Bridging knowledge and practice

The CSR Science Hub at VU Amsterdam connects researchers and communication professionals to understand — and improve — the societal impact of corporate social responsibility.

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Could your organisation use expert knowledge on CSR communication?

We collaborate with companies, NGOs and public bodies on research that answers real questions.

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What we do

Research that answers real questions

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) communication is how organisations share their ethical, social and environmental initiatives with the people they affect. At its best, it strengthens trust and loyalty while driving positive impact in society.

The Hub uses rigorous scientific research to understand and measure that impact, shedding light on the role of corporations as influential actors well beyond their commercial realm. We bring researchers and practitioners together so that each keeps the other honest.

Rigorous research

Experiments, surveys and qualitative work from across the social sciences, examining how CSR communication actually lands with the people it reaches.

Genuine collaboration

We work directly with companies, NGOs and public bodies across Europe — sharing ideas, testing assumptions, and improving how things are done in practice.

Knowledge you can use

Papers, toolkits and events that turn scientific findings into something a communication professional can act on next week.

Publication

CSR Communication in Corporate Social Media: An Empirical Investigation of European Top Companies’ Use of Social Media between 2012 and 2020

Valentini, C., van Zoonen, W., & Elving, W. J. L. · Social Media for Progressive Public Relations (Routledge) · 2023

Tracks how ten major European corporations used social media for CSR communication across two periods, 2012–2013 and 2019–2020.

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Publication

Making sense of each other: Relations between social enterprises and the municipality

Muftugil-Yalcin, S., & Mooijman, A. · Public Policy and Administration · 2023

A qualitative study of how Amsterdam's municipality and social entrepreneurs work together, and where their operating logics pull apart.

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Publication

Topic-specific social science theory in stance detection: a proposal and interdisciplinary pilot study on sustainability initiatives

Reuver, M., Polimeno, A., Fokkens, A., & Lopes, A. I. · Proceedings of the 4th Workshop on Computational Linguistics for the Political and Social Sciences · 2024

Applies Value-Belief-Norm theory to stance detection, comparing how crowdworkers and NLP specialists annotate discussion of European sustainability initiatives.

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