Projects per year
Personal profile
Research interests
I am an associate professor of strategic communication at the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities. The way corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities and communication develops and maintains relationships between corporations, employees, and communities is the cornerstone of my research. My research takes the position that CSR practices and expectations are intimately tied to everyday life, reflect cultural values, interconnect economic and social interests, and evolve over time. I have published numerous journal articles including publications detailing the experiences of locked out union workers, stakeholder perceptions of corporate social responsibility/irresponsibility that occurs in their hometowns versus elsewhere, and the institutionalization of CSR in the petroleum refining industry. A 2020 bibliometric analysis in Public Relations Review identified me as the “most popular and influential scholar” in the network of communication scholars researching CSR.
My current project is a multi-year ethnography of the CSR practices of nothern Minnesota mining companies. This project exposes the role generational differences, workforce education, shifting demographics, and natural resource accessibility play in the cultural acceptance of CSR and uncovers the micro processes of corporate-community relationship building.
As an interdisciplinary scholar, I have demonstrated national and international impact. My research has been featured by the Conference Board of Directors including as a webinar guest speaker for corporate executives about corporate social responsibility. I serve on the Business & Society editorial board and am an associate editor for Management Communication Quarterly. In addition, I am the editor of the upcoming Routledge’s Handbook of Corporate Social Responsibility Communication. In my role as editor, I have brought together an interdisciplinary group of business, organizational communication, and public relations scholars to interrogate and advance the field of CSR.
Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals
In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):
Education/Academic qualification
PhD
External Positions
Associate Editor, Management Communication Quarterly
Research Interest Keywords
- Corporate Social Responsibility
- qualitative research
- corporate nonprofit partnerships
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Projects
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Hometown advantage? Exploring the relationship between location, CSR/CSI and stakeholders’ behavioral intentions
O'Connor, A., Mitson, R. & Gilbert, C., Jun 1 2021, In: Corporate Communications. 26, 4, p. 758-772 15 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
1 Scopus citations -
Does the CSR Message Matter? Untangling the Relationship Between Corporate–Nonprofit Partnerships, Created Fit Messages, and Activist Evaluations
Maktoufi, R., O’Connor, A. & Shumate, M., May 1 2020, In: Management Communication Quarterly. 34, 2, p. 188-212 25 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
9 Scopus citations -
A Multidimensional Network Approach to Strategic Communication
O’Connor, A. & Shumate, M., Aug 8 2018, In: International Journal of Strategic Communication. 12, 4, p. 399-416 18 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
18 Scopus citations -
A Nonprofit Perspective on Business–Nonprofit Partnerships: Extending the Symbiotic Sustainability Model
Shumate, M., Hsieh, Y. P. & O’Connor, A., Sep 1 2018, In: Business and Society. 57, 7, p. 1337-1373 37 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
33 Scopus citations -
The Institutionalization of Corporate Social Responsibility Communication: An Intra-Industry Comparison of MNCs’ and SMEs’ CSR Reports
O’Connor, A., Parcha, J. M. & Tulibaski, K. L. G., Nov 1 2017, In: Management Communication Quarterly. 31, 4, p. 503-532 30 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
21 Scopus citations