Companies are faced with increasing expectations on the part of stakeholders to engage in social responsibility and are consequently expected to communicate their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) efforts to a varied, influential, and alert audience. Despite this, CSR communication remains an emerging field, with research focusing on corporate social disclosure mainly through websites and corporate reports, while little is known about CSR advertisements. This thesis addresses this gap in the research and explains how companies publicise their CSR actions through print advertisements in order to disclose the CSR image they want to signal to their public(s). This thesis examines companies' self-presentation via disclosure of social and environmental information, adopting impression management and self-presentation concepts derived primarily from the social psychology literature. As the thesis investigates CSR image, legitimacy theory provides a theoretical prism as it attempts to explain social and environmental disclosures from corporations in order to present a socially responsible image. Six propositions were developed from the literature to create a conceptual framework. The conceptual framework was then substantiated through the use of semiotics and textual and visual analysis of 26 CSR adverts grouped into six CSR advertising campaigns in magazines circulated in the UK and Brazil and the respective non-financial reports from the six companies that communicated their CSR efforts more frequently over a 12-month period. The contribution of this doctoral research has been to develop a conceptual framework from the literature and then evaluate it in an empirical study of CSR advertising campaigns. Specifically, this thesis contributes to knowledge and theoretical development as it identifies the communications strategies firms adopt to legitimise their CSR image through, for instance, both 'informing' and 'diverting attention'.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo
