Caring Leadership: The Alignment of Organizational Values and Social Media Messaging

ABSTRACT

Social projects are based on ethical values that members defend, incorporate in their life and want to implement. Identity and mission play an important role in the transmission of values within organizations, especially in the case of social oriented projects. This article examines the digital communications of La Fageda, a socially driven commercial cooperative. The research explores how the project ethically communicates its action: making the life of people with intellectual disabilities better by producing high quality yogurts and other related products. Through focus groups, in-depth interviews and field visits, we analyzed how La Fageda is explained through its ethical principles and values, as a way to articulate lessons for corporate communications field. We compare how the project is communicated and received in social media and if there is consistency and alignment or a distortion in this perception.

Acknowledgments

The research team acknowledges the collaboration of Francesc Torralba, Mar Rosàs, Cristóbal Colón, Albert Riera, Esther Carreras, Marta Roqueta, Pedro Sasia, Cecilia Martínez and Igor Goitia.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This study was funded by Càtedra Ethos at Ramon Llull University and developed with the consultation of the Applied Ethics Centre at Deusto University, in Bilbao, and with the support of La Fageda Cooperative.