Sustainable Business Practices and Social Media: When Sustainable Social Media Campaigns Change Corporate Business Practice

Abstract

Social media has provided a new marketing environment by turning the power of communication from corporations towards stakeholders and has made information more accessible and easier to spread than before. This is utilized by NGOs where they increasingly use social media in order to force corporations into sustainable business practices. Previous research has not addressed when these advocacy campaigns induce change in corporate business practice. Therefore, the aim of this article is twofold: (1) to describe the sequence of events occurring in a sustainable social media campaign, and (2) to develop an analytical model for corporate change, mediated through brand identity and brand reputation, induced by a sustainable social media campaign. The analysis and the findings are drawn from an exploratory qualitative case study, conducted through interviews and electronic research around LEGO’s terminated relationship with Shell due to online pressure from the NGO Greenpeace. The findings revealed four stages in the campaign period, and a framework for corporate change is provided. This includes an analytical model containing four components; R-I gap, duration, continuation, and spread, that induces a change in corporate business practice. Hence, it is a framework contributory for advocacy in order to govern corporations towards sustainable business practices.