Analysis of Retailers’Communication Approaches in Sustainability and Social Responsibility Reports

Abstract

Following the emergence of stakeholders' societal awareness, retailers adopted different types of social actions and have recently begun to publish social reports to demonstrate their commitment to sustainability and social responsibility in order to be perceived as good corporate citizens. The purpose of this paper is to analyze and to discuss approaches adopted by retailers in communicating about their societal commitment through their non-financial reports. Using a ualitative methodology, we found that these reports are purely informative for some retailers, whereas for others, they are a societal positioning tool allowing retailers to differentiate themselves from competitors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of International Journal of Marketing Studies is the property of Canadian Center of Science & Education and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)