Information and communication technologies (ICT) have a significant impact on almost all areas of social, professional, and private life. As organizations are the main drivers for the development and use of ICT, digital responsibility must be embedded in the organizational context. This requires both strategic prioritization of responsibility in the development and use of ICT (corporate digital responsibility (CDR)) and tailored guidance in specific development and use contexts. This cumulative dissertation examines to what extent organizations can achieve a more positive perception by stakeholders through responsible behavior (corporate digital responsibility (CDR)), as this is an important incentive for organizations to strategically prioritize CDR. Based on stakeholder theory and signaling theory, three empirical studies investigated to what extent CDR signals regarding data privacy and digital wellbeing can improve stakeholder perceptions of an organization. The results show that some, but not all, of the identified CDR signals can contribute to a more positive perception of the company. A lack of standardized CDR initiatives with comparable signaling costs and lack of awareness among stakeholders are discussed as possible risk factors for false or ineffective CDR signaling. Format-based signals are identified as a new category of signals that relate to the design of digital environments and their signaling value and are specific to CDR research and practice. To strengthen responsible behavior in specific ICT development and application contexts, three artifacts were developed. The artifacts aim to raise awareness and knowledge among developers and users about the ethical implications of their decisions when using persuasive design, social media analytics methods, and AI-based platforms in personnel selection. The dissertation situates the six individual studies in the context of information systems (IS), organization science, and business ethics research. Implications for the IS research stream on CDR, as well as practical implications for organizations, are discussed.
Sünje Johanna Clausen (Wed,) studied this question.