The perspective of citizens on the responsibility of corporations: A multidimensional study of responsibility assessments

Abstract

On the basis of four focus group discussions (N = 32) that were conducted in June 2015, the present study investigates the attribution and assessment of corporate responsibility by citizens. To obtain more differentiated insight into the attribution of responsibility to corporations, not only the objects of responsibility, but all the dimensions of judgments concerning responsibility were analysed, including the reasoning behind them. The findings show that in the context of corporate activity, citizens attribute responsibility not only to corporations themselves, but also to other social actors, like consumers and politicians, and situate responsibility on the levels of both individual and collective action. The objects of corporate responsibility, on the contrary, are narrowly defined along the chain of value-creation. It thus becomes clear that, contrary to the established practice of CSR communication, corporations should place particular focus on fulfilling their core responsibilities. After all, research on CSR communication needs to consider the attribution of corporate responsibility in its broader social context to take the complexity of responsibility assessments into account.