TY - JOUR
T1 - Exploring Variations in Corporations’ Communication After a CA Versus CSR Crisis
T2 - A Semantic Network Analysis of Sustainability Reports
AU - Park, Keonyoung
AU - Kim, Hyejin
AU - Rim, Hyejoon
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2020.
PY - 2024/4
Y1 - 2024/4
N2 - The study attempts to understand corporations’ efforts to communicate their values and commitment to stakeholders after a crisis. Specifically, the study explores the characteristics of communication efforts that may differ depending on the reputational crisis types: corporate ability (CA) and corporate social responsibility (CSR) crises. Employing a series of semantic network analyses, the study examined the sustainability annual reports of two Korean airlines (i.e., Korean Air and Asiana Airlines) published before and after their recent crises. Results showed how sustainability reports’ central keywords, social issues the companies support, and prioritized stakeholders varied in response to the different types of crises. Word frequency results showed that there was an increasing trend in emphasizing the word “safety” after both types of crisis, while a noticeable decrease in emphasis on the word “ethics” was observed after CA crisis. The results of semantic network analyses showed that Korean Air’s sustainability reports seemed to focus more on aspects of the relationship with stakeholders after the CSR crisis, while Asiana Airlines appeared to place more emphasis on business-related notions after the CA crisis. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.
AB - The study attempts to understand corporations’ efforts to communicate their values and commitment to stakeholders after a crisis. Specifically, the study explores the characteristics of communication efforts that may differ depending on the reputational crisis types: corporate ability (CA) and corporate social responsibility (CSR) crises. Employing a series of semantic network analyses, the study examined the sustainability annual reports of two Korean airlines (i.e., Korean Air and Asiana Airlines) published before and after their recent crises. Results showed how sustainability reports’ central keywords, social issues the companies support, and prioritized stakeholders varied in response to the different types of crises. Word frequency results showed that there was an increasing trend in emphasizing the word “safety” after both types of crisis, while a noticeable decrease in emphasis on the word “ethics” was observed after CA crisis. The results of semantic network analyses showed that Korean Air’s sustainability reports seemed to focus more on aspects of the relationship with stakeholders after the CSR crisis, while Asiana Airlines appeared to place more emphasis on business-related notions after the CA crisis. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.
KW - CA crisis
KW - CSR crisis
KW - reputational crisis
KW - semantic network analysis
KW - sustainability reporting
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85081640245&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85081640245&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/2329488420907148
DO - 10.1177/2329488420907148
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85081640245
SN - 2329-4884
VL - 61
SP - 240
EP - 262
JO - International Journal of Business Communication
JF - International Journal of Business Communication
IS - 2
ER -