The Communication Gap

in CSR between

Companies and

Social Organisations

La falta de comunicación

materia de la RSC

entre empresas y

organizaciones sociales

aDResearch ESIC

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Mazo Salmerón, M.ª E., (20 15). The Communication Gap

in CSR between Companies and Social Organisations.

Revista Internacional de Investigación en Comunicación

aDResearch ESIC. Nº 12 Vol 12.

Segundo semestre, julio-diciembre 2015. Págs. 46 a 63

DOI: 12.7263/ADRESIC.012.003

María Elena Mazo Salmerón

Lecturer at CEU San Pablo University

mariaelena.mazosalmeron@ceu.es

mems.comunicacion@gmail.com

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The Communication Gap

in CSR between

Companies and

Social Organisations

La falta de comunicación

materia de la RSC

entre empresas y

organizaciones sociales

Las actividades de Responsabilidad Social Corporativa (RSC) en Europa se ven

afectadas por la falta de comunicación entre las empresas, que realizan las activi-

dades de RSC, y las organizaciones no empresariales, que necesitan que las empre-

sas encuentren medios para nanciar sus programas sociales. Debemos investigar

y debatir el marco comunicativo de ambas situaciones para acercar posturas lo

antes posible. De esta manera, es necesario analizar las características de esta falta

de comunicación y su contexto, así como estudiar el marco europeo de las ini-

ciativas RSC, además de otras iniciativas internacionales. Por último, se muestra el

proceso de comunicación de RSC y la base de un estudio de la participación de

la RSC, a partir de los diferentes grupos objetivo, constuirá un futuro modelo de

comunicación equilibrada de Responsabilidad Social Corporativa, que podría ser

una referencia para el profesional de la comunicación que se ocupa de este tipo

de actividades.

The Corporate Social Responsibility -CSR- activities in the European countries

are aected by a communicative gap between enterprises, which implement

CSR activities, and the non-business organizations that need the companies to

nd nancial resources for launching their social programs. We must research

and debate the communicative frame of both situations in order to help bridge

them as much as possible. In this way, it is necessary to analyse the features

of this gap, and its communication context, as well as to study the European

framework of CSR initiatives, as well as other international initiatives. Finally, the

CSR communication process is shown and the basis for a study of CSR involve-

ment from the dierent target groups will build a future balanced Communica-

tion Model of Corporate Social Responsibility, which could be a reference for the

communication professional who deals with these kinds of activities.

ABSTRACT

RESUMEN

JEL Classication:

I3, J5, J24, L2, L31,

L33, O35, P46, P48

Key words:

communicative gap,

social responsibility,

corporate communi-

cation, CSR activities

Clasicación JEL:

I3, J5, J24, L2, L31,

L33, O35, P46, P48

Palabras clave:

falta de comunica-

ción, responsabili-

dad social, comuni-

cación corporativa,

actividades RSC.

Nº 12 Vol 12 · Segundo semestre, julio-diciembre 2015  págs. 46 a 63

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1. Introduction: The Communication

Gap in CSR

Under the main topic of the Corporate Social

Responsibility (CSR) , it is proposed the following

subject: there is a gap in the communicative con-

text and the language between enterprises, which

implement CSR, and the social organisations and

non-proﬁt institutions which need ﬁnancial re-

sources to go on with their aid programs. We must

research and debate the communicative frame of

both situations in order to help bridge them as

much as possible.

The origin of this proposal is found in the

Congress of Europe: 60 ideas for Europe, organi-

zed by the European Movement in The Hague

on the 23rd and 24th of May, 2008, to cele-

brate the 60

Anniversary of the Congress of

1948, where Winston Churchill presided over

the creation of the current European Union.

This meeting was called in every European

country as an open survey to their citizens.

Under the headline «Building the Europe of the

Future Together», an ideas competition was or-

ganised. The idea posted on the 27

of March

2008 by the author was: «Corporate Social Res-

ponsibilities Communicative Gap»: the EU should

continue to encourage a culture of Corporate So-

cial Responsibility by companies and help bridge

the communication gap between companies, insti-

tutions and non-proﬁt-organisations». The pro-

posal was voted for« online» by the European

citizens and, afterwards, by the 500 partici-

pants at The Hague Congress. In the end, the

idea was elected as one of the 20 most valuable

ones in the economic-social area of the Forum,

and it was included under the 60´s best ideas

for improving Europe.

The facts that caused this gap were «in the air»

and the author of this article materialised and

verbalised it for Europe’s institutions. The Con-

gress of Europe conﬁrmed the idea as a common

concern in the different European countries in

2008. As it is known, today, in 2014, European

Institutions are currently revising the CSR Stra-

tegy 2011-2014 and proposing a new strategy

under Horizon 2020. The gap is found eviden-

ced in documents, meetings and committees

crossed nowadays.

2. CSR Communication Context

Two environments feature communication con-

text in the Corporate Social Responsibility ﬁeld:

the business organisations sector, including SMEs

and large enterprises, and the non-business or-

ganisations ﬁeld. Both are being deﬁned by the

European CSR framework and other internatio-

nal institutions.

In both ﬁelds we assume the corporate com-

munication essentials of Cees B.M. van Riel &

Charles J. Fombrun, who classify the corporate

communication in management communications,

marketing communications and organizational

communications (2007: 14) The CSR activities

could be included into the ﬁrst and third op-

tions. The Professor in Corporate Communica-

tion Joep Cornelissen (Leeds University Business

School) deﬁnes this type of communication as

«a management function that is responsible for

overseeing and coordinating the work done by

communication practitioners in different specia-

list disciplines such as media relations, public

affairs and internal communication… manage-

ment function that offers a framework for the

effective coordination of all internal and external

communication with the overall purpose of esta-

blishing and maintaining favourable reputation

with stakeholder groups upon which the organi-

zation is dependent» (2008: 5).

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2.1. Two CSR Environments

If we want to deﬁne the communication context

where this Corporate Responsibility gap is pro-

duced, the main elements of the process must be

analysed in the two environments where the gap

is identiﬁed: the «business ﬁeld» and «the non-

business ﬁeld».

The enterprises, which are aware of behaving

with responsibility in their own environment,

are encouraging the CSR activities trying to get

along in harmony with the social institutions.

Meanwhile the second ones ﬁnd, in the relation-

ship with companies the need ﬁnancial support

for their social and humanitarian programs.

Gaudencio Esteban Velasco (2005: 19), Profes-

sor in Law at Complutense University of Madrid

(UCM), considers the corporate social responsi-

bility as an essential ethical function of every

company and its managers. Antonio Argandoña,

Lecturer at IESE Business School, explains the

idea (2007:27) as a mixed concept from ethical,

sociological and economic variables. Pedro Rive-

ro Torre (2005:78), Professor of Finance Eco-

nomy at UCM, adds two features to CSR: willful-

ness and a continuos evolution.

However, the strategies, corporate goals, re-

sources and, also, language of enterprises and

social entities are completely different and they

must be studied. The company who is worried

about the importance of this kind of responsibi-

lity, approaches the social institutions with gene-

rous intentions, but with high quality and proﬁ-

table requirements in terms of reputation and

image, which is not easy to understand by most

non-business institutions.

Enterprise communication tools are, in gene-

ral, professionalised. The ones applied to the

CSR process are supposed to be something more

than communication campaigns well designed

and implemented. The conscience and cons-

ciousness are integrated.

If the company wishes to secure a strong re-

putation among their clients and general public

opinion, it must behave with coherence, genero-

sity, sincerity and ﬂexibility in order to adapt to

the «social code» of the social civil organization

that is helping it to provide such a «responsible»

image.

On one hand, the current exchange is not ba-

lanced and several solutions are required among

the communication professional concerned with

companies´ «conscience and consciousness»;

and on the other hand, the Corporate Responsi-

bility Culture at the small and medium enterpri-

ses –SMEs- should be encouraged. Their lower

level of professionalisation in general, and in

communication in particular, generate a lack of

knowledge in these kind of policies, as well as in

the execution of actions without strategic plan-

ning execution. As an example, the employee

volunteer plans are held in large corporations,

but are hardly found in SMEs. Another interes-

ting issue is the relationship between companies

and public institutions, which should be also

improved for being valuable intermediate agents.

2.1.1. Business organizations: from

SME to large enterprise

Lemonche, Mateo, Pastor, Lorenzo & Gómez

(2013) had worked for Forética (a Spanish CSR

companies and professionals association, which

hold more than 200 members, and is a partner

of CSR Europe) an interesting report called «The

CSR 30 Golden Rules for SMEs». The proposal´s

goals are to improve their management and their

competitiveness, to afford the challenges that

they must take, and to develop them in a hard

context featured by the lack of human and ﬁ-

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nancial resources. Through the 30 simple but

accurate rules, any SME could elaborate a CSR

plan with short, medium and large objectives, in

order to create a responsible brand strategy.

Norm SGE 21 (it is the ﬁrst CSR Management

European System), developed by Forética, fo-

llowed in the report. It means, in a volunteer way,

an audit process and a certiﬁcation of the ethic

and Social Responsibility Management. Lemon-

che et al. (2013) mentioned the gap between big

companies and SMEs and explained it by the

pressure that big enterprises hold to the SMEs,

which must apply their criteria, and their difﬁ-

culties in the implementation of CSR plans desig-

ned to multinational corporations. Their structu-

re, motivation and results are not comparable. A

CSR plan must be adapted to the SME language.

If we analyse the thirty rules mentioned above by

Lemonche et al (2013), ﬁfteen are communicati-

ve ones, which means that 50% of the document

suggests communication solutions. The impor-

tance of communicative factors in CSR process is

clear. Mª Victoria Carrillo, PhD in Communica-

tion (UCM), Ana Castillo, Lecturer at Advertising

and Public Relations in Universidad de Extrema-

dura, and Leonor Gómez, Lecturer in Sociology

in U. de Extremadura, explained that the CSR

management process in Spain was slow and only

some large enterprises as Telefónica, BBVA and

Vodafone were assuming their statements (2005:

91). They also provided an interesting opinion

research (Carrillo et all, 2005: 109-132) among

SMEs which identiﬁes their lack of resources,

and their psychological barriers against the com-

munication tools in general.

If we study the above-mentioned document

in a little detail we could realise the weight of

each communication variable. In the ﬁrst part of

the report, ten rules are found to create the ini-

tial CSR Plan for SMEs. Among them we must

highlight the fourth, ﬁfth, eighth and tenth rules

for their clear communicative connotations: the

fourth one (The three «E»: escuchar, escuchar y

escuchar -listen, listen and listen-: one of the ﬁrst

key factors is to dialogue with the stakeholders);

the ﬁfth rule (commitment and leadership of the

managers); the eighth one (participation of all

the staff); and the tenth (integration). In the se-

cond part, among the ten rules held to elaborate

the ﬁrst CSR Report, the following are the ones

that contain communicative elements: the four-

th (the CSR content that really interest the stake-

holders and to identify with accuracy the targets

of the SME); the sixth rule (to prepare the docu-

ment with transparent criteria); the eighth one

(the Report as a management tool) and the tenth

(the report as a communication medium which

will help the company to introduce itself into the

market and to several important events). In the

third part, there are ten more rules to create a

responsible brand and the web 2.0 strategies.

Communication values are found in the fo-

llowing points: the ﬁrst rule (responsible values

as the best allies of the corporate strategy); the

second one (reputation, the most elusive and in-

tangible); the third point (the evolution of the

four Marketing «Ps»: product, price, place and

promotion); the ﬁfth rule (responsible brands, a

trust matter); the sixth one (the communication

as part of the CSR Strategy: the company not

only needs to be responsible but also to appear

as a responsible agent to their stakeholders); the

seventh point (to adapt to the current times the

web 2.0); and the ninth rule (the responsible

marketing as part of the CSR Strategy) . The ﬁf-

teen norms identiﬁed above indicate the value of

the communications strategy and planning in

CSR matters.

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Meanwhile the small and medium-size enter-

prise suffers, in general, from a lack of modern

management procedures, large companies are

nowadays measuring their CSR impact. In

Spain, the Club de Excelencia en Sostenibilidad

(Sustainability Excellence Club which compro-

mises a group of twenty large companies concer-

ned with sustainability, not only in economic

and social issues, but also in environmental

ones: BSH, Endesa, FCC, Iberdrola, Vodafone,

Renfe, Red Eléctrica, etc.-) presented in April

2014 the report «Multi-sectorial Study of the

CSR state in the Spanish large enterprise». The

survey (Club de Excelencia en Sostenibilidad,

2014) had been held in 147 companies from

more than 20 sectors. The report shows the level

of CSR implementation, indicates the trends

found in the most advanced enterprises, compa-

res the evolution suffered from the previous

2011 report, and analyses the regulation and pu-

blic policies´ impact. The companies with a tur-

nover equal to or over 300 million euros have

obtained a CSR mark of 604 points out of 1,000.

They have passed the «exam» with a medium

range of impact. The company with the highest

mark (927 points) was by far and away the one

with the least marks (204 points). Regarding

ethical codes, 89% of the enterprises included

them in their management system, and 66% of

them have implemented particular actions. Lar-

ge enterprise is, therefore, sensitive to the cons-

cience and consciousness through CSR issues, as

this report is indicating.

If we note that 17% of enterprises who achie-

ved a higher percentage in this research (750

points), 96% of them have aligned their Corpo-

rate Responsibility strategy to their business stra-

tegy, and 88% hold a CSR director, which leaves

24% of the companies dependent on the Chief

Executive Ofﬁcer (CEO). Another interesting

fact is that 92% of the companies with higher

marks uses CSR criteria to select their suppliers,

and that 88% of them have a commitment to

human rights policies. Moreover, they fulﬁll the

CSR plan in a range of 75%-100% and 96%

have their management system follow the plan.

Sostenibilidad´s study (2014) is interesting for

its communicative results: 86% of the large en-

terprises evaluate the tangible and non-tangible

results of their CSR projects, and 96% of these

companies are incorporating Information and

Communication Technologies.

Large enterprises are represented in Spain

with other stakeholders in the CSR State Council

(CERSE) at the Social Security and Employment

Ministry. The work-team created in CERSE in-

cludes not only enterprise organisations, but

also public administration, trade unions, social

civil organisations, national, regional and local

governments, CSR professionals, academic ex-

perts and citizens, through the public informa-

tion process opened to evaluate the draft of the

Estrategia Española de Responsabilidad Social de las

Empresas (2014) —«Corporate Social Responsi-

bility Spanish Strategy»—.

This key CSR document has been approved

at the CERSE Plenary Session of July 16t

, 2014,

under the presidency of the Spanish Minister,

Mrs. Fátima Báñez. In CSR there is, therefore, a

strong support from the National Government

executives. Spain is suggesting in the Report a

new 2014-2020 CSR strategy, simultaneously

with their colleagues from other European cou-

ntries. These policies are designed for enterpri-

ses, and also for public administration and the

rest of the organisations, with the aim of moving

towards a more competitive, productive, sustai-

nable and integrated society and economy, as

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well as creating a common framework to co-or-

dinate private and public CSR policies. The

identiﬁed CSR gap will be reduced with these

co-ordination policies.

The main content of CERSE´s Strategy (2014)

is explained in six principles, four objectives,

and ten plans with sixty particular measures.

The principles are competitiveness, social cohe-

sion, shared value creation, sustainability, trans-

parency and volunteering. From the communi-

cation point of view, and in order to reduce the

gap mentioned, the key factors are social cohe-

sion, shared value creation and transparency.

The four CSR Strategy objectives indicated

have communication implications (with quota-

tion marks): 1. To «boost and promote» CSR

activities among enterprises (SMEs included),

and other public and private organisations in

their different locations; 2. To «identify and pro-

mote» CSR as a competitive, sustainable and

social cohesion attribute; 3. To «spread» the

CSR values in the Society; and 4. To «create» a

common CSR reference Framework. Clearly,

this new Strategy will be managed by communi-

cative professionals who will bring the different

CSR agents and their expertise in creating per-

suading messages and implementing effective

campaigns.

Amongst the ten CSR Strategy plans propo-

sed by CERSE (2014), eight of them are really

positive for helping bridge the gap: 1- CSR pro-

motion as a drive element of sustainable organi-

sations. This means to communicate the CSR

culture with, for instance, the diffusion of the

best practices; 2- To integrate CSR in education,

training and research; 3- Transparency and

Good Governance, in order to increase the trust

of the organisations; 6- Relations with suppliers;

7- Responsible Consuming; 8- Environmentally

responsible; 9- Development and Co-operation;

and 10- Co-ordination and Participation, among

the different administrations and organisations

involved.

On a local level, the Employment and Social

Security Spanish Ministry (2012) has coordina-

ted since 2008 RETOS, «The Social Responsible

Territory Network», through its CSR and Social

Economy DG. This network includes twenty-six

local Spanish territories and tries to be a referen-

ce point in social responsibility. In this local ex-

perience, the enterprises, public administration

and third sector are working together in the

same direction.

The participative governance is followed by

the mentioned agents with the aim of reaching

balance between economic, social, sustainable

and cultural factors. Into RETOS´ ﬁve objectives,

the third (to create awareness, inform and edu-

cate), the fourth (to support, encourage and

boost the CSR initiatives) and the ﬁfth (to contri-

bute in keeping CSR concept as a transversal

one), have communicative ingredients.

2.1.2. Non-business Organisations

Meanwhile, the social entity has, nowadays, a

general delay in their management and strategic

planning approach, in spite of the efforts they

are making recently to professionalise their staff.

Communication activities have, in this case, a

lower level of development than the companies

that apply CSR plans. Most of them, with the

exception of the larger social institutions –Red

Cross, Unicef, Acnur, etc.- suffer a lack of com-

munication strategy. They neither count on ma-

nagement support, nor have existing communi-

cation managers. The task of communication is

performed by any member of staff who also de-

velops other non-communicative tasks. Moreo-

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ver, the investment in communication tools is

not considered. These kinds of organisations

only provide resources to create, for example, a

website without a strategic message, or to «jump»

into the social media as private citizens, without

a professional approach. However, one of their

main goals is to ﬁnd sponsors who will pay the

cost of their social projects. Public resources

have been limited and so they search for ﬁnan-

cial support from the private sector.

Most of these types of organisations do not

know how to approach companies or how to in-

troduce a new project that could help them in an

efﬁcient search campaign for sponsors. In addi-

tion, they do not realise that the most important

aspects for the Sponsors are in terms of image

and communication values: presence at their

events, their advertisements, their press mate-

rial, etc. The problem is also, in this case, com-

municative.

Communicative research requirements in the

non-business ﬁeld are huge, but the wide diver-

sity of these organisations and their lack of ﬁ-

nancial resources for investigating, make the

task almost impossible. In the 3

chapter of this

paper there will be found some factors and va-

riables which will be researched in further stu-

dies.

2.2. The European CSR Framework

2.2.1. European CSR Institutions

The reasons for the interest in CSR activities re-

ported by European Commission (2011) were

the economic crisis and its social consequences

that have damaged the trust and conﬁdence in

business, social environments and public opi-

nion. The European Institutions had to react and

place their focus in the social and ethical beha-

vior of enterprises and public organisations.

The DG of Enterprise and Industry (Unit D.1

Entrepreneurship and Social Economy) of the

European Commission has recently called for a

public consultation to seek feedback on the

achievements, shortcomings and future challen-

ges of the CSR Commission activities as it was

outlined in the Commission´s 2011-2014 Com-

munication on «A renewed EU strategy 2011-

2014 for Corporate Social Responsibility» (COM

(2011) 681). This period of consultation ends

on August 15th, 2014, and the results will be

summarised in a report that will be introduced

at the next plenary meeting of the Multi-stake-

holder Forum on CSR that will be held in Nov-

ember 2014. The target groups of the consulta-

tion are all the agents involved: public authorities,

Member States authorities, international organi-

sations, civil society organisations, individual

companies, industry associations, academia/uni-

versities, and other relevant stakeholders and

citizens. The European Multi-stakeholder Fo-

rum on CSR will facilitate dialogue between

stakeholders, from the European Commission

and a Co-ordination Committee, which is inte-

grated by business, trade unions, non-govern-

mental organisations and other groups.

The main communicational contributions that

the European Commission (2011) includes in its

report «A renewed EU strategy 2011-2014 for

Corporate Social Responsibility» are the CSR

new deﬁnition, the fact that their policies are in

the interests of enterprises and society as a who-

le, the evaluation of European Policies impact on

CSR, its multidimensional nature, the role of pu-

blic authorities and other stakeholders, the So-

cial Business Initiative, the social dialogue, the

enhancing of CSR´s visibility and their good

practices, its relation with trust in business, the

improvement of companies disclosure of social

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and environmental information and the integra-

tion of CSR into education, training and re-

search.

The European Commission reported that the

CSR new deﬁnition means a modern understan-

ding of Corporate Social Responsibility as «the

responsibility of enterprises for their impacts on

society» (2011: 6). Meeting that responsibility is

a prerequisite for all the enterprises that have to

integrate social, environmental, ethical, human

rights and consumer concerns, in close collabo-

ration with their stakeholders. The aims mentio-

ned in the report are (2011:6) «maximizing the

creation of shared value for their owners/share-

holders and for their other stakeholders and so-

ciety at large; and identifying, preventing and

mitigating their possible adverse impacts». We

must highlight the note added to the text that

identiﬁes the complexity of the process depen-

ding on factors such as the size of the enterprise

and the nature of its operations. We agree with

the European Commission on the fact that in

most small and medium-sized enterprises, the

CSR processes are «informal and intuitive». On

the other hand, large enterprises understand the

creation of shared values and are encouraged to

adopt a long-term CSR strategy in order to deve-

lop products and services that would contribute

to improve the social well-being. The report says

that certain types of organisations, such as co-

operatives, mutual and family-owned busines-

ses, have management structures that will positi-

vely contribute to a responsible behavior.

If we recognise the idea that CSR policies

must be in the interest of enterprises and society

as a whole, we are also agreeing that the CSR

strategy will improve the competitiveness of en-

terprises. This process should be run with the

agreement of internal and external stakeholders,

who will suggest to their enterprises their expec-

tations and drives. If the levels of trust increases,

the environment where the enterprise and socie-

ty work will be positive. In fact, it is the only way

to meet the Europe 2020 strategy objectives for

a smart, sustainable and inclusive growth, inclu-

ding the 75% employment target (2011:3).

Since the 2001 –Green Paper (COM (2001)

366) the EC has played a key role in the promo-

tion of CSR. The evaluation of the impact of

European Policy on CSR shows the following

indicators (2011:4 & 5): the number of EU en-

terprises that have signed up to the ten CSR

principles of the United National Global Com-

pact has risen from 600 in 2006 to more than

1900 in 2011; the Business Social Compliance

has increased its membership from 69 in 2007

to over 700 in 2011; the number of European

companies publishing sustainability reports fo-

llowing the guidelines of the Global Reporting

Initiative, rose from 270 in 2006 to over 850 in

2011. But, in spite of this progress, many com-

panies in the EU have not yet included the CSR

process. The European Commission mentioned

(2011) that only 15 out of 27 Member States

have national policy plans to promote CSR.

Another issue analysed by the European

Commission (2011) is its multi-dimensional na-

ture. Its agenda covers human rights, labour and

employment, environmental aspects, combating

bribery and corruption, good tax governance,

community development, the integration of di-

sabled persons and consumer interests.

Regarding the role of public authorities, the

EC (2001) recognises their supporting role of a

mix of voluntary policy measures and comple-

mentary regulation as promote transparency,

create incentives for the best practices and ensu-

re corporate accountability. Other stakeholders,

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from enterprises to trade unions or civil society

organisations, run their organisations with diffe-

rent roles. For the enterprises that must originate

and develop their products or services with CSR

criteria, to trade unions or civil society institu-

tions that identify problems, bring pressure and

should work in a constructive way with enter-

prises. Social dialogue has been promoted. At

the same time, consumer and investors would

require from the enterprises and the organisa-

tion mentioned above a more responsible beha-

vior. Meanwhile, the media may raise awareness

of the impacts of enterprises.

In order to enhance the visibility of CSR and

their good practices, the EU has given public re-

cognition to the work done by enterprises in the

CSR ﬁeld, through different programs with en-

terprises and other stakeholders, both in social

and environmental sectors. The most interesting

programs are the launching, in 2012, of the Eu-

ropean Awards for CSR partnerships between

enterprises and other stakeholders (2.2.2.), and

the creation, in 2013, of multi-stakeholders CSR

platforms. All initiatives created to improve the

communication between the different CSR agents

will be welcomed.

Another interesting point in this paper is the

general goal found in the European Commission

report (2011) of improving and tracking levels

of trust in business. The following quotes ex-

press the high importance of trust and also the

existence of a gap which is causing a restraint in

the trust process (2011:9): «Like all organisa-

tions, including governments and the EU itself,

enterprises need to be trusted by citizens…The-

re is frequently a gap between citizens´ expecta-

tions and what they perceive to be the reality of

business behaviour. This gap is caused partly by

instances of irresponsible behaviour by some en-

terprises, as well as by cases of some enterprises

exaggerating their environmental or social cre-

dentials.» Trust is a key factor in the communi-

cation process, not only for the fact that between

the sender and the receiver the trust is a mini-

mum to communicate, but also for the signiﬁ-

cant importance of the source´s credibility.

The disclosure of social and environmental

information by the enterprises improves their

visibility and awareness, and contributes to the

rise trust in of them. The large companies are, in

general, doing their task, meanwhile the SMEs

often communicate informally and on a volun-

tary basis, as the EC reported (2011). The Cor-

porate Register (corporateRegister.com) esti-

mates that about 2,500 European companies

publish CSR or sustainability reports. If we con-

sider that EC declared (2011) that there were

42,000 EU large companies, the number of

companies that have done the job was a small

fraction. For this reason there is still a huge

amount of work left if we consider the CSR poli-

cies implementation, which are carried out co-

ordinated at national, regional and local level.

It is clear that a development of CSR activities

requires new skills and changes in values and be-

haviour. The European Commission (2011) pro-

poses integrating CSR into education, training

and research. As an example, European business

schools are encouraged to follow the United Na-

tions Principles for Responsible Management

Education. The EC has been identifying oppor-

tunities for ﬁnancing research plans and innova-

tion on CSR under the 6th and 7th Framework

Programme, and will continue with this policy

under Horizon 2020. The European CSR fra-

mework is permitting a constructive discussion

with the European Council, the European Parlia-

ment, the Economic and Social Committee, the

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Committee of the Regions, enterprises and other

stakeholders.

2.2.2. European CSR Awards:

Communicating the Excellence

The European CSR Award Scheme for Partners-

hip, Innovation and Impact must be recognised

as a Public Relations and Communication Pro-

gramme designed to celebrate the best innovative

CSR partnerships from across 30 countries. In

this case, the dialogue turns into a public recogni-

tion of the best practices. This ﬁrst ever pan-Euro-

pean Award Scheme was launched in 2012 with

the aims of inspiring CSR excellence in multi-

stakeholder projects, bringing best practices, en-

couraging CSR collaboration between enterprises

and stakeholders and creating innovative solu-

tions to tackle sustainability issues. The project is

funded by the European Commission, and co-led

by CSR Europe (The European organisation focu-

sed on CSR issues that follow the objectives of the

Europe 2020 strategy for smart, sustainable and

inclusive growth) and Business in the Communi-

ty, and supported by Aliance Boots, the consor-

tium of 29 National CSR organizations.

In the ﬁrst edition 749 applications were re-

ceived (259 from SMEs and 490 from large com-

panies). The ceremony was held in Brussels in

June 2013, and there were 63 national winners

in the two categories mentioned: SME and large

company led partnership with a non-business

partner. The Awards Scheme demonstrated so-

cial and business impact as well as innovative

partnership. The experiences are gathered in a

Golden Book, as a compendium of the award

winning projects, which represents a source of

«know-how».

European Commission Vice President Anto-

nio Tajani, Commissioner for Industry and En-

trepreneurship, said at the Award Presentation

event: «The remarkable work of the winning

partnerships highlights the best in Corporate So-

cial Responsibility practices in Europe today. It

shows that a strategic approach to CSR is increa-

singly important to the competitiveness of SMEs

and large companies. It also encourages more

social and environmental responsibility from the

corporate sector at a time when the crisis has

damaged consumer conﬁdence and the levels of

trust in business».

2.3. Other International CSR

Frameworks

If we focus on a wider international framework,

the European Commission (2011) includes at

the mentioned report two main ideas: to focus

on internationally recognized CSR principles

and guidelines and, also, the implementation of

the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Hu-

man Rights.

The international CSR guidelines are mostly

provided to large companies, which are encou-

raged to make a commitment by 2014 to take

account of at least one of the international prin-

ciples when implementing their CSR activities.

The international institutions that propose them

are OECD (OECD Guidelines for Multi-national

Enterprises), United Nations (the ten principles

of UN Global Compact and also the United Na-

tions Guiding Principles on Business and Hu-

man Rights), ISO (the ISO 26000 Guidance

Standard on Social Responsibility), and ILO (Tri-

partite Declaration of Principles Concerning

Multinational Enterprises and Social Policy).

In addition, the EC report (2011) deals with

the necessity of implementing the United Na-

tions Guiding Principles on Business and Human

Rights, which cover three pillars: the State duty

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to respect human rights; the corporate responsi-

bility to respect human rights; and the need for

access to effective remedy. The CSR ﬁeld is beco-

ming wider with new matters such as core labour

standards, child labour, human trafﬁcking, gen-

der equality, non-discrimination, freedom in as-

sociation and the right to collective bargaining.

Moreover, The European Commission ﬁnd

the fact of promoting respect for social and envi-

ronmental factors as a drive for better governan-

ce and inclusive growth in developing countries,

within co-operation teams which would be held

by employee volunteering, as an example.

The above mentioned European CSR Awards

are not the only CSR Awards initiative to appre-

ciate achievements. November 2014 will be the

new deadline of the PR News CSR Awards. This

recognition initiative has been created by PR

News Group, an American communication group.

The Awards´ categories are: CSR Campaign;

Community Affairs; Corporate-Community Part-

nership; Corporation with between 1,000 and

10,000 employees (overall leader in CSR Practi-

ces); Corporation with between 10,000 and

25,000 employees; Corporation with less than

1,000 employees and Corporation with more

than 25,000 employees; CSR on a Shoestring;

CSR Professional of the year; Diversity Commu-

nications; Employee relations; Employee Volun-

teer Program; Environmental Stewardship; Event:

CSR/Green Focus; Facebook Communication

Campaign; Hall of fame; Human Rights Commu-

nications; Media Relations; Nonproﬁt/Corporate

Partnership; Philanthropy Communications; Pro

Bono Campaign; Product Design/Redesign; Re-

cycling Program; Social Good; Social Media

Campaign; Stakeholder Engagement; Supplier/

Vendor Partner of the Year; Sustainability/CSR

Report; Twitter Communications; Video initiati-

ves; Volunteer Programme; and Workplace Inno-

vation.

Without doubt, the wide selection of catego-

ries at these Awards, 36 in total, allow the parti-

cipants to choose very different communicative

situations as well as diverse issues of the CSR

process. The emphasizing of CSR campaign´s

goals and their achievements increases the op-

portunities of winning one of the rewards.

Recently, another CSR Award has announced

its winners of the VI edition: the ones from the

Internal Communication and Corporate Identity

Communication Observatory (El Observatorio

de la Comunicación Interna Anuncia los Premios

de la Edición 2014, 14/7/2014). The promoters

are Inforpress, IE Business School and Capital

Humano, and there have been candidates from

74 out of 54 enterprises. The prizes are recogni-

sing CSR best cases, internal communication and

corporate identity actions in 2013. The best prac-

tice of this year on Internal Communication in

CSR has been the project «Diversity in Deutsche»

by Deutsche Bank (the creation of a Diversity De-

partment which has encouraged their employees

into an inclusive environment framework).

3. Basis for a future CSR

Communication Model

2014-2020

In this complex context a balanced Corporate

Social Responsibility Communication Model in

the period 2014-2020 is necessary in order to

work between ethics and effectiveness, and en-

sure «conscience and consciousness», not only

in enterprises, but also in social organisations. A

Communication Model will help to bridge the

educational and communicative CSR gap bet-

ween the business sector and the non-business

organisations.

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This article would be the perfect framework

to share not only this gap but also the professio-

nal expertise of communicators on both sides.

The search and share of possible solutions to-

gether will enrich the process.

To analyse the communication gap in Corpo-

rate Responsibility between companies and so-

cial organizations means to study these two di-

fferent corporate cultures and their languages, so

as to unify them in a new framework with a

«common language». Within this new fra-

mework, the social projects will be covered by a

higher quality communication policy, with the

support of the companies that are seeking for a

better reputation.

This article let us identify the key improve-

ment factors of the CSR communication mana-

gement in the business ﬁeld and also in the

Third Sector, social agents and humanitarian

organisations. The creation of a more effective

positioning of each of the participants, and the

co-ordination programs will avoid duplications

among enterprises, institutions, non-proﬁt orga-

nisations and NGOs.

The key study object for a CSR communica-

tion matter is to analyse the process held by the

communicator/»sender» (business or non-busi-

ness organizations) who communicates a CSR

message (responsibility, ethical, human rights,

etc.) to a «receiver» (see Chart 2), through a me-

dium, in a determined context and with some

high or low results, in terms of communication.

The most important stages of the CSR process

can be found in the following chapter (3.1, see

Chart nº 1).

3.1. CSR Communication Process

The CSR Communication Process includes, as a

management process of an intangible asset (Tru-

ñó & Rialp, 2007: 163), at least, six stages that

are explained in the following chart:

Chart nº 1- Main stages of CSR Communication Process (Mazo, M.E).

CSR Communication Process

1. The Communicator («The Sender»): business and non-business organizations

ommunication objectives & target groups («The Receiver»)

he Strategic Message: main contents: economy, social and environmental (Rivero, 2005:81)

Strat

egic Communication Plan: internal, intermediate and external programs

Strat

egic Media

valuation of communication eects

CSR Communication Process

he Communicator ( «The sender»): business and non-business organisations

ey factor: credibility

ey factor: leadership of the managers

Identify with accurac

y the communication objectives and the target groups

ommunication as a strategic tool into the management policies

e. Participation of all the sta

oherence with CSR activities

.../...

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2. Communication objectives & target groups. Receivers.

Communication objectives:

o create a common CSR reference framework

o communicate the CSR culture: to spread the CSR values in the Society, to create awareness, inform and educate.

i. To boost and promote CSR activities, as a transversal strategic issue.

o improve the level of trust both in business and non-business organisations: to create a responsible brand.

Target groups: see Chart nº 2 (CSR receivers´ involvement in Business & non-business organizations).

3. The Strategic Message: main contents

esponsible values: social & environmental

l. Integrate ethics into management

ommitment with Human Rights Policies

n. Sustainability

ocial cohesion: labor, employment, and integration of disabled persons…

p. Transparency

q. Competitiveness

esponsible Consumption

ommunity Development

t. Cooperation

u. Volunteering

4. Strategic Communication Plan (see Chart nº 2)

nternal Communication Program: actions for internal target groups

ntermediate Communication Program: actions for intermediate target groups

ternal Communication Program: actions for external target groups

5. Strategic Media: the best Media-mix

y. To select the best Media-mix to fulll the communication objectives

· CSR Report into the Annual Report: management tool

· Public Relations techniques: events, awards, etc.

· Advertisement techniques

· Media Relations

· Videos

· Web 2.0: Blogs, Social Media –LinkedIN, Facebook, Twitter, etc.-

· Sponsorship

· Community Aairs Campaign

· Institutional Relations

tc.

6. Evaluation of Communication Eects: intangible measurement, circular process

valuation of the message eects: message attention, understanding, retention, and remembrance.

aa.

valuation of the nal eects: in terms of trust, condence, reputation, CSR values, fulllment of objectives.

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The Final report means the feed-back and the

«brieﬁng» for the next Communication Cam-

paign: the process begins again.

3.2. Basis for a CSR level of involvement

Research

The analysis of Chart 1- should be completed

with a study of CSR level of involvement in the

two different environments by the two types of

communicators or senders: enterprises (large

ones and SMEs) and non-business organisa-

tions. Through the three communication areas

(internal, intermediate and external) the diffe-

rent target groups show their level of involve-

ment in relation to each sender: high, medium

and low. The content of the Chart has been ela-

borated with the reports analysed in this paper

and with the author´s expertise (more than

twenty years) as a communication consultant.

The next steps are to gather other professio-

nal opinions from the involved agents, check the

below data with a multi-stakeholder opinion re-

search, and set the future CSR Communication

Model 2014-2020.

Chart nº 2- CSR level of targets involvement in the two environments (Mazo, M.E).

Level of involvement in CSR strategy: High=H; Medium= M; Low= L

Communic area & Target Group

Enterprises

Level of CSR involvement

Non-Business Organiz.

Level of CSR involvement

Large Co. SMEs Large Org. Small/m Org.

Internal

Comm. Target. Group:

· CEO H M -

· M

anagers H M H L

· Senior Exec H M H L

· Junior Exec. M L H L

· Volunteers - - H M

· Trainees M L -

Intermediate

Comm.Target Group:

· Shar

eholders H M

· Suppliers M L M L

· Collaborators H M M L

· Associations H H H H

· Trade Unions H L H L

.../...

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4. Conclusions

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities

are «suffering» a gap in the communication con-

text and language between business (which

need social organisations to undertake social res-

ponsible programs in order to gain reputation

and trust) and non-business organizations

(which need enterprises´ help to ﬁnance their

social programs). We must research and debate

the communicative features of both situations to

help bridge the gap mentioned, moreover if we

bear in mind that today the international institu-

tions are setting the CSR Strategy for 2014-2020.

The features of this gap and its communica-

tion context have been studied in this article. But

also the subject has been analysed by the Euro-

pean framework of CSR activities, as well as by

other international initiatives. From the «CSR 30

golden rules for SMEs» published by Forética

(2013), (on which 50% of the rules were com-

municative), to the «Multi-sectorial Study of the

CSR State in the Spanish Large Enterprise»,

shown by Club de Excelencia en Sostenibilidad

(2014), (where the large enterprise have appro-

ved the CSR «exam»), the fact is that the Euro-

pean Commission (2011) ensures that only 15

Level of involvement in CSR strategy: High=H; Medium= M; Low= L

Communic area & Target Group Enterprises

Level of CSR involvement

Non-Business Organiz.

Level of CSR involvement

Large Co. SMEs Large Org. Small/m Org.

External

Comm.Target Group:

· Clients/users M L M L

· P

ublic Administ.

· International H H H M

· European H H H M

· National Gov H H H M

· Regional G. H M H M

· Local Gov M-L L M L

· Industry and Professional Ass H H H H

· Social Civil Org H H H H

· Consumer Ass H H H H

· Media/Press H M H M

· Opinion leaders/experts H H H H

· Public Opinion/Citizens L L M L

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of 27 EU members have a national policy plan to

promote CSR. The EC efforts to create and boost

multi-stakeholders dialogue are huge, but SMEs

often communicate informally and the Corpora-

te Register (2011) identiﬁes only about 2,500

European companies that publish CSR or sustai-

nable reports, among the existing 42,000 large

European enterprises. The number of ﬁrms that

have done the job is, therefore, a very small per-

centage (5,95%). If we add the European SMEs

to the total, the impact of CSR activities in Euro-

pe companies is even lower.

As a following step it has been shown a sche-

me (Chart nº 1) with the stages of CSR commu-

nication process, with the communicator/ «sen-

der» (business or non-business organisations)

who communicates a «CSR message» (responsi-

bility, ethical, human rights, etc.) to a «receiver»

(see Chart 2), through out a «medium», in a

determined «context» and with some high or

low «effects», in terms of communication.

The process has been completed with a study

of the CSR «receiver» level of involvement (Chart

2) by the two types of communicators or «sen-

ders»: enterprises (large companies and SMEs)

and non-business organisations (large and small).

In the three corporate communication areas (in-

ternal, intermediate and external) different target

groups («receivers») show their level of involve-

ment in CSR issues in relationship to each «sen-

der». The CSR communicative gap arises with

the comparison of the involvement values of the

two different environments: clearly, the lower le-

vel of involvement is found mostly in non-busi-

ness organizations and SMEs.

The next steps are to listen to other commu-

nication professionals from the different in-

volved agents, to check the above data with a

multi-stakeholder opinion research, and set

the future CSR Communication Model 2014-

2020 with the ﬁnal results of the Study.

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