On The Corporate Identity And Corporate Social Responsibility

With the context of globalization and prevalent usage of the Internet, more and more businesses have emerged putting emphasis on corporate image building in order to gain a standing with the general public. Researchers of media and corporate communications have often suggested that the need for web public relations and rhetorical communications strategies has become crucial, and utilizing a CSR-related agenda is a desire and a necessity to construct a positive corporate identity and build a long-term relationship with stakeholders in the competitive global marketplace, which should also be adjusted to specific social expectations in different social and cultural contexts. This study investigates to map the main concepts of corporate identity, CSR, rhetorical communications, and web public relations together, and try to analyze them within a global framework.The research question of this study is how corporations utilise CSR-related communications strategies to construct and reinforce corporate identity on their corporate websites, and what are the similarities and differences between the United Kingdom and the Mainland China-based corporate websites in relation to the addressed CSR agenda and rhetorical communications messages. Both of the quantitative and qualitative analyses were conducted in this research in order to address the general trend and the deeper understanding about this issue. The results of empirical examinations showed that both UK and China-based companies appear to recognize the importance of CSR and online rhetorical communications with regard to corporate identity building However, there still has some differences due to the particular social context. China-based companies are more likely to put emphasis on local community involvement and always employ case studies to draw their CSR actions, while all stakeholder groups seem to be paid equal attention for UK-based companies, and the way they addressed CSR-related messages are more varied. Furthermore, UK-based firms always frame CSR as a global practice, while China-based companies demonstrate CSR-related issues based on local or national shared memory and experiences. To conclude, this research may be of importance in explaining the dynamic relationship between corporate identity and web rhetorical communications, as well as in providing specific contextualization with a better understanding of CSR practices.