Gastone Gualtieri and Francesco Lurati
The literature presents several frameworks for stakeholder analysis, mainly focusing on identification and characterization. However, there is a notable lack of frameworks aimed…
Abstract
Purpose
The literature presents several frameworks for stakeholder analysis, mainly focusing on identification and characterization. However, there is a notable lack of frameworks aimed at comprehensively understanding stakeholders’ perspectives. Neglecting stakeholders’ viewpoints risks biasing overarching analyses, given the relational and perspective–based nature of stakeholders’ relevance and characteristics. Moreover, this gap is particularly salient in today’s polarized landscape, where understandings of issues can markedly diverge. To address this gap, this paper introduces a stakeholder analysis framework designed to facilitate a deeper understanding of stakeholders’ perspectives.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper introduces a narrative approach to stakeholder analysis through conceptual arguments and illustrates it through a case study – the introduction of 5G technologies in Italy.
Findings
The paper illustrates how a narrative approach to stakeholder analysis enhances an understanding of stakeholders’ perspectives by revealing issue-specific sentiments and assumptions, objectives and expectations regarding other stakeholders’ behaviors and relationships in place.
Originality/value
Introducing a narrative approach to understanding stakeholders’ perspectives fills a gap in the literature on stakeholder analysis. This proves valuable for managers and is conceptually relevant, fostering a systemic approach to stakeholder thinking in a polarized world.
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Simone Mariconda, Alessandra Zamparini and Francesco Lurati
The purpose of this paper is to conceptually develop and empirically test a model according to which a crisis leads to a greater reputational damage when it is highly relevant to…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to conceptually develop and empirically test a model according to which a crisis leads to a greater reputational damage when it is highly relevant to the firm’s organizational identity or highly relevant to stakeholders’ identity.
Design/methodology/approach
A total of 299 participants based in the USA were recruited online using the Amazon Mechanical Turk platform. The study uses a 2 (relevance of crisis to organizational identity: low vs high) × 2 (relevance of crisis to stakeholders’ identity: low vs high) between-subjects experimental design.
Findings
The results confirm the hypotheses that an organizational crisis leads to greater reputational damage when it is highly relevant to the firm’s organizational identity or when it is highly relevant to stakeholders’ identity. No significant interaction between the two variables was found.
Research limitations/implications
Future research could focus on further elaborating on how the two identity-related variables tested in this paper interact with other variables that have already been studied for moderating the effects of crises on reputation damage.
Practical implications
The paper reaffirms the deep interconnection between identity, stakeholders and reputation. Concretely, the results of the study suggest an informative way of mapping the degree to which risks or issues could potentially damage organizational reputation.
Originality/value
The paper contributes to the literature by providing a more situational understanding of how the same exact crisis can damage the reputation of organizations differently. By doing so, the paper opens several new avenues for future research.
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Simone Mariconda and Francesco Lurati
The purpose of this paper is to introduce a method that the authors call stakeholder cross-impact analysis (SCIA), which is aimed at analyzing how a given set of stakeholders…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to introduce a method that the authors call stakeholder cross-impact analysis (SCIA), which is aimed at analyzing how a given set of stakeholders influence one another and also how such stakeholders relate to a given set of issues.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors first identify, in the current literature, a lack of analytical tools for assessing mutual influences among stakeholders. The authors then identify cross-impact analysis, a method that was initially developed in the field of futures research, as a suitable method to be applied in the present research. Its application, which the authors call SCIA, is described in detail through a fictitious case.
Findings
SCIA permits to assess the direction and the strength of relationships between stakeholders. Furthermore, it allows for the classification of stakeholders based on their level of dependence and influence on others. Also, it is possible to integrate SCIA with social network analysis in order to understand the degree to which stakeholders agree on how issues influence one another, as well as to identify which issues most stakeholders consider to be central and which stakeholders have the most shared opinion on how issues are related.
Practical implications
This method can be used, along with traditional segmentation techniques, by corporate communication and public relations practitioners in order to gain a more sophisticated understanding of the complexity of organizations’ environments.
Originality/value
SCIA represents a much-needed and novel way of understanding the complexity of organizations’ environments.
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Alessandra Zamparini and Francesco Lurati
This paper presents the results of exploratory research aimed at understanding how firms operating in regional clusters use the clusters' collective identity in their external…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper presents the results of exploratory research aimed at understanding how firms operating in regional clusters use the clusters' collective identity in their external communication and combine it with the communication of their individual identity. In particular, the paper aims to detect different behaviors among different types of firms.
Design/methodology/approach
A quantitative exploratory content analysis is performed on the websites of the wineries of the Franciacorta wine cluster (Italy). A two‐step cluster analysis is used to identify differences in identity communications.
Findings
The results suggest the existence of two groups manifesting different patterns of identity communication. Larger firms communicate their individual identity through symbols, but they consistently communicate collective values. The other group (on average smaller firms, but including some of the biggest) seems to exploit collective identity symbols, without giving prominence to collective values.
Practical implications
This study provides an understanding of how companies communicate collective symbols and values promoted by cooperative institutions; this understanding can be beneficial for future developments of collective branding projects.
Originality/value
This research contributes to broadening the debate on cluster identity as a strategic resource by adopting a communication perspective as well as providing empirical data on how different types of clusters' firms actually combine a collective cluster's identity and their firm's identity to shape their external image.
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Alessandra Zamparini, Francesco Lurati and Laura G. Illia
The purpose of this paper is to propose a method by which to audit winemakers' communication of regional wine brands and to illustrate the method's conceptual basis through its…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to propose a method by which to audit winemakers' communication of regional wine brands and to illustrate the method's conceptual basis through its empirical application to the Swiss wine Merlot Ticino.
Design/methodology/approach
The audit is comprised of two parts: one captures producers' intentions regarding the communication of the regional wine brand while the other determines what wineries actually convey through their formal communications. Data about intentions were collected through qualitative interviews and a survey of producers, while data on what wineries convey was based on a content analysis of wineries' communication materials.
Findings
The application of the audit to the brand Merlot Ticino shows that the proposed method provides several insights into the brand's personality, possible gaps between producers' intentions and actual communications, the potential target of the communication, the level of consistency of communication content and style, and the expressiveness of wineries in communicating the regional wine brands.
Research limitations/implications
The content analysis adopted in this research focuses on formal communications issued by wineries. Adding oral contents and consumer perceptions would considerably improve the audit tool.
Originality/value
This paper provides winemaking regions with a useful tool with which to determine the effectiveness of their brand projections in the collective promotion of their regional wine brands. The paper is of value for academic research because it illustrates that results may be obtained in the wine brand field using methods traditionally used in corporate communication research, like projective techniques and communications audits.
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Gregory Birth, Laura Illia, Francesco Lurati and Alessandra Zamparini
The purpose of this paper is to provide a picture of the practice of corporate social responsibility (CSR) communication among the top 300 companies in Switzerland and to…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to provide a picture of the practice of corporate social responsibility (CSR) communication among the top 300 companies in Switzerland and to investigate how favorable the cultural context is for this kind of communication.
Design/methodology/approach
The investigation of the top 300 companies in Switzerland was conducted using a written survey that built on previous studies.
Findings
CSR communication in Switzerland appears to be well developed, but still has broad margins for development. Examples are provided on how to improve CSR communication. Such improvements should be relatively easy to implement since Switzerland, it is argued, appears to be open to CSR communication.
Research limitations/implications
The investigation considered only the communication objectives toward a limited range of stakeholders, such as clients, shareholders, and employees. The survey was conducted among the top 300 companies in Switzerland; these companies are not necessarily representative of the whole Swiss business community.
Practical implications
The paper describes the elements that should be considered in order to develop an effective CSR communication. These elements are synergies between issues, objectives, and channels; criteria for a credible social report; the exploitation of the potentialities of CSR advertising and the web; and the understanding of the national context where the organization is operating.
Originality/value
This paper focuses on CSR communication, an area that has received limited attention in CSR research. Organizations may find interesting hints on how to develop effective CSR communication.