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Craig E Carroll
Rice University, Strategy, Adjunct
Research Interests:
Accountability refers to the state of being liable and answerable to someone for something. It establishes relationships, defines ‘‘the rights of society (or groups/stakeholders within society) and relates to the rights that emerge from... more
Accountability refers to the state of being liable and answerable to someone for something. It establishes relationships, defines ‘‘the rights of society (or groups/stakeholders within society) and relates to the rights that emerge from the relationship between the accountable organization (the accountor) and the accountee’’ (Gray, Bebbington, & Collison, 2006). Being accountable requires the object of accountability to be capable of being observed, monitored, and evaluated through its willingness to provide reliable information. There must, as well, be clear consequences for failure (Carroll, 2016). In business, accountability has been equated with governance (Brennan & Solomon, 2008) and corporate social responsibility reporting (Gray, et. al., 1997; Newell, 2005; Valor, 2005; Bendell, 2005; Utting, 2008). Scholars have also investigated the role of intermediaries and gatekeepers, such as auditors and credit rating agencies, in upholding - or failing to uphold - corporate accountability (Coffee, 2002; Partnoy, 1999). Yet despite these recent studies, corporate accountability remains under-researched and under-theorized, especially when compared to political accountability.
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This chapter investigates companies' disclosure alignment and transparency signaling within the 2011 CSR annual reports of 36 U.S. firms in the Global Forbes 2000. DICTION 6.0 was used for the text analysis. The study found that... more
This chapter investigates companies' disclosure alignment and transparency signaling within the 2011 CSR annual reports of 36 U.S. firms in the Global Forbes 2000. DICTION 6.0 was used for the text analysis. The study found that CSR reports are fairly similar to corporate financial annual reports but can be classified more accurately as a hybrid discourse with normative elements matching genres emanating from science, business, government, religion, and social movements. Despite the relatively short time that CSR reports have been in existence, this chapter provides evidence that CSR reporting has become institutionalized quickly. The measures of transparency signaling and disclosure alignment reveal that companies know the rules for reporting and are following them. CSR reporting on societal and environmental impacts and performance receive the most focused discussion, while human rights, labor, and product responsibility discussions are at minimal levels. The study ends with future research directions.
Research Interests: Business, Business Ethics, Corporate Social Responsibility, Corporate Communication, Accounting, and 15 moreEnvironmental Sustainability, Corporate Accountability, Corporate Rhetoric, CSR Ethics, Disclosure, Corporate Governnace Disclosure in the Annual reports, Audit, CSR in MNCs, corporate sustainability and CSR, Global Reporting Initiative, CSR Business and Society, Diction, Global Compact Initiative and Its Social Impact, CSR and Business Ethics, and Best Practices In CSR
This paper introduces unpacks media favorability into two dimensions and investigates their relationship with firms' public esteem. A firm's focal media favorability refers to the overall evaluation of a firm presented in a stream... more
This paper introduces unpacks media favorability into two dimensions and investigates their relationship with firms' public esteem. A firm's focal media favorability refers to the overall evaluation of a firm presented in a stream of media stories. A firm's peripheral media favorability refers the overall evaluative tone accumulating from a stream of media stories where a firm is mentioned, yet is independent of how the focal firm is portrayed relative to the content. The study used a content analysis of The New York Times (n = 2,711) articles dating six months preceding the 2000 Annual Reputation Quotient, a nationwide public opinion poll (n = 22,359) on firms' reputations. Relationships were found between firms' focal media favorability and their public esteem for respondents with more knowledge of the firms' attributes and between firms' peripheral media favorability and their public esteem for respondents having little to no knowledge about the firms&...
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to introduce the concepts of key messages and key message integrity, and examines their viability for communication management scholars and practitioners in evaluating media relations activities. Key... more
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to introduce the concepts of key messages and key message integrity, and examines their viability for communication management scholars and practitioners in evaluating media relations activities. Key message integrity addresses not only what messages transfer, but also how well. Design/methodology/approach – The authors analyzed 18 nonprofit organizations’ key messages and the messages’ integrity levels using content analysis on one month of their news coverage. In-depth interviews with eight of their media relations practitioners helped validate the concepts and the results. Findings – The authors found five unique categories and functions of key messages: information concerned with dissemination, raison d’être concerned with purpose, categories concerned with positioning, resource management concerned with accounting for resources, and social relevance concerned with legitimacy. Findings also revealed varying levels of transmission and messag...
Research Interests: Computer Science, Information Theory, Corporate Communication, Public Relations, Communication Management, and 12 moreMedia Framing, Public Relations & Social Media, Corporate Communications, Corporate Reputation, Media Research, Corporate Identity Management, Framing and agenda setting research, Language Culture and Communication, Agenda Setting Theory, Political Messages, Corporate Agenda-Setting Theory, and Agenda Building Theory
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Page 1. The Expressive Organization Linking Identity, Reputation, and the Corporate Brand Edited by MAJKEN SCHULTZ, MARY JO HATCH, and MOGENS HOLTEN LARSEN Page 2. The Expressive Organization Page 3. Further ...
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PurposeWicked problems require holistic and systemic thinking that accommodates interdisciplinary solutions and cross-sectoral collaborations between private and public sectors. This paper explores how public relations (PR) – as a... more
PurposeWicked problems require holistic and systemic thinking that accommodates interdisciplinary solutions and cross-sectoral collaborations between private and public sectors. This paper explores how public relations (PR) – as a boundary-spanning function at the nexus of corporate and political discourse – can support societies to tackle wicked problems.Design/methodology/approachThis conceptual paper synthesizes literature on PR with a service ecosystem perspective. The authors use the service ecosystem design framework to structure the PR literature and develop a model of service ecosystem shaping for social change, which highlights the important role that PR can play in shaping processes.FindingsThe authors explicate how PR can (1) facilitate value cocreation processes between broad sets of stakeholders that drive positive social change, (2) shape institutional arrangements in general and public discourse in particular, (3) provide a platform for recursive feedback loops of ref...
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Research Interests: Business and Reputation
Humans are natural storytellers. Whether we’re conscious of it or not, we constantly create and share stories about what happened and why, as well as scenarios for what might happen next. Stories powerfully convey values, place them in... more
Humans are natural storytellers. Whether we’re conscious of it or not, we constantly create and share stories about what happened and why, as well as scenarios for what might happen next. Stories powerfully convey values, place them in context for the future and allow us to identify future opportunities. Within organizations, stories can be helpful in dealing with critical issues—such as those targeted by the company’s corporate social responsibility initiatives—by highlighting the positive and negative outcomes of individual and collective behaviors. Inter - nal stories are important to motivate people and create messages that are memorable enough for people to take action.
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Research Interests: Marketing, Business Ethics, Applied Ethics, Corporate Social Responsibility, Corporate Communication, and 14 morePolitical Science, Public Relations, Dialogue, Communication Management, Strategic Communication, Employee engagement, Public Engagement, Transparency, Business and Management, Stakeholder Engagement, Communication and Public Relations, Strategic CSR, Quality of Life Research, and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)
This chapter investigates companies' disclosure alignment and transparency signaling within the 2011 CSR annual reports of 36 U.S. firms in the Global Forbes 2000. DICTION 6.0 was used for the text analysis. The study found that CSR... more
This chapter investigates companies' disclosure alignment and transparency signaling within the 2011 CSR annual reports of 36 U.S. firms in the Global Forbes 2000. DICTION 6.0 was used for the text analysis. The study found that CSR reports are fairly similar to corporate financial annual reports but can be classified more accurately as a hybrid discourse with normative elements matching genres emanating from science, business, government, religion, and social movements. Despite the relatively short time that CSR reports have been in existence, this chapter provides evidence that CSR reporting has become institutionalized quickly. The measures of transparency signaling and disclosure alignment reveal that companies know the rules for reporting and are following them. CSR reporting on societal and environmental impacts and performance receive the most focused discussion, while human rights, labor, and product responsibility discussions are at minimal levels. The study ends with f...
Research Interests: Business, Business Ethics, Corporate Social Responsibility, Corporate Communication, Accounting, and 15 moreEnvironmental Sustainability, Corporate Accountability, Corporate Rhetoric, CSR Ethics, Disclosure, Corporate Governnace Disclosure in the Annual reports, Audit, CSR in MNCs, corporate sustainability and CSR, Global Reporting Initiative, CSR Business and Society, Diction, Global Compact Initiative and Its Social Impact, CSR and Business Ethics, and Best Practices In CSR
Research Interests: Business, Communication, Media Studies, Journalism, Corporate Social Responsibility, and 13 moreDevelopment communication, Public Relations, Media Education, Media Literacy, Social Media, Media, Media Research, Social Science Research Network, Social Communication, Visibility, Media Impact and Effects and Usages, Alternate Media, and Development Communication
Accountability refers to the state of being liable and answerable to someone for something. It establishes relationships, defines ‘‘the rights of society (or groups/stakeholders within society) and relates to the rights that emerge from... more
Accountability refers to the state of being liable and answerable to someone for something. It establishes relationships, defines ‘‘the rights of society (or groups/stakeholders within society) and relates to the rights that emerge from the relationship between the accountable organization (the accountor) and the accountee’’ (Gray, Bebbington, & Collison, 2006). Being accountable requires the object of accountability to be capable of being observed, monitored, and evaluated through its willingness to provide reliable information. There must, as well, be clear consequences for failure (Carroll, 2016). In business, accountability has been equated with governance (Brennan & Solomon, 2008) and corporate social responsibility reporting (Gray, et. al., 1997; Newell, 2005; Valor, 2005; Bendell, 2005; Utting, 2008). Scholars have also investigated the role of intermediaries and gatekeepers, such as auditors and credit rating agencies, in upholding - or failing to uphold - corporate accounta...
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PurposeThis study aims to reveal the quantity, quality and cultural differences of negative corporate social performance (CSP) disclosures in large firms' corporate social responsibility (CSR) reports. Firms are expected to be... more
PurposeThis study aims to reveal the quantity, quality and cultural differences of negative corporate social performance (CSP) disclosures in large firms' corporate social responsibility (CSR) reports. Firms are expected to be transparent about the impacts and outcomes of their CSP. A central aspect of transparency is balance, which means disclosing both positive and negative CSP.Design/methodology/approachContent analysis was applied to 75 CSR reports of large firms chosen from the Forbes Top 500 list. The firms belong to three cultural clusters: Anglo, Confucian Asia and Germanic/Nordic Europe.FindingsFirms made few negative CSP disclosures, yet the quantity of negative CSP disclosures varied among cultural clusters. Reports from Germanic/Nordic Europe showed the highest number of negative CSP disclosures, reports from Confucian Asia showed the lowest number and the Anglo cluster's number fell in between. The Asian firms communicated corrective actions more often than firm...
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In this chapter, we provide an overview of how news organizations work and develop a theoretical account of communicative interactions between corporate communication professionals representing commercial companies and journalists working... more
In this chapter, we provide an overview of how news organizations work and develop a theoretical account of communicative interactions between corporate communication professionals representing commercial companies and journalists working for news organizations. This account conceptualizes these interactions as a discursive process in which professionals and journalists construct and negotiate frames about an event or issue related to a company. This process tends to be guided on both sides by the individual’s professional identity (as communication professional or journalist) and the identity of their organization.