Half Title Page
Responsibility in Strategic Communication
Series Title Page
Advances in Public Relations and Communication Management
Series Editors: European Public Relations Education and Research Association (EUPRERA). http://euprera.org
Recent Volumes:
| Volume 1: | The Management Game of Communication – Edited by Peggy Simcic Brønn, Stefania Romenti, and Ansgar Zerfass |
| Volume 2: | How Strategic Communication Shapes Value and Innovation in Society – Edited by Betteke van Ruler |
| Volume 3: | Public Relations and the Power of Creativity: Strategic Opportunities, Innovation and Critical Challenges – Edited by Sarah Bowman, Adrian Crookes, Stefania Romenti, and Øyvind Ihlen |
| Volume 4: | Big Ideas in Public Relations Research and Practice – Edited by Finn Frandsen, Winni Johansen, Ralph Tench, and Stefania Romenti |
| Volume 5: | Joy: Using Strategic Communication to Improve Well-Being and Organizational Success – Edited by Ralph Tench, Ana Tkalac Verčič, and Sabine Einwiller |
| Volume 6: | (Re)discovering the Human Element in Public Relations and Communication Management in Unpredictable Times – Edited by Natalia Rodríguez-Salcedo, Ángeles Moreno, Sabine Einwiller, and Mónica Recalde |
| Volume 7: | Communication in Uncertain Times: How Organizations Deal With Issues, Risks and Crises – Edited by Sabine Einwiller, Jens Seiffert-Brockmann, Stefania Romenti, and Chiara Valentini |
Title Page
Advances in Public Relations and Communication Management Volume 8
Responsibility in Strategic Communication: Truth or Trap?
Edited by
Denisa Hejlová
Charles University, Czech Republic
Petra Koudelková
Charles University, Czech Republic
Hana Moravcová
Charles University, Czech Republic
Stefania Romenti
IULM University, Italy
And
Chiara Valentini
Jyväskylä University School of Business & Economics, Finland
United Kingdom – North America – Japan – India – Malaysia – China
Copyright Page
Emerald Publishing Limited
Emerald Publishing, Floor 5, Northspring, 21-23 Wellington Street, Leeds LS1 4DL
First edition 2025
Editorial matter and selection © 2025 Denisa Hejlová, Petra Koudelková, Hana Moravcová, Stefania Romenti and Chiara Valentini.
Individual chapters © 2025 The authors.
Published under exclusive licence by Emerald Publishing Limited.
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No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without either the prior written permission of the publisher or a licence permitting restricted copying issued in the UK by The Copyright Licensing Agency and in the USA by The Copyright Clearance Center. Any opinions expressed in the chapters are those of the authors. Whilst Emerald makes every effort to ensure the quality and accuracy of its content, Emerald makes no representation implied or otherwise, as to the chapters' suitability and application and disclaims any warranties, express or implied, to their use.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN: 978-1-83549-793-7 (Print)
ISBN: 978-1-83549-792-0 (Online)
ISBN: 978-1-83549-794-4 (Epub)
ISSN: 2398-3914 (Series)
List of Figures and Tables
| Chapter 4 | ||
| Fig. 1. | Comparison of Patagonia Campaign “Don't Buy This Jacket,” 2011 (Picture Credit: Patagonia) and Philip Morris Intl. Campaign “Unsmoke,” Czech Republic, 2021 (Picture Credit: PMI). | 39 |
| Chapter 5 | ||
| Fig. 1. | Corporate Communication Rhetorical Studies Classification Typologies. | 54 |
| Chapter 6 | ||
| Fig. 1. | Distribution of Articles Published by Year. | 73 |
| Fig. 2. | Geographical Settings of the Dataset. | 74 |
| Fig. 3. | Theoretical Approaches Adopted by Certain Articles. | 75 |
| Fig. 4. | Methodological Natures of the Dataset. | 76 |
| Fig. 5. | Industrial Settings of Certain Articles in the Dataset. | 76 |
| Fig. 6. | Distribution of Articles in the Three Typologies. | 78 |
| Chapter 7 | ||
| Fig. 1. | Main Challenges or Threats That Their Businesses Will Face in the Near Future. | 110 |
| Fig. 2. | Why Corporate/CEO Activism Matters. | 110 |
| Fig. 3. | Corporate/CEO Activism “Hot Topics”. | 112 |
| Chapter 11 | ||
| Fig. 1. | The Evolution of Facebook Posts (September 27, 2021–March 8, 2022). | 196 |
| Fig. 2. | Visualization of the #Nuvreau/#Idonotwantto Network – Labels of the Top 10 In-Degree Nodes (NodeXL Pro). | 198 |
| Fig. 3. | Visualisation of the #Nuvreau/#Idonotwantto Network – Top 5 Groups by Top Word Pairs (NodeXL Pro). | 200 |
| Chapter 5 | ||
| Table 1. | Literature Review Selection Criteria. | 54 |
| Chapter 6 | ||
| Table 1. | Inclusion and Exclusion Criteria. | 72 |
| Table 2. | Top Journal Outlets by Number of Articles. | 74 |
| Table 3. | Thematic Categorization of the Dataset. | 77 |
| Chapter 7 | ||
| Table 1. | Codes Used in the Thematic Analysis. | 106 |
| Table 2. | Characterization of the Sample. | 109 |
| Chapter 8 | ||
| Table 1. | Content Analysis Categories. | 130 |
| Table 2. | Types of Organizations Initiating Campaigns. | 133 |
| Table 3. | SDG Coverage of Campaigns. | 134 |
| Table 4. | The Stakeholders With the Highest Level of Engagement. | 134 |
| Table 5. | The Stakeholders With the Lowest Level of Engagement. | 135 |
| Table 6. | Stakeholder Engagement Strategies. | 135 |
| Table 7. | Level of Objectives Used in the Campaigns. | 136 |
| Table 8. | Measurement Methods of the Campaigns. | 136 |
| Chapter 9 | ||
| Table 1. | AI Ethical Violations by Industry – Europe. | 156 |
| Table 2. | Nature of the AI Ethical Issue – Europe. | 157 |
| Table 3. | Media Trigger – Europe. | 157 |
| Table 4. | Distribution of Corporate Response Strategies. | 158 |
| Table 5. | Multinomial Regression – Strategic Silence vs Denial Posture. | 159 |
| Table 6. | Multinomial Regression – Strategic Silence vs Rebuilding Posture. | 160 |
| Table 7. | Multinomial Regression – Strategic Silence vs Bolstering Posture. | 160 |
| Chapter 10 | ||
| Table 1. | Accessibility of Information on Halal Offers by Food Retailers on Different Channels/Platforms. | 175 |
| Table 2. | Accessibility of Information on Sharia-Based Banking Services on Different Channels/Platforms. | 178 |
| Chapter 11 | ||
| Table 1. | Number of Facebook Posts by Social Actors. | 197 |
| Table 2. | Social Mediators as Hubs – Top 10 In-Degree Nodes (Generated Using NodeXL Pro). | 199 |
| Table 3. | Social Mediators as Bridges – Top 10 Betweenness Centrality Nodes (Generated Using NodeXL Pro). | 199 |
About the Editors
Denisa Hejlová conducts research, teaches, and consults in the areas of strategic communication, public relations, public affairs, and political communication. From 2011 to 2023, she led the Department of Marketing Communication and PR at Charles University, which hosts one of the Czech Republic's most sought-after programs. She previously held the roles of a Vice-Dean for PR and a PR Manager at the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Dr Hejlová was a Fulbright Visiting Scholar at Columbia University in 2014 and studied intercultural communication at Tokyo University of Foreign Studies from 2005 to 2006. She is the author of comprehensive books on public relations and strategic communication tailored for the Czech audience, published in 2015 and 2024, respectively. A prolific contributor to academic journals, she has also been a Guest Lecturer at several universities in Germany, Spain, the Netherlands, and Japan. In 2020, she launched the first Czech MA program in Strategic Communication at Charles University. As of 2023, Dr Hejlová is the Director of the Research Centre for Strategic Communication at the Faculty of Social Sciences within Charles University.
Dr Petra Koudelková is the Head of the Department of Marketing Communication and PR, Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University in Prague. Her field of study is sustainable marketing, social marketing, and marketing of small and medium enterprises (SMEs). She is very interested in government communication. She leads the working group for implementing a sustainability program for the whole Faculty of Social Sciences. She is an expert in the communication of corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities and maps the phenomenon of greenwashing in rapidly changing market conditions.
Hana Moravcová, PhD, is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Marketing Communication and PR at the Institute of Communication Studies and Journalism at Charles University from 2022. She teaches Digital Communication, Creative Thinking, and Trends Analyses and Predictions. Dr Moravcová received her PhD in economics and finance at the Institute of Economic Studies, Charles University, in 2020. Her fields of research are institutional economics, law and economics, economic history, and business history. She specializes in topics such as the economic history of authors' rights, state interventions toward creative industries, and communication of socioeconomic policies. Before her academic career, from 2011 to 2015, she worked at the Ministry of Finance of the Czech Republic and the Czech National Bank as an expert in the regulation of financial markets.
Stefania Romenti, PhD, is a Full Professor in Strategic communication and PR at IULM University (Milan, Italy) and Chair of the Master in Strategic Communication (English Language). She is the Delegate of the Rector for Sustainability and Track Chair of Sustainable Marketing of Società Italiana Marketing (SIM), the Director of the Executive Master in Corporate Public Relations and of the PhD program in Communication, Markets and Society at IULM University. She is the past President of European Association of Public Relations Education and Research Association (EUPRERA) and the Director of the Research Center in Strategic Communication (CECOMS) at IULM University.
Dr Chiara Valentini is a Professor and the Head of Corporate Communication Discipline, at Jyväskylä University School of Business and Economics (JSBE), Finland, and Adjunct Professor in Strategic Communication at IULM University, Milan, Italy. She is the author of numerous peer-reviewed publications and books in strategic public relations, public and government communication, and conflict and crisis communication in the digital environment. Her work has appeared in several international peer-reviewed journals, and she has authored and coauthored over hundreds of scholarly works.
About the Contributors
Anca Anton is a Senior Lecturer at the Faculty of Journalism and Communication Sciences, University of Bucharest, Romania and a research fellow at the Research Institute of the University of Bucharest. She teaches marketing communications, media marketing, corporate public relations, business communication, and digital writing. Her research covers several fields: the intersection of communication and democratized forms of diplomacy, with a focus on public diplomacy, civil society diplomacy, and digital diplomacy; the transformation of the PR/comms profession and industry and their intersection with digital and social media; marketing communication; digital governmental communication.
Giuseppe Bonaccorso, IULM University Milan, Italy. Giuseppe Bonaccorso is a PHD student in a doctoral course of Communication, Markets, and Society with a project named “The rhetoric of sustainability reporting.” His research focuses on rhetoric corporate communication, multimodal rhetorical analysis, and sustainability communication studies.
Camelia Cmeciu is a Professor at the Faculty of Journalism and Communication Studies and a research fellow at the Research Institute of the University of Bucharest. She was a former postdoctoral fellow, attending research grants at the University of Amsterdam and University of Leeds. Her research focuses on organizational communication, critical discourse analysis, risk and crisis communication, and it was published in international journals (Discourse & Society, Public Relations Review, Global Health Promotion) or at international publishing houses (Routledge, Springer, Peter Lang, or Bloomsbury).
Elanor Colleoni, IULM University, Italy, is an Assistant Professor of Corporate Reputation and digitalization. Her research focuses on nonmarket strategies and audiences' judgments formation processes over socially (ir)responsible organizational actions. Her research has been published in leading management and communication journals, such as Academy of Management Review, Academy of Management Perspectives, Business & Society, Journal of Communication, among others.
Ganga S. Dhanesh (PhD, National University of Singapore) is an Associate Professor at the Department of Communication, University of Maryland. Dr Dhanesh's prior experience in corporate and nonprofit sectors has informed her extensive research program on CSR and strategic communication. Her work has appeared in books and journals such as American Behavioral Scientist, Business Horizons, Management Communication Quarterly, Journal of International Management, Journal of Communication Management, Journal of Public Relations Research, and Public Relations Review. She has won multiple research awards, and a recent bibliometric analysis placed her among the top two most productive scholars on CSR within public relations research. Dhanesh serves as an associate editor for the Journal of Communication Management and is on the editorial board of Business Horizons, Journal of Public Relations Research, and Public Relations Review. Dr Dhanesh actively consults for national and multinational organizations. She was the founding university lead for the partnership between Zayed University and the Unstereotype Alliance UAE chapter, convened by UN Women. Dr Dhanesh was also a lead researcher for the first Global Capabilities Framework study in the Middle East.
Patrícia Dias, PhD in Communication Sciences by Universidade Católica Portuguesa, coordinates the postgraduate course Social Brands – Communication and Marketing in a Digital Environment. In 2019 was a visiting researcher at the Arctic University of Norway. Researcher at CECC and CRC-W, currently coordinates the project “0–3 DigiKids – Use of Touchscreen Devices by Children up to 3 years old,” and leads the Portuguese team of the project “Use of Digital Technologies by Children and Teenagers during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Europe,” coordinated by the JRC-European Commission. Her main research interests are the use of digital media by children and within organizational communication, marketing, and branding. She is the author of several publications about the social impact of digital media and the use of smartphones.
Alexandre Duarte, holding a PhD in Communication Sciences (specialization in Organizational and Strategic communications) from Universidade do Minho, a master's degree in Communication and Image, and a bachelor in Marketing and Advertising from IADE, Alexandre Duarte is a Professor at Universidade Nova de Lisboa, researcher at ICNOVA/UNL and an Invited Professor at Universidade Católica Portuguesa, where he coordinates the Postgraduation Courses in Communication and Advertising Creativity, and Service Design. He has worked in several multinational advertising agencies, such as TBWA, Saatchi & Saatchi, W/Brasil, Lowe&Partners or Ogilvy for more than 20 years as a Senior Creative Copywriter. He was the Tutor of the Young Marketers Academy of the EUROBEST Festival, CEO of RESTART – Institute of Arts and Creativity and advisor to SUPERBRANDS Portugal. Since 2018, is a member of the Board of EDCOM – European Institute for Commercial Communications Education.
Sabine Einwiller, PhD, is the Professor of Public Relations Research at the Department of Communication, University of Vienna, Austria, where she acts as a Department Chair and heads the Corporate Communication Research Group. Before joining the University of Vienna, she was a Professor at the Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz, Germany. She is a member of EUPRERA's board of directors and headed EUPRERA's scientific committee from 2019 to 2021. Her research interests comprise employee communication, CSR, crisis communication, and the effects of negative publicity and complaining.
Wim J.L. Elving is a Professor of Sustainable Communication at the Hanze University of Applied Sciences (HUAS), Groningen, the Netherlands. He is a member of EnTranCe, Centre of Expertise: Energy of the HUAS, a multidisciplinary team of researchers that focusses on accelerating the Energy Transition and establishing the Sustainable Society, and where he leads a team of researchers, including PhDs. The themes of this research deal with communicative interventions to reach a sustainable society, including branding, dialogue, raising awareness etcetera. Elving has contributed more than 250 articles, book chapters, books, editorials, blogs, etcetera. His research expertise is besides sustainable communications, corporate communication, internal and change communication, CSR communication, and branding. He co-organized the first CSR Communication Conference in Amsterdam (7th edition in 2024 in Bath), was the editor in chief of Corporate Communications, an International Journal and is a board member of Euprera. He was (2022) awarded with the Euprera distinguished scholar award and is also a member of the A.W. Page Society.
Nilüfer Geysi is an Assistant Professor holding a PhD in Advertising and Public Relations from Bahçeşehir University. Her doctoral thesis, which received the Best Doctoral Thesis Award at Bahçeşehir University, focused on climate change communication, particularly communicative action, activism, and pro-environmental behavior. Her research interests include sustainability, activism, culture, digital media, and crisis communication. Geysi has taught a variety of courses at both undergraduate and graduate levels, covering topics such as public engagement and ethics, climate change communication, strategic communication for sustainability, science communication, and internal communication.
Eugen Glăvan is a scientific researcher III at the Research Institute for Quality of Life, Romanian Academy and a research fellow at the Research Institute of the University of Bucharest. His research interests are in the fields of social networks, visual sociology, and social change. Currently, he is also an Associate Lecturer at the Faculty of Journalism and Communication Sciences, University of Bucharest, where he teaches the Sociology of Journalists course. Eugen has had a doctorate in sociology since 2012 at the Faculty of Sociology and Social Work, University of Bucharest. He was involved in research projects in areas such as local development, youth participation, and social inclusion. He published extensively on subjects such as social policies, quality of life, and youth integration in society.
Samira Rahimi Mavi, PhD, received her doctoral degree in communication from the University of Vienna, Austria, for her thesis on “Communication about Controversial Issues: The Case of Offering Halal Products and Services in Non-Muslim Countries.” Her research centers on media representation of halal in Western contexts, external corporate communication on controversial issues, CSR, diversity and inclusion, and consumer skepticism.
Camilla Moroni, IULM University Milan, Italy, graduated in Strategic communication at IULM University in March 2023 with a thesis on the reputational risks of Artificial Intelligence. She currently works as an Account Manager in a leading international communication agency, overseeing clients at both creative and strategic levels.
Grazia Murtarelli, IULM University Milan, Italy, is an Associate Professor of Corporate Communication. Her research focuses on the analysis of online scenarios and, more specifically, on the following issues: social media-based relationship management, online dialogue strategies, digital visual engagement processes and social media measurement and evaluation. She is a Public Relations Student & Early Career Representative at International Communication Association. She is also a Faculty Affiliate of the Centre of Research for Strategic Communication at IULM University.
Rongtitya Rith is a doctoral candidate of the PhD Management and Security program at the Department of Economics, University of Genoa (IT). His research interests encompass the topicalities of the fields of Business Ethics, CSR, Corporate CSR Communication, Sustainability, Legitimacy Management, and Sport Management. He is currently a visiting research student at Temple University (USA) conducting research on the topic of CSR in Sport, specifically the strategic and normative importance of CSR for professional sport organizations.
