Past, present, and future of research on corporate social responsibility advertising

Abstract

While the idea and terminology of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) stem from the 1950s and companies have been practicing CSR and advertising their engagement for some time, the advertising literature has had a late start to this topic. More recently, CSR has become prominent in both advertising practice and research. With a specific focus on the role of the International Journal of Advertising (IJA), this paper aims to provide a historical perspective of how CSR advertising has been covered in the past and which topics are the ones being most intensively discussed at present. Our review uses bibliometric co-citation analysis with CiteSpace to identify the most relevant topics in CSR advertising research and IJA’s contribution to these topics. Within the CSR advertising topics identified, we highlight under-researched themes, as well as upcoming trends to suggest future avenues for the further development of CSR advertising research.

Keywords:

• Corporate Social Responsibility
• CSR
• bibliometric analysis
• co-citation analysis
• CSR effectiveness
• CSR stakeholders
• CSR appeals
• CSR authenticity

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Spanish Government and European Regional Development Fund (grant number PID2021-123686OB-I00 AEI/FEDER UE), the Basque Government (grant numbers IT1731-22, PRE-2021-2-0037), and FESIDE Foundation (grant number 03-21).

Notes on contributors

Patrick Hartmann

Patrick Hartmann is an Associate Professor of Marketing at the University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU, Bilbao, Spain. His current research interests are in consumer behaviour, communications, and environmental marketing. His research has been published in journals such as the International Journal of Advertising, Journal of International Marketing, Journal of Advertising, European Journal of Marketing, Journal of Business Research, Journal of Business Ethics, Environment and Behavior, Journal of Environmental Psychology, Journal of Hospitality Marketing and Management, International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, Personality and Individual Differences, Computers in Human Behavior, The Service Industries Journal, and Energy Policy, among others. He has received best paper awards from the American Marketing Association, the European Advertising Academy, the Spanish Marketing Association, and several journals.

Aitor Marcos

Aitor Marcos is a PhD Candidate at the University of the Basque Country, Spain. He is working as a full-time research personnel in training with a Predoctoral scholarship of the Basque Government on his thesis on pro-environmental consumer behaviour. He has previously worked as an innovation consultant for a multinational company in Spain and the US and as a lecturer at Mondragon University.

Vanessa Apaolaza

Vanessa Apaolaza is an Associate Professor of Marketing at the University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU, Bilbao, Spain. Her current research focuses on consumer behaviour, advertising, environmental consumer behavior, and women psychology. Her research has been published in journals such as the International Journal of Advertising, Journal of International Marketing, Journal of Advertising, European Journal of Marketing, Journal of Business Research, Journal of Business Ethics, Environment and Behavior, Journal of Environmental Psychology, Journal of Hospitality Marketing and Management, International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, Personality and Individual Differences, Computers in Human Behavior, The Service Industries Journal, and Energy Policy, among others. She has received best paper awards from the American Marketing Association, the European Advertising Academy, the Spanish Marketing Association, and several journals.