Corporate social responsibility communication in the football industry: Evidence from Juventus football club

Abstract

This study investigates the CSR communication and reporting practice of professional football clubs to examine the range, variety, and visibility of their CSR information communicated to stakeholders. Adopting a case study strategy, this study focuses on Juventus football club (hereby Juventus). NVivo 12 is employed as a qualitative content analysis method to measure the CSR information communicated through the club's 2019/2020 sustainability report and official Facebook page within the same timeframe. The communicative approaches and information variety differ across the two communication channels. The most represented CSR topics in the sustainability report are "society and community" and "education", addressed with a backward-looking approach. Whereas the CSR-related Facebook posts have a more forward-looking approach when addressing certain topics such as "health" and the "Covid-19" pandemic and its impacts on the club. Nevertheless, Facebook users seem to be less engaged by the CSR-related Facebook posts, compared to those dedicated to football-related topics, as confirmed by the limited numbers of "likes" or "reactions" across certain posts with CSR-related messages.