The dissertation seeks to address research questions regarding the connection between two
research streams, Social Media Marketing and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)
Communication
The literature about Social Media Marketing is young and ongoing, even if, as we will see, its
roots trace back in Traditional and Relationship Marketing. On the other hand, the literature
about the Corporate Social Responsibility Communication is still scant if compared to the
overall CSR literature. To the best of our knowledge, there are still a lot of research gaps
which deserve further investigation.
In this dissertation, after having defined Social Media Marketing and understood its roots, we
will investigate the figure who is using Social Media in order to communicate to stakeholders,
the so called Social Media Manager. Then we will try to bridge the gap between Social Media
Marketing and CSR Communication by analyzing, from a sensemaking perspective, the
benefits and the challenges Social Media Managers face in making sense of CSR
Communication. We will provide evidence through a case study and through the analysis of
the communication strategies of the top 100 Europe FT firms on Twitter, one of the most used
Social Media by firms.
The five studies in this dissertation span different research contexts, methodologies, and
theoretical angles. Yet, they collectively contribute to a better understanding in order to
bridge the gap betweeen two research streams which, from a first sight, seem to be different
but present some common points which deserve further explanation.
