Date of Award

3-17-2021

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

School of Communication

First Advisor

Rebecca Hayes

Second Advisor

John Hooker

Abstract

This study seeks to understand the corporate social responsibility (CSR) topics shared by professional team sport organizations on their websites and on Twitter as well as fan responses to those CSR messages. A quantitative content analysis of individual tweets from 16 teams across the NFL, NBA, MLB, and NHL posted from October 1-30, 2020 was conducted. Results indicate that CSR topic frequencies were significantly different both on webpages and on Twitter. Replies to CSR messages on Twitter were significantly different based on topic, and replies were largely neutral. There was no significant difference in reply valence to CSR tweets that were community-specific compared to tweets that were not community-specific. Practical implications, limitations, and directions for future research are discussed.

Comments

Imported from Murphy_ilstu_0092N_11885.pdf

DOI

https://doi.org/10.30707/ETD2021.20210719070603181093.47

Page Count

68

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Communication Commons

COinS