CSR communication on corporate websites compared across continents

What is it about?

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate how the 106 largest banks in the world use their corporate websites for corporate social responsibility (CSR) communication, identifying CSR communication patterns by continent. Findings: Three-quarters of the banks communicate on CSR issues on their corporate website – either located in the section “About Us” or under a separate “CSR” heading which is directly accessible on the front homepage. Company reports published on the website are the most important vehicle for CSR communication. Their publication increased from six for the publication year 2000 to a peak of 63 reports for the year 2011. The reports’ titles are most commonly linked to the concepts of “responsibility” or “sustainability” and refer to ten main stakeholders and topics. In a comparison between continents there is a difference in the use of titles: European banks prefer the title “Sustainability Report”, while Asian and American banks in particular prefer the title “CSR Report”.

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Why is it important?

This paper gives the first comprehensive picture of the trend in CSR communication on corporate websites in the global banking sector.

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