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342

Friday, November 11

1 4 : 3 0 – 1 6 : 0 0

Commission, the Erasmus Programme has created a specific framework for encouraging student exchange between European Universities. Each year more

than 250.000 European students enjoy their international academic mobility, spending, on average, six months, in other European Universities. Madrid is

one of the most attractive academic destinations in Europe, welcoming each year more than 5.000 Erasmus students. The global purpose of this research is

to assess the impact of the Erasmus academic experience on the intention to live and work in a specific city, using the example of Madrid and the Madrid

University CEU San Pablo as one of the receiving academic institutions in the capital of Spain. The research has been carried out through a series of in-depth

interviews and an online survey done to a sample of Erasmus students on their international mobility to the Madrid University CEU San Pablo in 2015–2016

academic year. The methodology was developed in order to deepen the understanding of how Erasmus students perceive Madrid and to identify the main

drivers for their intention to live and work in the city. The paper includes theoretical implications and practical recommendations for the development

of a consistent city branding and communication approach focused on a specific highly-skilled target of international Erasmus students. Key words: Erasmus

students, city branding, city communication, talent attraction and retention.

PS 093

Communicating Corporate Social Responsibility: An Analysis of Corporate Reports

A. Leandro

1

, T. Ruão

2

1

University of Minho, Communication Sciences, Braga, Portugal

2

University of Minho, Braga, Portugal

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has taken its place among organisational communication’s issues in the last decades. Nevertheless, CSR communica‑

tion studies are still dispersed across multiple fields and haven’t got a significant body of literature (Ihlen, Bartlett, & May, 2011). Thus, this paper aims to

focus on CSR communication, specifically on how companies held as “best places to work” convey social information through their annual reports, and if

that information stresses the internal focus on CSR that those companies are believed to have. The analysis was developed through a multiple case study

methodology, focused on 10 companies ranked as“best place to work”. CSR is a set of policies and practices adopted by a company, in a voluntary basis, with

the objective of meeting the needs of their stakeholders, as much as fulfilling their search for profit and legal compliance (CE, 2001). From the organisational

communication point of view, this multiple case study proposes to understand the choices companies make while communicating their CSR, namely in their

annual reports. Non-financial reports have been paving a way as a must-have corporate communication instrument, that reflect which topics are more rel‑

evant for companies and their stakeholders. These reports are the ideal shape to build a discourse that mirrors the actual CSR efforts that companies make.

Also, being a non-changeable document (once it is published, unlike website contents, e.g.), they freeze whatever the company wants to communicate

internally and externally about their CSR in that given time. Using content analysis and triangulating those data with other relevant sources of information,

this paper’s broader proposition is to look at CSR reporting through the lens of organisational communication and CSR; looking to answer the following

research questions: how does a company portray itself on the annual report as a socially responsible company and if that identity-creation action matches

their image as a“good place to work”. Keywords: Corporate Social Responsibility; Organisational Communication; Corporate Reporting.

PS 094

To Trust or Not? The Role of Advertisement in Evaluation of Online Information

H. Machackova

1

, L. Dedkova

1

1

Masaryk University, Psychology, Brno, Czech Republic

The placement of advertisement on websites has quickly become routine practice. Online advertisement (e.g., banners, pop-ups, or logos) is designed to in‑

fluence internet users, however its effect may go beyond the primary business intent. Prior research considered its effect on overall user experience (Brajnik

& Gabrielli, 2010), with prominent focus on the effect on the assessment of trustworthiness or credibility (Beldad, de Jong & Steehouder, 2010; Metzger &

Flanagin, 2008).This article follows this line of research and examines the effect of two types of online advertisement present on the websites - the presence

of advertisements in general and presence of specific advertisement subtype: the brand logo - on users’evaluation of trustworthiness of information about

online security software. Acknowledging that trustworthiness might not be unidimensional concept (Cho, 2006; Ou & Sia, 2010), we separately investigate

their perceived effect on the assessment of both trust and distrust towards presented information. Further, we also examine the role of individual character‑

istics (gender, online expertise, need for cognition, and disposition to trust), that might be related to different effect of these elements on the information

trustworthiness. The current study is based on the data from 613 Czech university students (19–28 years old, 53% females) who filled up online ques‑

tionnaire in PC lab of the university. Respondents were instructed to imagine they are looking for best internet security software to secure their personal

computer and to report how their decision to dis/trust presented information would be affected by the presence of general advertisements and brand logo

of the antivirus company. The survey system randomly assigned two conditions: approximately half of respondents evaluated how the presence of both

would affect their trust (n = 297) and the other half evaluated effect on their distrust (n = 316). Responses were measured on 6-point scales ranging from

(1)“would not affect my dis/trust at all”to (6)“would absolutely increase my dis/trust”.The comparison of the levels of dis/trust raised by these two features

showed that while the brand logo would rather increase the trust in information (and not affect distrust), advertisement would rather increase distrust

(and not affect the trust). The brand logo would increase assessed trust especially for women, even when controlling for the individual levels of disposition

to trust, online expertise, and need for cognition. With regard to advertisement, we found that people with higher need for cognition reported that their

trust would not be influenced by the advertisement. Despite our expectations, we did not find any link with online expertise nor disposition to trust and

the trust assessment. Further, none of the tested predictors was significantly linked to the levels of distrust, which supports the presumption that evaluation

of trust and distrust are processualy different (Chang & Fang, 2013; Cho, 2006). The results are discussed with regard to the praxis of online advertisement.