<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><bold>Background and Purpose:</bold> Many studies have explored the differences in the management of corporate social responsibility (CSR) of multinational companies across the globe. The main question of the study was, are there differences between CSR practices between home country and host country operations?<bold>Design/Methodology/Approach:</bold> This study investigates the differences in online CSR communication between global corporate websites and the webpages of local subsidiaries in Hungary. The sample contains 70 multinational companies (MNCs) and their Hungarian subsidiaries. All the subsidiaries of the sample are listed amongst the largest 200 companies (based on turnover) in Hungary. Both the local (Hungarian) and the global internet sites of these MNCs were visited, and pre-defined categories were sought on the corporate websites. The presence/lack of these CSR themes and topics on the websites were recorded.<bold>Results:</bold> The findings show that online CSR disclosure of the subsidiaries is usually more limited than the global communication. Moreover, distance from the headquarters seems to matter, the farther the headquarters of the MNC is located, the narrower CSR presence on the websites of the local subsidiary can be observed.<bold>Conclusion:</bold> The paper’s main contribution is to deepen our knowledge about the CSR strategies of the multinational companies across their operations. It was confirmed that their CSR practices significantly differ between the host and home countries.</abstract>

Background and Purpose: Many studies have explored the differences in the management of corporate social responsibility (CSR) of multinational companies across the globe. The main question of the study was, are there differences between CSR practices between home country and host country operations?Design/Methodology/Approach: This study investigates the differences in online CSR communication between global corporate websites and the webpages of local subsidiaries in Hungary. The sample contains 70 multinational companies (MNCs) and their Hungarian subsidiaries. All the subsidiaries of the sample are listed amongst the largest 200 companies (based on turnover) in Hungary. Both the local (Hungarian) and the global internet sites of these MNCs were visited, and pre-defined categories were sought on the corporate websites. The presence/lack of these CSR themes and topics on the websites were recorded.Results: The findings show that online CSR disclosure of the subsidiaries is usually more limited than the global communication. Moreover, distance from the headquarters seems to matter, the farther the headquarters of the MNC is located, the narrower CSR presence on the websites of the local subsidiary can be observed.Conclusion: The paper’s main contribution is to deepen our knowledge about the CSR strategies of the multinational companies across their operations. It was confirmed that their CSR practices significantly differ between the host and home countries.

The Online Communication of Corporate Social Responsibility in Subsidiaries of Multinational Companies in Hungary

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Background and Purpose: Many studies have explored the differences in the management of corporate social responsibility (CSR) of multinational companies across...

The Online Communication of Corporate Social Responsibility in Subsidiaries of Multinational Companies in Hungary

Published Online: Sep 06, 2018

Page range: 160 - 168

Received: Jul 02, 2018

Accepted: Aug 02, 2018

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/orga-2018-0017

Keywords
CSR, local subsidiaries, multinational companies, online communication

© 2018 Richard Szanto, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

The Online Communication of Corporate Social Responsibility in Subsidiaries of Multinational Companies in Hungary

Published Online: Sep 06, 2018

Page range: 160 - 168

Received: Jul 02, 2018

Accepted: Aug 02, 2018

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/orga-2018-0017

KeywordsCSR, local subsidiaries, multinational companies, online communication

© 2018 Richard Szanto, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Keywords
CSR, local subsidiaries, multinational companies, online communication