Insights Regarding the Applicability of Semiotics to CSR Communication Research

Yekini, Kemi

Abstract

The chapter argues for a linguistic-based theory and analytical tool – Semiotics – in evaluating the quality and authenticity of corporate social responsibility reports (CSRR). Despite the proliferation of studies on CSR communication, there is lack of consensus and cardinal methodological base for evaluating the quality of CSRR. Over the decades, the findings from the enormous studies on the subject have remained conflicting, unintegrated and often pedestrian or overlapping. Drawing on semiotics – a linguistic-based theoretical and analytical tool, this chapter explores an alternative perspective to evaluating the quality and veracity of CSR reports. The author proposed a two-phased model that employed the Greimas semiotics narrative schema and the semiotic square of veridiction in drawing meanings from CSRR. The chapter advances CSR communication research by introducing a fundamental theoretical methodology.

Citation

Yekini, K. (2017). Insights Regarding the Applicability of Semiotics to CSR Communication Research. In D. Crowther, & L. Lauesen (Eds.), Handbook of Research Methods in Corporate Social Responsibility (241-264). Edward Elgar. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781784710927.00022

• Acceptance Date: Nov 24, 2016
• Publication Date: Dec 29, 2017
• Deposit Date: Jan 9, 2020
• Publicly Available Date: Jan 9, 2020
• Pages: 241-264
• Series Title: Research Handbook in Business and Management series
• Book Title: Handbook of Research Methods in Corporate Social Responsibility
• ISBN: 9781784710927
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4337/9781784710927.00022