Master's Thesis from the year 2022 in the subject Business economics - Offline Marketing and Online Marketing, grade: 1,7, University of Applied Sciences Mainz, language: English, abstract: Social food enterprises seek to positively impact global social and environmental grievances within the food industry. In their marketing, they rely on cost-effective channels such as social media, which is equally popular with consumers as a source of information about sustainability and food. The thesis examines the share of social media posts addressing impact topics in social food enterprises’ total posts and which key characteristics these possess. Impact-posts' effect on concern for the environment/society and environmentally/socially responsible consumer intentions is tested. Both qualitative and quantitative content analysis were used to empirically identify the content characteristics of social media impact-posts from social food enterprises and their share in total posts. For this, a purpose-built category system was developed based on existing content analyses. Subsequently, a randomized between-subjects online experiment was used to assess the influence of impact-posts on the dependent variables. Results were analyzed using multivariate analysis of covariance. Base for the content analysis was a sample of 454 Instagram posts of real-life social food enterprises including 121 impact-posts. The experimental study data were collected via an online survey with German-speaking participants (N = 234). Findings: The content analysis revealed that impact topics are addressed slightly less frequently than product topics by social food enterprises on Instagram. Within impact-posts, social and environmental topics are generally focused on separately and with similar frequency. Enablement, support, and philanthropy just as environmental concerns represent the most common themes. Moreover, photos depicting people and supplemented with text are primarily used with both text and imagery being kept neutral to positive. Only one third of the impact-posts simultaneously address a product of the brand. The experimental study revealed no statistically significant influence of the impact-post opposed to its non-impact counterpart on concern for the environment/society and environmentally/socially responsible consumer intentions.

This book examines issues and implications of digital and social media marketing for emerging markets. These markets necessitate substantial adaptations of developed theories and approaches employed in the Western world. The book investigates problems specific to emerging markets, while identifying new theoretical constructs and practical applications of digital marketing. It addresses topics such as electronic word of mouth (eWOM), demographic differences in digital marketing, mobile marketing, search engine advertising, among others. A radical increase in both temporal and geographical reach is empowering consumers to exert influence on brands, products, and services. Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and digital media are having a significant impact on the way people communicate and fulfil their socio-economic, emotional and material needs. These technologies are also being harnessed by businesses for various purposes including distribution and selling of goods, retailing of consumer services, customer relationship management, and influencing consumer behaviour by employing digital marketing practices. This book considers this, as it examines the practice and research related to digital and social media marketing.

Now more than ever, there is a growing importance for companies to ramp up their focus on social responsibility. An effective CSR program can have a positive impact on companies, employees, and consumers. This new volume, Corporate Social Responsibility in the Global Business World: A Conceptual, Regulatory, and Illustrative Framework, covers the parameters of corporate social responsibility around the world, elucidating the concepts, evolution, cultural dimensions, key areas, and disclosure and reporting methods and how CSR is being considered and implemented across the globe. The book also offers a future outlook for CSR. The book begins with a thorough introduction to CSR, covering its meaning and definition along with the principles of CSR for effective implementation, its inherent benefits, and its challenges. It goes on to cover the status of CSR in emerging economies with the emphasis on emerging trends in corporate governance, reporting, indexing, and certification. The volume considers the evolution of CSR from voluntary to mandatory along with the underlining advantages and disadvantages while also giving comparisons of CSR in developed versus developing nations. The book looks at the regulations and legislation around the world pertaining to CSR, such as universal GRI standards and legislative framework of countries like UK, USA, India, Germany, France, Canada, China, and Indonesia that have been sketched out covering expenditures, disclosure, and reporting obligations. The authors share case studies of implemented CSR projects, initiatives, and practices, highlighting several societal and environmental issues either through stakeholder relations and collaborations with NGOs or agencies or by adhering to government regulations for CSR compliance. This book provides a valuable overview of CSR and how effective implementation can lead to a corporation’s contribution to worldwide and regional sustainability and the well-being of society and the environment.

Emerging economies arguably have different socio-fiscal dynamics compared to developed economies. On one side they have the need for corporate interventions in national development, on the other hand, they do not have enough research to support the agenda. In recent times there has been a conscious effort to legislate Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in some of these countries in order to bring about sustainable development. Yet, it is this legislation, which is debated among many others. This book provides its readers with a comprehensive interpretation of the various CSR perspectives in emerging economies through academic research and case studies from practice. It not only points out the challenges, the debates, but also the dynamics of implementation and the impact of such CSR spent. This book therefore is targeted both towards academics as well as practitioners in an attempt to bring about an active academic-industry interface as CSR as a management function is part of dynamic social science.

This book explores sustainability and social responsibility from the point of view of accountability reporting systems. The contributions to this volume open up discussions about the theory and application of sustainability and social responsibility across various corporate sectors and assists the reader in applying sustainable corporate social responsibility reporting across those sectors. As a central theme, the book addresses how the theory and application in sustainability and social responsibility has different dimensions and aspects which are impossible to apply across different sectors. This point of view is supported by chapter contributions from countries around the world including Turkey, Serbia, Malaysia, United States, South Africa, Italy, China, Brasil, Romania, Serbia, Puerta Rico, Algeria. Academics worldwide will discover in Sustainability and Social Responsibility of Accountability Reporting Systems: A Global Approach the latest developments about corporate social responsibility and sustainability of accountability reporting systems.

Strategic communication as a research field and a professional practice is becoming increasingly relevant for organizations. Bringing together contributions from almost 60 leading international scholars, this dynamic Research Handbook on Strategic Communication is a timely contribution to a vivid and developing academic field.

The Darker Side of Social Media: Consumer Psychology and Mental Health takes a research-based, scientific approach to examining problematic issues and outcomes that are related to social media use by consumers. Now in its second edition, it relies on psychological theories to help explain or predict problematic online behavior within the social media landscape through the lens of mental health. With an aim to provide solutions, the authors spotlight the key issues affecting consumer well-being and mental health due to the omnipresence and overuse of social media. The book dissects the unintended consequences of too much social media use, specifying key problems like disconnection anxiety, eating disorders, online fraud, cyberbullying, the dark web, addiction, depression, self-discrepancies, and serious privacy concerns (especially impacting children or young people). The book provides grapples with mental health disorders such as anxiety, depression, self-harm, and eating disorders that can be intensified by, or correlated with, too much social media use. The authors meticulously review the various facets of the darker side of online presence and propose actionable solutions for each of the problems stated, providing scholars with a conceptual model with propositions for continued research. This international exploration of social media is a must-read for students of marketing, advertising, and public relations, as well as scholars/managers of business, marketing, psychology, communication, management, and sociology. It will also be of interest to social media users, those navigating new media platforms parents, policymakers, and practitioners.

The Digital Marketing and eCommerce Conference aims to bring together leading researchers and research scholars to exchange and share their experiences and research results on any aspects of ecommerce and digital marketing. This volume presents the proceedings of the 2023 edition in a collection of contributions with many original approaches. They address diverse areas of application such as online brand communities, channel design, online retailing, cryptocurrencies, user-generated content, TikTok, among others. A wide variety of theoretical and methodological approaches have been used.

This book explores diverse dimensions of innovation in business and finance from a micro as well as macro perspective through various case studies and analyses of trends. The previous decade is known as the era of digital transformation and innovation. The rise of new technologies is having an impact on the global trends and leading to innovation in business and finance. In this competitive market, businesses and financial institutions must be responsive to the trends in order to survive and thrive, governments must cope with the complex and uncertain environments by being smart, transforming service delivery, and implementing smart governance practices, and entrepreneurs and investors are faced with alternative sources of finance and investment. However, keeping up with these trends and innovations is fraught with its own set of challenges. Thus, it is important to analyze new and emerging technologies and innovations through a myriad of disciplinary lenses. This book not only expands conceptual understanding of digital transformation and innovation by presenting strong empirical evidence, but also by adding to the vigorous worldwide policy discussion on how to assist businesses in the digital transition. The book will be useful to scholars and researchers of business management, financial management, business economics, international business, human resources, and marketing. It will also be of interest to entrepreneurs, policymakers, academicians, and practitioners in the field.