CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY – CORPORATE BRANDING RELATIONSHIP AN EMPIRICAL COMPARATIVE STUDY.docVIP

CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY – CORPORATE BRANDING RELATIONSHIP: AN EMPIRICAL COMPARATIVE STUDY Associate professor PhD Bistra VASSILEVA University of Economics-Varna Abstract: Current academic research on the relationship of firms’ CSR activities with corporate branding typically focuses on consumers’ and shareholders’ viewpoints. This research aims to shed light on how organisational members in firms perceive to be the impact of CSR activities upon their corporate brand strategy. Using a survey administered to companies in the U.K. and Bulgaria, the author investigate, firstly, organisational members’ perceptions of the impact of different CSR-related activities upon corporate branding and, secondly, their beliefs about what customers and shareholders think are the impacts of CSR-related activities upon brand image and brand identity. The findings indicated that while organisational members rated quality products, customer service and corporate governance highly as key components of CSR activity, they were much more ambivalent about their companies commitment to broader actions which involve the community and society. This paper concludes by discussing the implications of the findings for future CSR education among companies. Keywords: Corporate social responsibility, corporate branding, brand image Introduction Because the organisation is now Research on corporate branding conceived of as an ‘expressive’ entity has, in recent years, demonstrated a capable of influencing the opinions of a growing reflexivity about how brands range of stakeholders, both internally are perceived by various actors inside and externally, several scholars have and outside organisations and their called for a more integrative and responses to those perceptions (Brown multidisciplinary approach to the study and Dacin, 199