Recognizing Societal Issues: Modelling Ethics of Care
Introduction
Media plays an important role in bringing to light societal issues that are caused by companies to the public. In order to model the ethics of care, individuals and businesses have to put into consideration not just the financial aspect of their business but act socially responsible and prevent harm to the public. My paper will examine the effect media attention has on a firm’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) be it positive or negative. Also we will address the role media attention plays in institutional pressure and the strategic response organization give.
The Role of Media
Media has great influence on an organization’s behaviour and CSR because it serves as a source
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For example, it can affect competitors positively because they can leverage on the backlash the company is getting from the media to gain more market share, the consumers can use media to reach a greater audience to boycott the product and fight for their right to choose and the company can use the same medium to communicate their stands on their decision which could either be a retraction, an apology or defence or a stand. With the power the media holds, it is important that organizations communicate their CSR using the right words and appropriate channel of communication, new media e.g. Facebook, which promotes a direct interaction and participation along a wider audience and also build relationship between the organization and stakeholders compared to traditional media e.g. newspaper (Schultz, Castelló, & Morsing, …show more content…
Shim & Yang, (2016) confirms that reputation and crisis has as effect on the perception of corporate hypocrisy, meaning a bad reputation and a company in crisis can lead to stakeholder’s belief that the company is not what it claims to be. In this case once a company is perceived has being hypocritical, increasing its CSR may only backfire and result in more perception of hypocrisy. Zyglidopoulos et al (2012) says firm’s sensitivity to social issues is dependent on importance of the issue at that particular time, for example the media outrage will have more effect on firms that discriminate based on sexual orientation because its in the period of societal attention than racism because its believed to have been highly sensitized. So in communicating a company’s CSR it is important to portray sincerity and honesty rather than focus on recognition and awards (Shim & Yang, 2016). If companies can recognize the social issues they cause and embrace the ethics of care, because the neglect can increase the chance that corporate hypocrisy and bad reputation will not