Social media's role in company transperency : A qualitative study of private firms in northern Sweden

Abstract: The interest in company transparency has increased in the last years. This has been a demand from customers and other stakeholders after witnessing numerus scandals by big companies. Along with this, being transparent has also become a goal for a lot of companies today. Despite this, there are still little research on how companies should work with transparency. There are numerus ways for companies to exercise transparency, one of the being communicating about the company’s CSR (corporate social responsibilities) to share their contribution to a better world. However, there are some difficulties of doing this to make sure that the communication is not misleading and is in line with the reality. However, there are few studies in current research on CSR involving how practitioners are working when communicating CSR and their thoughts about it. Followingly, a company’s CSR efforts can be communicated in various ways. As social media is a major communication channel today it is also a main communication channel for companies CSR work. Which is why this degree project is focusing on CSR communication on social media. The purpose for this degree project is to investigate and explore how private firms in northern Sweden are using social media to exercise transparency by communicating their CSR efforts. The rapid economic growth of northern Sweden has made this an interesting geographical location for this study along with the fact that social media is well implemented in Swedish companies and the Swedish population along with CSR being well imbedded in Swedish companies. A qualitative method was applied along with grounded theory to analyze the findings and connecting them to current literature. The findings show of six approaches of how private firms in northern Sweden are using social media to communicate their CSR efforts, and therefor exercise transparency. These are: (1) Using social media to inform about the company’s actions regarding CSR, (2) Using social media to drive traffic to website to share further information about CSR, (3) Having the reputation of the company in mind when posting about CSR on social media, (4) Using social media to disclose organization information about CSR, (5) Using social media to encourage others to be more involved with CSR, and (6) Using social media to be more generous in their communication about CSR. The findings of this degree project will add to current research of transparency and CSR communication by having Sweden, and more specifically northern Sweden, as a geographical area. Followingly, by focusing on the practitioner’s perspective of communicating CSR, how they work, and their thoughts on CSR communication will also add to current research on the topic. Moreover, there are a number of practical recommendations from this study. Firstly, the findings of this study give insights and show of the importance of communicating CSR as a company. Secondly, the findings of this study can act as a framework for companies that want to start or improve their communication about CSR on social media. Lastly, the findings of this study are highlighting the benefits of using social media to communicate about CSR.