Corporate Social Responsibility Discourse Analysis
Summary
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Discourse Analysis examines how organisations use language to construct and communicate their social and environmental commitments. Drawing on critical discourse analysis, genre theory and corpus linguistics, it investigates the rhetorical and lexical strategies corporations deploy to legitimise activities, manage reputations and engage stakeholders. Researchers analyse annual and sustainability reports, CEO statements and public communications to identify discursive patterns such as nomination, predication and intensification, exploring how these frame corporate identity, social obligations and power relations. Over the past decade, scholarship has mapped the hybridisation of CSR discourse, revealing the tension between promotional language and normative accountability. Empirical studies have uncovered global variations in CSR narratives, from developing markets where disclosure responds to regulatory pressure to multinational contexts where climate commitments align with international accords. This field has practical applications in improving transparency, enhancing stakeholder dialogue and informing policy design. By tracing the evolution of lexical choices—such as the shift from ‘unfair burden’ to ‘fair tax’—and situating corporate texts within broader socio-political frameworks, CSR Discourse Analysis offers critical insights into how language shapes the social legitimacy of contemporary business practices.
Research from Nature Portfolio
No recent Nature Portfolio content available.
Corporate Social Responsibility Discourse Analysis publication trend
The graph below shows the total number of articles in corporate social responsibility discourse analysis across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).
Technical terms
Corpus linguistics: the study of language patterns through large electronic text collections and computational tools.
Critical discourse analysis: an interdisciplinary approach probing the relationship between language, power and ideology.
Discourse-Historical Approach: a method integrating historical context with linguistic analysis to reveal discursive strategies and ideological constructs.
Nomination: a discursive strategy involving the naming and classification of social actors and entities.
Intensification: linguistic mechanisms that amplify the force or emotional impact of propositions.
Legitimisation: rhetorical processes used to justify or validate corporate actions and policies.
References
- The discursive construction of corporate identity in the corporate social responsibility reports: A case study of Starbucks. Frontiers in Psychology (2022).
- Framing the path to net zero. International Journal of Corpus Linguistics (2023).
- The development of a multidimensional meaning of tax: From unfair tax to fair. Discourse & Communication (2022).
About these summaries
This Nature Research Intelligence Topic summary is created with the cited references and a large language model. We take care to ground generated text with facts, and have systems in place to gain human feedback on the overall quality of the process in line with our AI principles. We strive to create accurate and useful summaries for people unfamiliar with the research topic and that supports this goal. These pages are a beta release and will be updated as we learn how best to help people gain value from a research topic summary.
Turn complex research questions into confident strategic decisions
When you're under pressure to set direction, justify investment, or understand your competitive position, you need more than raw data — you need trusted insights you can act on.
Benchmark your performance against global peers using robust, methodologically sound analysis.
Combine quantitative metrics with qualitative expert insight to uncover strengths, gaps and emerging opportunities.
Gain tailored, decision-ready recommendations aligned to your strategic priorities.
Talk to us to learn more about our data dashboards and bespoke strategy reports.
Grow research skills, confidence and careers with training built for every stage of the research lifecycle.
Developed with Nature Portfolio journal Editors and internationally renowned experts. Discover three ways to learn:
Self-paced, online courses in convenient bite-sized units, covering key skills across scientific writing, publishing, grant writing, data analysis, and more.
Expert trainer-led workshops with hands-on exercises and real-time feedback across core research skills, delivered via interactive group sessions.
Editor-led workshops combining core principles in writing and publishing, personalised 1:1 feedback from Nature Portfolio Editors and hands-on exercises.
Explore course catalogues and workshop agendas, enquire about the options or request institutional pricing.