Aspiration, appearance, argumentation or attack? Reconstructing stakeholder engagement images of German industrial companies on social media

Purpose Social media platforms, such as Twitter, offer companies the opportunity to interact with their stakeholders, thereby explaining and legitimising their business activities and further developing their CSR practices. In reality, however, Twitter is often not used dialogically. While research on corporate stakeholder engagement online has provided several explanations for the absence of dialogue, the question arises as to what role commercial social media can play in engaging stakeholders in the context of CSR and how this role can be conceptualised. By adopting the perspective that “communication constitutes organisation”, this study seeks to answer this question and broaden the understanding of corporate stakeholder engagement on social media and legitimisation beyond the conceptual boundaries of “real” stakeholder dialogue. Design/methodology/approach We apply qualitative analysis to tweets from companies listed on the German stock index (DAX) and analyse conversations containing key hashtags used by climate activists. The underlying assumption is that companies using hashtags that are “charged” with certain meanings on Twitter respond to social expectations by creating stakeholder engagement images. We develop an analytical framework that is based on, firstly, the openness of companies to interact with their stakeholders, as demonstrated by the use of elements that favour dialogue, and secondly, the characterisation of post contents as distancing from the societal expectations or confirming the societal expectations. Findings We reconstruct four basic types of stakeholder engagement images: the “Aspiration”, “Appearance”, “Argumentation” and “Attack” images. The “Aspiration” image is mainly about what could be, which can have a performative and transformative effect even if aspirational talk is not fully translated into action. The “Appearance” image seems to be geared towards fixation and leaves little room for interaction, negotiation and change. The “Argumentation” image has the potential to challenge, influence and affect the boundaries of an organisation. The tweets under the “Attack” image contain one-sided conflicts that usually remain without interaction. Research limitations/implications Due to the qualitative nature of the present study and its limitation to a specific sample, the developed framework cannot be generalised to other contexts without further research. Another limitation is the rapidly changing context of social media research. In our case, this is exacerbated by the change of ownership of Twitter and its transformation into X. This further limits the collection of data for scientific purposes, making it unlikely that a similar, information-rich sample of tweets could be created at a later point in time. Practical implications The novel framework could be used by companies to assess their communication from a novel perspective. It might be interesting to review whether specific CSR topics influence the occurrence and frequency of certain images, if some images in general occur more often than others, and how images are distributed and developed over a longer period or related to certain occasions. Social implications In a rapidly changing environment, effective stakeholder communication is crucial, yet companies face greater challenges and risks. This study aims to identify ways to analyse and facilitate productive stakeholder communication in a digital society. Originality/value In this study, we empirically address the topics of stakeholder engagement and legitimisation in a digital society by offering an approach that recognises communication's constitutive role in engagement. Applying the novel framework we have developed and examining the performativity and impact of the reconstructed images – for instance, on the roles of dissent, struggle and aspiration – can provide a rich basis for further theoretical and practical insights into stakeholder engagement and legitimisation on social media.