An examination of applied ethics and stakeholder management on top corporate websites

"A content analysis was conducted using a random interval sample of the 2008 Fortune® 500 list of the largest US corporations to explore their application of ethics and stakeholder management. Seventy-two of the 500 were quantified along the lines of the content of their corporate website related to ethics, communication, stakeholders, relationship measures, community relations, and other qualitative variables. Findings indicate a greater need for identification of stakeholders on organizational websites and linkages to be explicitly made between ethics, trust, and other relationship variables with these stakeholding publics, going beyond the compliance standards of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Scholarship discussed in the conceptualization of this research concluded that in order to build and enhance relationships, organizations must illustrate their commitment to trustworthy behavior, honest actions, and open communication with publics other than investors. However, less than 30% of the corporations analyzed in this research made efforts to build relationships in that manner. Implications and recommendations for improvement of corporate communication with stakeholders are discussed." [Information des Anbieters]