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Tweetjacked: The Impact of Social Media on Corporate Greenwash

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Abstract

We theorize that social media will reduce the incidence of corporate greenwash. Drawing on the management literature on decoupling and the economic literature on information disclosure, we characterize specifically where this effect is likely to be most pronounced. We identify important differences between social media and traditional media, and present a theoretical framework for understanding greenwash in which corporate environmental communications may backfire if citizens and activists feel a company is engaging in excessive self-promotion. The framework allows us to draw out a series of propositions regarding the impact of social media on corporate decisions whether to greenwash, and what channels to use for environmental communication. We conclude with a number of suggestions for future research.

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Notes

  1. Kaplan and Haenlein (2010, p. 61) define social media as ‘‘a group of Internet-based applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0, and that allow the creation and exchange of user-generated content.’’ Thus, in order to avoid confusion with the literature on stakeholder media (Hunter et al. 2008) we focus on social media not as content creators but as channels through which actors can communicate content.

  2. Lyon and Maxwell (2011) define reputation as follows. Let N be the number of prior environmental projects undertaken by the firm. If S of those were a success, then r = S/N denotes the firm’s reputation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Ross School of Business, University of Michigan, 701 Tappan Street, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA

    Thomas P. Lyon

  2. Queen’s School of Business, Queen’s University, Goodes Hall, 143 Union Street, Kingston, ON, K7L 3N6, Canada

    A. Wren Montgomery

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Correspondence to Thomas P. Lyon.

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Lyon, T.P., Montgomery, A.W. Tweetjacked: The Impact of Social Media on Corporate Greenwash. J Bus Ethics 118, 747–757 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-013-1958-x

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