Exploring corporations’ dialogue about CSR in the digital era

In this paper, we examined how companies are employing new media to engage in dialogue with their stakeholders about corporate social responsibility (CSR)- related matters. Through a qualitative theory-building study conducted in three stages over a period of 2 years, we discovered that corporations with reputations for CSR have built virtual spaces for dialogue about CSR, but that these spaces remain empty of dialogue. Our theory-building model highlights how the mix of four dialogue processes (i.e. directing, moderating, building open-scripts, and crowd-sourcing multi-dialogue) may allow companies to create open dialogue about CSR initiatives and avoid leaving these spaces empty. Contributions for CSR studies are discussed.