutional Theory, Stakeholder Theory, and the Theory of Planned Behavior. Practical implications underscore the value of incentives that encourage firms to make substantial CSR commitments without jeopardizing profitability. Limitations of the study include its cross-sectional design, which calls for longitudinal research to understand causation better. Future studies could also explore additional industries to produce findings applicable across various sectors. Full article

This study investigates the interplay between Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) engagement and pricing strategies in shaping consumer purchase intentions in the fast fashion industry. Using a scenario-based experimental design with 267 participants, this research explores how different levels of CSR and two distinct price points influence purchasing behavior. Additionally, the moderating effects of individual differences, such as consumer wealth, motivations for sustainable behavior, and income, are examined. The findings indicate that higher levels of CSR engagement significantly enhance purchase intentions, particularly when combined with higher price points, perhaps due to consumer perceptions of CSR programs associated with more expensive brands as more authentic. However, price remains a critical factor for lower-income consumers, revealing an “ethical consumption gap” where affordability outweighs ethical concerns. Extrinsic motivations, such as social pressure, strongly influence wealthier consumers’ decisions, while intrinsic motivations show a more complex relationship with purchasing behavior. The findings provide practical insights for fast fashion brands, suggesting that aligning CSR with competitive pricing and authentic messaging is crucial for appealing to both price-sensitive and ethically conscious consumers. Full article

In response to calls for research on the psychological mechanisms, such as perceptions and attitudes toward corporate citizenship, in promoting positive outcomes at work, this research presents a novel approach by empirically testing a calling conditioned path model from P perception of corporate CSR (P-CSR) to work engagement via meaningfulness under the theoretical framework of self-determination theory. Survey data collected from 224 corporate employees in the US were tested using the PROCESS plugin (version 4.3) in SPSS. The regression results supported the positive direct and indirect paths from employees’ P-CSR to meaningfulness and work engagement but not the conditioning effect of calling work orientation. This study’s unique findings, limitations, future research, and implications are discussed, expanding micro-CSR research and unboxing the management assumptions of employees as purposeful autonomous agents seeking consistent interpretations and authentic perceptions of organizational CSR activities during their sense-making processes. Non-confirming of the calling conditioning the path model shed light on it being a dynamic multi-dimensional and multi-level construct to be further researched. Full article

The aim of the study is to explore the relationship between authentic leadership and socially responsible behavior among employees in Saudi Arabia’s service sector, which aligns with Saudi Vision 2030. Utilizing social cognitive theory as the theoretical framework, the research proposes that authentic leadership indirectly influences socially responsible behavior through psychological empowerment and psychological capital as parallel and serial mediators. Additionally, the study examines the moderating effect of CSR perceptions on these relationships. A cross-sectional survey was conducted with 349 professionals from the service sector. The results, analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM), revealed that authentic leadership does not directly impact SRB. Instead, the relationship is fully mediated by psychological empowerment and psychological capital. Moreover, CSR perceptions significantly moderate the relationship between authentic leadership and psychological empowerment and have an indirect effect of authentic leadership on SRB through psychological empowerment and psychological capital. The findings highlight the importance of fostering an authentic leadership style and the way the psychological resources of empowerment and psychological capital carry forward this effect to promote SRB in the service sector. Additionally, the study underscores the role of CSR perceptions in strengthening the impact of authentic leadership on employee outcomes. The research contributes to the literature on leadership, CSR, and employee behavior and also offers practical implications for organizations aiming to enhance their social responsibility initiatives. Full article

This study examines the effect of consumers’ perceptions of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on their anti-consumer awareness. Specifically, this study aims to uncover the mechanisms through which the consumer’s CSR perception relates to their formation of anti-consumer awareness. A survey design was adopted to test this study’s hypotheses. We collected data from 310 consumers in South Korea and used path analysis and bootstrapping to test the hypotheses. Our results showed that consumers’ CSR perception is negatively related to their anti-consumer awareness. Notably, consumers’ perception of CSR activities is positively related to their perceptions of compassion toward organizations, which, in turn, is also positively associated with their perception of CSR authenticity. Furthermore, compassion and CSR authenticity serially mediate the negative relationship between CSR perception and anti-consumer awareness. Our findings shed light on the importance of engaging in CSR activities from consumers’ perspectives. Specifically, our findings suggest that organizations need to proactively engage in CSR activities with authenticity to maintain and even further their reputation among consumers. Furthermore, by demonstrating the psychological processes of how CSR activities translate into consumers’ attitudes toward the organizations, our study provides fruitful avenues for future research. Full article

The greatest challenges for contemporary and future natural resource production are sociotechnical by nature, from public perceptions of mining to responsible mineral supply chains. The term sociotechnical signals that engineered systems have inherent social dimensions that require careful analysis. Sociotechnical thinking is a prerequisite for understanding and promoting social justice and sustainability through one’s professional practices. This article investigates whether and how two different projects enhanced sociotechnical learning in mining and petroleum engineering students. Assessment surveys suggest that most students ended the projects with greater appreciation for sociotechnical perspectives on the interconnection of engineering and corporate social responsibility (CSR). This suggests that undergraduate engineering education can be a generative place to prepare future professionals to see how engineering can promote social and environmental wellbeing. Comparing the different groups of students points to the power of authentic learning experiences with industry engineers and interdisciplinary teaching by faculty. Full article

A growing number of companies are issuing corporate social responsibility (CSR) reports to publicize their commitment to sustainable development. However, skepticism remains among stakeholders about firms’ CSR information, which could hinder the success of worldwide CSR campaigns. Our paper examines mechanisms of how CSR disclosure resonates with stakeholders and influences their attitudes towards firms. Extending the current knowledge of CSR signaling effects, this paper provides a framework illustrating the interplay between CSR signaling properties and readers’ sensemaking processes, thereby predicting how corporate reputation is shaped through CSR communication. In order to test our theoretical hypotheses, a survey was conducted on 53 firms with 1521 respondents. The results show that the better the readers’ comprehension of a CSR report is, the stronger the signals of authenticity and corporate social performance (CSP) they perceive, the better the report value and value fit are recognized, and eventually, the more trust they hold for the firm. The relationship between comprehension of CSR reports and trust is partially mediated by the signaling-sensemaking process. Our research contributes to the literature on micro-foundations of strategic CSR by applying signaling theory in the context of CSR disclosure. The research findings have practical implications for firms’ CSR disclosure strategies. Full article

Since authenticity reduces the inherent tension between pro-sociality and profit-seeking as well as contradictory demands from multiple stakeholders, it appears to be relevant for corporate social responsibility (CSR) judgment. The aim of this study is to examine the consumer perception of CSR authenticity and its influence on brand equity and brand advocacy in the banking sector. Additionally, this study looks into the role of brand equity as a mediator between CSR authenticity and brand advocacy. A survey method was used to collect the data. In this study, CFA and structural equation modeling with AMOS were utilized to evaluate the measurement properties and to uncover relevant correlations. The results also show that brand advocacy is better predicted to take into account the mediating role of brand equity between CSR authenticity and brand advocacy. As a result, this study adds to the body of knowledge and has significant use for managers, practitioners, and specialists. The proposed model can be used by practitioners to evaluate their CSR initiatives objectively and determine how well each one aligns with their overall goals and business objectives in order to create more successful strategies. The current study adds to the limited theoretical and empirical understanding of the connection between CSR authenticity and customer responses. Full article

Grounded in multidisciplinary literature from public relations, sport communication, and marketing, this study examined consumer reactions to sustainability initiatives launched by major sports leagues. Through an online survey (N = 254), the results showed that sports league-cause fit resulted in more positive organization–public relationships (OPRs) such as through trust, commitment, satisfaction, and control mutuality. Further, the findings revealed that a closer geographic proximity of the sustainability initiative and an increased perceived impact (donation amount and number of beneficiaries affected) triggered higher perceptions of trust, organizational authenticity, and fandom toward the sponsoring sports league. Interestingly, a significant two-way interaction between spatial proximity and impact suggested that lower perceptions of the impact of the corporate social responsibility (CSR) program evoked more positive attitudes when involving local beneficiaries, whereas higher perceptions of impact improved organizational attitudes when the beneficiaries were located faraway. Lastly, the findings indicated that the OPR variables, especially trust, as well as fandom, and organizational authenticity elicited higher supportive intentions (e.g., support CSR cause, donate, volunteer, share on social media) toward the sports league. Theoretical implications for fit, construal level theory, and CSR impact as well as implications for sport communication practitioners are discussed. Full article

Arrays of Cholesteric Spherical Reflectors (CSRs), microscopic cholesteric liquid crystals in a spherical shape, have been argued to become a game-changing technology in anti-counterfeiting. Used to build identifiable tags or coating, called CSR IDs, they can supply objects with unclonable fingerprint-like characteristics, making it possible to authenticate objects. In a previous study, we have shown how to extract minutiæ from CSR IDs. In this journal version, we build on that previous research, consolidate the methodology, and test it over CSR IDs obtained by different production processes. We measure the robustness and reliability of our procedure on large and variegate sets of CSR IDs’ images taken with a professional microscope (Laboratory Data set) and with a microscope that could be used in a realistic scenario (Realistic Data set). We measure intra-distance and interdistance, proving that we can distinguish images coming from the same CSR ID from images of different CSR IDs. However, without surprise, images in Laboratory Data set have an intra-distance that on average is less, and with less variance, than the intra-distance between responses from Realistic Data set. With this evidence, we discuss a few requirements for an anti-counterfeiting technology based on CSRs. Full article