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Prior research on the internationalization of firms from emerging countries has fruitfully invoked institutional theory to emphasize the legitimacy benefits that firms that obtain from showing isomorphism with international norms such as Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Without denying the intuitive appeal for these firms to communicate acceptance of CSR, we suggest that firms face a legitimacy trade-off, where the hoped-for legitimacy benefits of isomorphism must be weighed against other home-country institutional considerations. We advance and test this notion that firms will navigate this institutional complexity by engaging in anisomorphism, i.e., espousing general acceptance with international values but selective “translation” based on home country differences. We test our predictions by analyzing firms’ communication of CSR, using a unique dataset comprised of 245 firms observed over the period from 2000 to 2018. Consistent with our predictions, we find that firms from countries more reliant on natural resource extraction (e.g., mining and fossil fuel industries) de-emphasize the environmental component of CSR, and firms from more autocratic countries de-emphasize the human rights component of CSR. Additionally, and consistent with our presumption of firms’ weighing the international versus home-country legitimacy trade-off, we find that these main effects are sensitive to changes in firms’ levels of internationalization.

Purpose Cultural intermediaries define the standards many consumers use when evaluating cultural products. Yet, little research has focused on whether cultural intermediaries may systematically differ from each other with regard to the standards they emphasize. The purpose of this paper is to build on Bourdieu’s theory of cultural production to examine how the type of subfield reviewed and/or the cultural intermediary’s expertise (or “field-specific cultural capital”) affect the standards an intermediary uses. Design/methodology/approach This paper employed a computer-aided content analysis of the full corpus of “Rolling Stone” music album reviews (1967-2014). Findings Critics with lower field-specific cultural capital reflect the same logic as the subfield they are critiquing. Critics with higher field-specific cultural capital reflect the opposite logic. Research limitations/implications Bourdieu was ambivalent about whether cultural intermediaries will reflect the logic of a subfield. Results show that the answer depends on the intermediary’s field-specific cultural capital. The results also reinforce previous findings that individuals with high field-specific cultural capital are more likely to break with the logic of a field. Practical implications Not all intermediaries are created equal. Producers and consumers who rely on cultural intermediaries should understand the intermediary’s critical analysis within the context of his/her experience. Originality/value This is one of the first studies to examine how a cultural intermediary’s field-specific cultural capital impacts his or her work. The findings are based on a large review sample and include reviewers’ analyses as they developed from having lower to higher field-specific cultural capital.

This paper examines the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on the functioning of European food banks and how resilient European food banks were in coping with the pandemic in 2020. We apply a multiple case study to assess how the first year of the pandemic affected European food banks’ operations and the amount of redistributed food. We further investigate innovation practices that have been developed to cope with the new situation, hoping to draw lessons for imminent future waves of the pandemic and other social crises. Our study finds that, compared to 2019, in 2020 food banks were able to redistribute a significantly higher amount of food despite numerous social restrictions and other challenges associated with the pandemic. To explain this, we delve into the organizational innovations implemented by the studied food banks and find that the introduction of new strategies and new internal structures, as well as the establishment of new types of external network relations with other firms and/or public organizations, proved to be particularly important, enabling food banks to respond quickly and effectively to the new emergency. The study thus highlights the role of food banks in food redistribution and food waste reduction in times of crisis.

An organizational crisis is an event perceived by managers and stakeholders as highly salient, unexpected, and potentially disruptive; it can also threaten an organization’s goals and have profound implications for its relationships with stakeholders. In this article, we consider an actual crisis that recently struck an important brand in the fashion sector – Moncler. The crisis endured by Moncler was complex, involving several aspects of its activity. Notably, our study was conducted at the beginning of November 2014, in the 2 weeks after the crisis event. In particular, to collect data on consumers’ reactions to Moncler crisis, we created a questionnaire and ran a web survey through Survey Monkey. Then, through a moderated mediation model, we show that the impact of brand identification on the attitude toward the company and purchase intention is significantly mediated by anger for high levels of personal crisis relevance (PCR) and by sympathy for average and low PCR levels. These results are in...

Currently, the "sharing economy" is considered one of the top business trends. The last several years have witnessed incredible growth in commercial ventures in this domain. Particularly in the fields of transportation, accommodation, and rentals, sharing economy entities are proving to be able to lead the industry away from traditional economy players. For instance, Airbnb is predicted to overtake Hilton in number of rooms booked. However, there is no generally accepted definition of what activities really constitute the sharing economy. Accordingly, the contributions to this special Issue represent an important attempt to provide both a sample and a summary of the recent developments in the understanding of the sharing economy and examples of investigations of both situational and dispositional factors that may affect individuals’ intentions to buy, to rent or to use alternative acquisition forms. While individual contributions may address one specific empirical problem or case study and might purposely adopt one specific theoretical perspective, taken together, they offer a multi-disciplinary view of the sharing economy, provide new empirical evidence about this important phenomenon, fill various gaps in the literature, and allow for a better appreciation of the complexity and dynamism of this intriguing concept.

Purpose of the paper : Investigating the validity of the theories regarding the disposition of “special” objects and the consumption of “contaminated” objects, in the context of the sharing economy. Methodology : A mix of qualitative methods, including a netnography, which has been realized from 2005 to present, a three year (2006-2008) participant observation, and 14 in-depth interviews, was used in order to analyze the books donation and reception within the Bookcrossing community. Findings : In the analyzed community, the members are particularly interested in sharing their own books with other subjects. This objective seems to be even more important than losing their own books, which are donated to other members, or using books that were previously used by other, unknown subjects. Research limits : Only one community was analyzed. Moreover, only the most involved members were considered, while less attention was paid to less interested individuals. Practical implications : It is argued how, in order to understand the transformations related to the sharing economy, it is necessary to consider well established theories in order to verify whether they may be adapted to the emergent context. Moreover, it is highlighted how increasingly important it is for the companies to position themselves as platforms aimed above all at increasing the possibilities of sharing for their own customers. Originality of the paper : This is the first work that discusses certain established theories, like those dealing with the disposition of special objects and the consumption of contaminated goods, in the new context of the sharing economy. Italian Obiettivo del paper : Indagare la validita delle teorie riguardanti lo smaltimento degli oggetti “speciali” e il consumo degli oggetti “contaminati” nel contesto della “sharing economy”. Metodologia : Mix di metodi qualitativi, comprendente una netnografia svolta dal 2005 al momento in cui si scrive, un’osservazione partecipante svolta per tre anni (2006-2008) e 14 interviste in profondita, al fine di analizzare la donazione e la ricezione di libri nella community del Bookcrossing. Risultati : Nella comunita analizzata, i membri dimostrano di avere un particolare interesse per la condivisione dei propri libri con altri soggetti, addirittura superiore, da un lato, alla perdita dei propri libri, che vengono donati ad altri membri del gruppo, e, dall’altro, all’uso di libri usati, precedentemente posseduti da altri soggetti, per di piu sconosciuti ai riceventi. Limiti della ricerca : Viene analizzata solo una comunita, facendo particolare attenzione ai membri piu coinvolti, tralasciando coloro che partecipano in maniera piu disinteressata. Implicazioni pratiche : Si evidenzia come, ai fini di una migliore comprensione delle trasformazioni insite nello sviluppo della “sharing economy”, sia necessario riprendere le teorie consolidate in letteratura e verificarne sul campo la validita, di modo da adattarle al contesto emergente. Si rimarca inoltre la crescente importanza per le imprese di posizionarsi come piattaforme in grado di favorire soprattutto la condivisione tra i propri clienti. Originalita del lavoro : Si tratta del primo lavoro che ridiscute teorie consolidate come quelle riguardanti lo smaltimento di oggetti speciali o il consumo di beni contaminati nel nuovo contesto della “sharing economy”.

Companies publish corporate social responsibility (CSR) reports to inform their stakeholders of their CSR efforts. However, the literature has shown that these reports can be used as a way to offset companies' involvement in corporate social irresponsibility (CSIR). By relying on a cognitive‐linguistic perspective, we investigate whether firms respond to their own irresponsible business conduct by changing their CSR reports' linguistic features and, if so, how. We use a sample of 135 large corporations headquartered in developed countries between 1995 and 2014. An analysis of their CSR reports reveals that the more a firm is involved in irresponsible business conduct, the more likely it is to use narrative (instead of analytical) and deceptive (instead of authentic) language. Moreover, we show that these two trends are particularly evident for highly internationalised firms.

Product placement is an increasingly essential technique in marketing communications. The majority of previous contributions, however, focused on investigating the product placement impact on consumers in the various entertainment contents. In this article, we focus on practitioners’ ideas about the practice. Specifically, we carry out a survey in the Italian context by replicating and extending previous seminal studies conducted in the USA. Replication studies are essential for practitioners to be more confident when applying theoretical insights to their ordinary activities. Findings provide some preliminary insights about the product placement industry in Italy, which is less developed and more linked to the film industry than the product placement industry in the USA. Managerial implications and suggestions for future research are presented at the end of the article.

Palm oil is an ingredient largely used in the food, energy and cosmetics industries. However, it is subject to controversies related to its being considered unhealthy and responsible for deforestation, greenhouse gas emissions and human rights abuses. Nevertheless, palm oil is a rare topic of discussion in the literature on legitimacy struggles. Based on an automated content analysis of 3713 global newspaper articles, downloaded from LexisNexis covering the period 1979–2017, we longitudinally examined the evolution of palm oil discussions over time. With this method, we were able to focus on both the content and the style of communication. We thus obtained critical insights about how often different themes are mentioned in discussions on the palm oil market (i.e. the economic, environmental, health and social impacts of palm oil) and how three specific linguistic strategies are implemented by the media (i.e. a focus on promotion vs. prevention motivations, the adoption of analytic vs. narrative writing styles and references to specific vs. general stakeholders). In this way, we could better understand how different types of legitimacy have been emerging over time and in which geographic areas they have been most significant. In general, we show that pragmatic legitimacy is losing importance in favour of moral legitimacy and, more specifically, that pragmatic legitimacy remains the key for palm oil-producing countries, while moral legitimacy is more significant for palm oil-consuming countries. This study serves as a starting point for research on palm oil legitimacy struggles. Additionally, it offers useful insights for practitioners, policy makers and researchers in evaluating the status of the palm oil debate.

International isomorphism is the traditional explanation for emerging firms’ use of CSR discourse. In a study of 245 firms in 8 countries, we find that although isomorphism explains convergence on one dimension of CSR, firms diverge from the international standard on other frames. This divergence is explained by symbolic management of risk perceptions and performative response within the institutional environment of the home country. Through qualitative and quantitative content analysis we find that environmental and human rights CSR frames focus attention on risk reduction relative to peers while traditional CSR frames portray the firm as a moral exemplar. In a climate of increasing litigiousness and awareness of risk, environmental and human rights discourses are the natural strategic choices of firms when conveying CSR activities. Overall, the environmental dimension increases over time, congruent with the explanation of mimetic isomorphism. However, patterns on a country level reveal that firms remain strategic actors in that they choose frames compatible with local government context, particularly when that government context is strong.

Building on Giesler’s ((2008) ‘Conflict and Compromise: Drama in Marketplace Evolution’, Journal of Consumer Research 34(6), 739–53) concept of marketplace drama, I introduce the idea of an authenticity drama. I view an authenticity drama as a sequential process through which, owing to an object’s authenticity being undermined as a result of external market forces acting upon the object, or due to internal changes in the object itself, opposing groups of subjects (e.g. consumers and producers) interact dialectically in order to negotiate and transform their contradictory views of authenticity and inauthenticity over time. Specifically, I focus on popular music and use netnography and in-depth interviews to investigate consumers’ reactions to an independent band’s decision to participate in a commercial, mainstream festival. The findings show that consumers play an important role in both the deconstruction and reconstruction of the band’s authenticity. However, I also provide evidence that brand (in this case, the band) narratives play a fundamental role in orienting this process. I also discuss the theoretical implications of the findings.

Ethical brand crises are a breach in the core values held by a brand and a violation of the relationship between the brand and its stakeholders, and social networks provide consumers with a platform upon which they can discuss these crises and their meanings in detail. Through a qualitative content analysis and an interpretive approach, here we investigate the reaction of the social media audience to an apology released by a company after an ethical brand crisis. The emerging findings suggest that consumers engage in consumer identity work according to different strategies: they sublimate or minimize the crisis (defence of the brand) or focus on the ideological structure of marketing (criticism). In both cases, consumers offer the company an opportunity to assess and improve the ethical dimension of their marketing practices.

In this paper we provide an empirical analysis of the literature about Corporate Social Responsibility Communication (CSRC). Given the increasing amount of research related to this topic, a diverse set of theories, methods, and empirical findings coexist in the literature. Therefore, we have collected and analyzed CSRC papers in order to highlight which theoretical and methodological approaches have been used by scholars in the field, when dealing with empirical research. We believe that it is necessary to sum up this amount of research with the purpose of deriving insights about the current status of research and its possible future developments.

This article contributes to the current debate about the co-creation of brand meanings through social media. In particular, we focus on the construction and dissemination of negative meanings about brands. Through a content analysis of usergenerated contents published on Facebook, YouTube and Twitter, we explore how consumers criticize companies’ use of palm oil. Specifically, we analyze the various topics that the palm oil issue is associated with (e.g., health problems, environmental issues) on the three social media platforms. Moreover, we investigate how the platforms differ in the language style (i.e., level of self-reference, cognitive complexity, detailed information and emotional references) used in the discussion about this topic. Our results have important implications for all companies facing brand crises through social media. Particularly, we show that, depending on the social media platform, companies should emphasize different topics and use diverse communication styles while responding to the crisis.

An empirical research on the Moncler case shows that brand loyalty moderates the consumer reactions to brand crises. While highly loyal consumers express sympathy toward the company, which predicts positive effects on brand attitude and purchase intention, lowly loyal consumers express anger, which predicts negative effects on the dependent variables.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the CSR and Annual Reports of the largest emerging economy multinational firms (Brazil, China, India, Malaysia, Mexico, Russia, South Africa, and Thailand) and provide evidence about their socioenvironmental performances disclosure. We read a sample of 200 EMNEs Reports in order to define, through a Grounded Theory approach, a dictionary of 1,049 keywords, which has been then validated by external coders. We grouped the final list of 963 keywords in 18 categories. Finally, we used this custom dictionary to set an automatic content analysis of 1624 firms’ CSR or Annual Reports, which range from 2000 to 2013. We have seen that the disclosure of social and environmental activities differ across countries and throughout the years. In particular we have noticed that, from 2000 to 2013, the attention towards environmental activities has increased in spite of social activities. Future research lines are then presented.

Purpose – Through an empirical analysis of a consumption community, the purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that the theories of gift-giving, sharing and commodity exchange should not be kept separated but integrated into a unifying model. Design/methodology/approach – The paper provides new evidence about Bookcrossing.com, whose members share and give books as gifts; that is, physical goods rather than digital ones as in most of the communities considered in the literature. This community is analysed with qualitative tools, such as netnography, personal interviews and participant observation. Findings – The main result of the analysis of Bookcrossing is that gift-giving is not the only process responsible for value creation and distribution in consumption communities: sharing and commodity exchange also play a role. Furthermore, the paper provides new evidence about aspects of gift-giving and sharing that have received limited attention in the literature: collective reciprocity and anonymous sharing. Research limitations/implications – The limitations are related to the intrinsic properties of the methods employed (netnography, personal interviews and participant observation) and to the paper, which analyses only one community and one product category. The implications refer to the role of gift-giving in consumption communities and its relationships with other processes: consumer gift systems are not only gifting platforms, but they and the elements of sharing and commodity exchange need to be integrated. Practical implications – The empirical evidence and implications matter for the organisation and management of collaborative consumption platforms and the way in which traditional business models could and should interact with these platforms in an increasing number of businesses. Originality/value – The paper adds new evidence of and original insights into gift-giving and collective forms of exchange. Moreover, it provides managerial implications of the analysed community for the book publishing industry.

Gli autori analizzano quattro diverse dimensioni del costrutto dell’autenticita (due tipologie di indicalita e due tipologie di iconicita) che risultano importanti nel consumo di musica. Grazie a un esperimento svolto su un campione di 233 rispondenti, dimostrano che tali dimensioni svolgono un ruolo significativo nella valutazione dell’autenticita e nel favorire due effetti positivi dell’autenticita stessa: un maggior attaccamento alla marca e un senso di distinzione sociale avvertito dai consumatori. Evidenziano inoltre che il coinvolgimento nella categoria di prodotto da parte del consumatore modera le relazioni tra indicalita e attaccamento alla marca e tra indicalita e distinzione sociale, ma non quelle tra iconicita e attaccamento alla marca e tra iconicita e distinzione sociale.

The debate on standardization versus adaptation is everywhere apparent and addresses the question whether and to what extent consumer behaviour differs between countries. While some studies confirm the assumption of one single pan-European market, another stream of research emphasizes that European countries continue to possess predominantly distinct market identities and favour multi-regional strategies. Thus, in the tension between worldwide standardization, national customization, and hybrid approaches such as “glocalization,” the aim of this chapter is to shed light on the importance of cultural differences and similarities in international marketing. After discussing the meaning of cultural influences for marketing management in general, this chapter presents the results of a meta-analytic literature review concentrating on consumer culture in the food and beverage sector.

The essence of Bookcrossing (BC) is releasing books into the wild. BC members leave their books at a railway station, in a pub, or even on a park bench, as a gift for someone they do not know. In this sense, BC is an alternative system of book exchange, based on gift-giving, which parallels and partly challenges the traditional market exchange system. But this is not the only way that BC members exchange books: more mundane and even superficial tasks are accomplished in order to achieve satisfactory exchanges, with no reference to higher order objectives, such as emancipation and resistance. Sometimes gift-giving communities (open source or peer-to-peer) are considered metaphors of collective solidarity, but they present elements of opportunism and selfishness: many subjects receive and do not give anything. Even those who give, as in the case of BC, do it for very practical and sometimes selfish reasons. BC is a good setting for confronting different theoretical perspectives on gift-giving: in order to explain how BC works as a system, it is necessary to integrate various gift-giving theories. Considered from this perspective, gift-giving communities like BC are fragmented and highly differentiated entities, sometimes working for a better and more acceptable market.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the CSR and Annual Reports of the largest Chinese companies and to provide evidence about their socio-environmental’ performances disclosure. We read a sample of 200 EMNCs Reports in order to define, through a Grounded Theory approach, a dictionary of 1,154 keywords; then we integrated it with a set of keywords drawn from the literature. We grouped the final list of keywords in 24 sub-categories, which then form 4 more general categories (corporate, economic, environmental, social). Finally, we used this custom dictionary to set an automatic content analysis of 452 Chinese firms’ CSR or Annual Reports. In this paper, we discuss the content analysis results in detail, by also showing how the CSR Communication differs across different industries. Future research lines are presented.