Corporate Ability or Social Responsibility? A Quantitative Content Analysis of Fortune 500 Companies' Message Strategies and Consumer Responses on Facebook
Open Access
- Author:
- Fraustino, Julia Daisy
- Graduate Program:
- Media Studies
- Degree:
- Master of Arts
- Document Type:
- Master Thesis
- Date of Defense:
- None
- Committee Members:
- Colleen Connolly Ahern, Thesis Advisor/Co-Advisor
- Keywords:
- public relations
corporate social responsibility
message strategies
Facebook
content analysis
Fortune 500 - Abstract:
- Social media consumption is rising among U.S. adults, and corporations have begun to create online social presences to build relationships with their publics. Recent research has delved into how corporations emphasize their ability to produce quality products/services and highlight their socially responsible behaviors in online communication. These corporate ability (CA) and corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategies have been found to impact how message receivers view the organization and think about the company and its products/services. The current research undertook quantitative content analysis of Fortune 500 companies’ Facebook profiles and wall posts seeking to determine whether and how top-performing U.S. corporations use CA, CSR, or hybrid message strategies on Facebook. Further, user comments stemming from corporate Facebook wall posts were also content analyzed to determine whether stakeholders’ responses indicated matching CA or CSR mental associations with and evaluations of the company and its products/services. Results revealed 291 of the Fortune 500 companies owned a main corporate Facebook page at the time of analysis (late spring 2012). All profiles were analyzed, uncovering massive use of a dominant CA strategy in profile communication. Two constructed weeks of 75 of the corporations’ wall posts and all resulting user comments were also analyzed, showing support for hypotheses that communicating a CSR message strategy would result in audience CSR associations and company evaluations, whereas communicating a CA message strategy would result in audience CA associations and product evaluations. No differences were found based on industry or performance ranking in corporate profile communication message strategies, but small differences were found by both industry and performance ranking in corporate wall post communication. Four research questions and two hypotheses were presented and analyzed. Theoretical and practical implications, limitations, and suggestions for future research are discussed.