Communicating LGBTQ-supportive CSR for corporate legitimacy: a cultural discourse analysis in Hong Kong

Abstract

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) towards the notions of diversity, equality, and inclusion (DE&I) draws a lot of attention in modern, pluralist society. The organizations’ communicative approach in conveying LGBTQ advocacy to manage tensions and avoid conflicts with various stakeholders is largely underexplored in the Asian context. This study adopts Carbaugh’s cultural discourse analysis (CuDA) to examine the socio-cultural meanings of LGBTQ-supportive CSR discourse for building corporate legitimacy in Hong Kong. CSR materials from leading corporations (2016–2022) and Facebook comments from the public were selected. We analyzed the CSR discourse using the five discursive hubs of CuDA (i.e. identity, emotions, actions, relations, and dwelling) and Suchman’s legitimacy theory (i.e. pragmatic, cognitive, and moral). Our findings revealed three different stages of corporate legitimacy: namely, symbolic, institutional, and contextualized LGBTQ advocacy. The CSR materials intertwining in the five discursive hubs also demonstrated how the organizations attempted to build corporate legitimacy by fostering social change and avoiding conflicts through positive and implicit message-framing of LGBTQ advocacy. Discourse reflected in these CSR strategies illuminated the importance of glocalizing CSR messages to facilitate stakeholder engagement and corporate legitimization in support of this controversially progressive value.

Keywords:

• LGBTQ
• corporate social responsibility
• cultural discourse analysis
• legitimacy theory
• corporate advocacy
• sustainability reporting

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 LGBTQ, referring to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer individuals, is an umbrella term for non-heteronormative sexual orientations and gender identities. It is loosely interchangeable with similar terms such as LGBT, LGBTQ + and LGBTQIA, with varying care to the degree of inclusivity.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Mike H. Y. Chan

Mike Chan earned his Bachelor of Communication at Hong Kong Baptist University in 2022, majoring in public relations. Upon graduation, he commenced his professional tenure at a globally renowned financial relations consultancy. Chan’s academic foray into diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) is epitomized in this research thesis, which critically analyzes CSR communication strategies around the LGBTQ community in Hong Kong.

Angela K. Y. Mak

Angela Ka Ying Mak, Ph.D. is an associate professor in the School of Communication at Hong Kong Baptist University. Her research areas include CSR communication, stakeholder engagement, ESG reporting, social-mediated crisis communication in polarization, and cancer survivorship. She completed the GRI professional certification program in 2022 and won a silver award at the Hong Kong Public Relations Awards in 2023.