| Summary: | This thesis consists of three empirical studies examining how social media are used by corporations, advocacy non-governmental organisations (A-NGOs) and hybrid organisations to engage with stakeholders and enhance stakeholder accountability. The first study examines the use of social media by corporations to disclose CSR information and manage stakeholder perceptions. Drawing on organised hypocrisy and organisational theory and through the analysis of Facebook posts from S&P100 companies, this study finds that CSR actions disclosures attract both positive and negative stakeholder reactions. CSR talk and decisions disclosures generate positive reactions and reduce negative perceptions. It is also evident that the reputational façade in CSR disclosures is more likely to attract positive reactions and less likely to attract negative reactions than the rational façade. The progressive façade is more likely to attract positive reactions than the rational façade, and it is more likely to attract negative reactions than the reputational façade. Overall, the findings suggest that corporations employ various strategies in social media CSR disclosures to manage stakeholder perceptions and maintain legitimacy. The second study examines the use of social media by A-NGOs to attract stakeholder engagement, and whether such engagement leads to large-scale stakeholder support outside social media platforms. This study draws on Castells’ (2013) network-making power perspective and employs a unique dataset of Greenpeace signups (i.e. the proxy for stakeholder support) to the “Save the Arctic” (STA) petition from over 236 countries and a sample of 8,336 Greenpeace Facebook messages related to the STA campaigns in 29 languages. The findings suggest that Greenpeace communicates advocacy information that appeals to logic and emotions to attract stakeholder engagement. In examining the social impacts of A-NGO social media engagement, the level of national stakeholder support is positively associated with the effectiveness of ...
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