Corporate Socio-Political Positioning (COSPO)

This project is supported by the German Research Foundation (DFG).

Description of the research project

For some time now, companies are increasingly expected to take ecological, economic, and social responsibility, a concept known as Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). By communicating their commitment in these areas, companies expect positive effects on their reputation and legitimacy. In recent years, new expectations have arisen for companies to take a stand on various controversial socio-political issues such as immigration or energy policy. While there is extensive empirical research on the content and effects of CSR, little is known about the extent, content, and perception of these socio-political positions taken by German companies. Whether and how companies take a stand can be examined through their own communication as well as through journalistic reporting. The COSPO project therefore analyzes socio-political positions of companies in both corporate communications and journalistic reporting to answer the following research questions: On which socio-political issues do companies take a stand, and how do they do so? What motives, goals, and strategies inform these (non-)positions? How do journalists report on companies’ socio-political (non-)positions? And how do they perceive the motives, goals, and strategies behind corporate (non-)positions?

Methodologically, we take two different approaches. Using quantitative content analyses, we examine the positioning of the 40 DAX companies in various publications (social media, press releases, sustainability and annual reports), and assess how corporate (non-)positioning is reported in the news. Concurrently, we conduct guided interviews with communications managers of DAX companies to ask companies directly about their socio-political positioning and with journalists to ask about their perception of corporate positionings.

Keywords
PR | Corporate Social Responsibility | Corporate Social Advocacy