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Sharing Economy organizations appear to enjoy positive moral capital associated with supporting local entrepreneurs, the economy, and the environment. However, they operate in a regulatory limbo allowing them to engage in business practices that would not be permitted in other sectors. Hence a question remains: Does Sharing Economy (SE) have a moral capital? To explore whether the sharing economy has a moral capital, we explored the discussions around Uber after a number of scandals in 2017 in news media and on Twitter. Our findings show that news media play a critical role in developing and maintaining a positive moral capital of Uber, while the general public on Twitter tend to be more negative and do not afford SE much moral capital.

Corporate Social Responsibility (CRS) is an effective marketing lever, and its effectiveness is mediated by the strategies companies use to communicate their CRS activities to stakeholders. The present research aims at assessing the effect of five CSR communicative strategies, ranked according to an increasing involvement level of stakeholders, on a fictional company’s Employer Branding (EB). The company was presented to two samples of university students (n=167; n=112) via the administration of five different versions of a brochure, corresponding to five different communicative scenarios of CSR. A self-report questionnaire was administrated, with scales measuring the company’s attractiveness, perceived prestige, intention to contact the company, and prospective engagement, as well as the company’s perceived brand personality and CSR communication. Analyses report high levels of the EB dimensions in all five communicative scenarios, which however produce different perceptions of the company’s brand personality. Keywords: corporate social responsibility; employer branding; brand personality; dialogue; stakeholders., Rassegna di Psicologia, Vol 34, No 3 (2017)

Corporate marketing and corporate communications are topics that have grown in scholarly and practical importance in these last decades. Fields such as branding, marketing communications and public relations have all contributed to this boost. Whilst there is a large amount of literature on each of these disciplines, there is little systematic development from the perspective of corporate marketing and corporate communication studies, although these two have the most to contribute to how companies manage their brands, image and corporate identities in the 21st Century. This book seeks to redress this balance and provide insights, via case studies or histories, on issues such as nation branding, managing multiple corporate identities during merger and acquisitions and establishing a company’s CSR and green image. Scholars from various disciplines within the fields of public relations, branding, marketing and corporate identity have come together in Contemporary Perspectives on Corporate Marketing to offer the latest approaches and studies in these areas. As such, it will become a platform for developments in the field and serve as a respected reference resource for corporate marketing and corporate communication studies.

Corporate marketing and corporate communications are topics that have grown in scholarly and practical importance in these last decades. Fields such as branding, marketing communications and public relations have all contributed to this boost.

Small winemaking regions worldwide face intense competition from global brands; as such, their challenge is to promote brands that tell the unique story of the collectivity of regional wineries in order to achieve a favorable reputation for the regional product. This paper introduces a method to audit the communication of regional wine brands, drawing upon branding and corporate identity literature. The proposed audit has several objectives: providing a picture of the communicated brand’s personality; checking gaps between intentions—that is, what winemakers want to communicate—and projections—that is, what formal communications actually project; delineating the potential target that communications address; checking the consistency of communications; and evaluating the expressiveness of wineries in communicating the regional wine brand. The paper further illustrates the audit using the case of the Swiss wine Merlot Ticino.

This research documents the empirical results of a study investigating the role of collective selfefficacy for resistance to change in organizational identity. Arising from the belief that members’ threat perception to change in organizational identity creates resistance, thus far studies have explained the existence of this threat perception by focusing on the role of organizational identity in defining members’ self-esteem. This research contributes to this debate by discussing what lowers this threat perception to change in organizational identity features that are relevant for members’ self-esteem. Evidence supports the role of collective self-efficacy. Theoretical arguments developed illustrate that the level of collective self-efficacy reduces members’ threat perception; collective self-efficacy enables members to feel competent in handling unforeseen situations based on their resourcefulness as a member of the organization, thereby giving members the idea that they are in control of threatening situations.

This paper documents the empirical results of a field study conducted among top Swiss companies. The survey investigates their practices in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) communication as well as their opinions about how favorable the Swiss context is for this kind of communication. Results show CSR communication in Switzerland as a practice in evolution, still needing expertise. In this regard the paper gives examples of improvements that permit the development of a CSR communication strategy focused on dialogue and transparency, making companies aware of the potential of conscious CSR communication. Moreover, results show that gaining expertise can be an easy task, since the Swiss context emerges as open to CSR communication. Interesting results show that this openness is due to an Anglo-Saxon orientation of the Swiss cultural context, which is, however, in some aspects called into question by a Latin cultural influence.

This research documents the empirical results of intentional change in an organizational identity where resistance emerges. We develop and test a theoretical model describing why members of an organization in such situations of change perceive a threat of organizational identity traits. Research results illustrate that the essentiality of organizational identity traits and their influence on members’ self-esteem represent two antecedents that contribute to explaining such perceptions of threat. They also illustrate that the existence of multiple identities is an important element to consider when managing change in order to reduce the perception of threat. However, organizational identity traits’ correspondence to external expectations is not relevant. Indeed, when the threatened organizational identity trait is dual to another one, there is a lower threat perception to change it, whereas when it corresponds to external expectations, there is not a lower threat perception. Accordingly our research documents the existence of the impacts of the two antecedents that have thus far only been treated separately within the current debate on resistance to change of organizational identity. We also examine multiple identities in organizations as an important moderator.

This paper suggests that consumer boycotts target irresponsible behaviors of corporations toward consumer, political, and social issues. After identifying the characteristics of consumer boycotts’ best practices, the paper documents the results of a field study conducted on consumer boycotts in Switzerland. Results reveal its peculiarities compared to the reality in the United States, where empirical works in this field are mainly conducted. Moreover, the paper provides evidence of consumer boycotts’ weaknesses and strengths in Switzerland and emphasizes the principles that should be considered by boycotters to reach the consumer boycott best practices.

Effective internal communication contributes to the overall organizational communication that aims to maintain a sustainable reputation during times of change. Arising from this belief, this paper aims to develop a theoretical framework in which the type of communication content, flows, channels, and climate better fits into the planning, implementation, and revitalization phases within the downsizing process. To this end, a literature review on downsizing studies has been conducted, resulting in examples of the types of communication content, flow, channels, and climate that should characterize internal communication before, during, and after the downsizing process. These examples will be provided together with the communication objectives relevant for effective internal communication during downsizing.

Questo lavoro di ricerca documenta i risultati empirici qualitativi e quantitativi di un caso di studio sul cambiamento identitario de facto di un’organizzazione. In base ad un approccio che integra la prospettiva cognitiva a quella cognitiva psicologica, viene definito un modello teorico che discute perché in situazione di cambiamento i membri dell’organizzazione percepiscono una minaccia dei tratti identitari desiderando una loro conservazione futura. L’essenzialità dei tratti e la loro influenza sulla stima dei membri rappresentano i due antecedenti che intercorrono a spiegare tale inerzia. I risultati della ricerca illustrano l’esistenza di una relazione inversa tra questi due antecedenti trattati solo separatamente dall’attuale dibattito sulla resistenza al cambiamento identitario delle organizzazioni. Viene inoltre sottolineata l’importanza di includere nell’attuale dibattito il concetto di influenza dei tratti identitari sulla stima interna. I risultati mostrano come questo concetto sia altamente complementare a quello di stima esterna. Infine, il presente lavoro di ricerca vaglia due importanti moderatori dell’impatto dei due antecedenti: l’incompatibilità tra i tratti identitari e la loro corrispondenza con le aspettative esterne. Di conseguenza si discute come l’interrelazione identità - immagine e l’esistenza di un’identità multipla siano degli importanti elementi da considerare per una gestione del cambiamento che diminuisca la percezione di minaccia e il desiderio di mantenimento dei tratti identitari.