Digital Communication of Conscientious Brands: Case Studies
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsDigital communication of conscientious brands: case studies of InNature, Danone and Seventh Generation
Abstract:
(1) The authors should restructure this sentence in the abstract: “Despite its relevance, the literature on this concept 11 is limited and delves little into the communication of conscientious brands.”
(2) The abstract section is poorly written. The authors should write this section again. Thus, the abstract should be written in this format: Background, objectives of the study, methods, findings, and practical implications based on the findings of the research.
(3) For instance, in the abstract, the authors should mention how many papers were reviewed and what review procedure the authors used.
Introduction
(4) In the introduction, line 37, the authors should write CSR in full terms before using its acronym.
(5) The authors should improve the introduction section. The authors failed to provide any relevant information about digital communication.
(6) The authors failed to provide a problem statement for the study. What problem have you identified that the study sought to resolve?
(7) The author mentioned that “As a result, Markovic, Iglesias & Ind [7] recommend that more research be conducted 45 to understand how conscientious brands can communicate their identity and influence 46 their stakeholders to become more conscious”. I guess this is the literature gap identified. The mere mention of this gap alone is not enough. The authors should add additional information on the literature gaps.
(8) The contribution of the study should be expanded in the introduction section.
Literature Review
(9) What is the theoretical basis for this research? The authors should address this issue in the manuscript.
(10) The authors should provide a rigorous literature review. The literature review section should present the state of the art on digital communication about conscientious brands.
Provide the readers with recent studies on this topic. Are there empirical reviews available on this topic? Provide a section that presents an overview of the concepts being analyzed in this study. You can use Tables in this section for clearer understanding to readers.
Method
(11) I don’t think the method section of this paper is acceptable in scientific publications. First, in the abstract, the authors mention using a literature review process and case study method to achieve the study’s objectives. I was expecting the authors to provide the process through which the review process was conducted. For example, the authors can use the PRISMA method to show how many papers were analyzed and the other relevant information.
(12) Again, for the case study method, the authors need to provide a whole section detailing the process used in their research. Please read this article on employing case studies in scientific research: http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2288/11/100.
Case studies
(13) The authors need first to tell us the problems each of these companies faces and how they could use digital communication of conscientious brands to solve them. What approaches were used by these companies to improve their brand image?
(14)The research lacks practical recommendations. The authors should enumerate policy recommendations for improving this topic.
(15) What are the limitations of the research? What are the future recommendations from this research?
Comments on the Quality of English Language
Moderate editing of English language required
Author Response
Please see the attachment.
Author Response File: 
Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 2 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsDear Authors
It is an interesting research work (concept paper) but requires some improvements to maximize the article’s impact. Please find them in the attached file.
All the best
Comments for author File: Comments.pdf
The English language is appropriate and understandable, requiring some minor corrections.
Author Response
Please see the attachment.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 3 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsThe paper explores the sustainable communication strategies and practices of three different companies using the method of literature review and case studies and aims to show why and how to communicate a brand's social and environmental commitment to a broad and complex ecosystem of stakeholders. It also provides some managerial insight to orient communication of conscience-driven brands, stimulating future research in this emerging academic field.
This topic is relevant and quite original. Altough the paper is purely conceptual, Authors have interesting insights and propose their "compass" for managers that aims to help them improve sustainable communication in their companies. I consider this proposal as the most interesting part of the study as it creates practical framework that can be applied in business.
I think that the Authors should emphasize the benefits of their proposal in the Conclusion section.
References are up-to-date and relevant to the topic. However, as the Authors mention the literature review as one of the main methods used in the study, I think they should take into account a wider variety of sources concerning the main subject of the research.
However, I would suggest that limitations of this conceptual study should be clearly stated and explained. Authors should also consider re-designing the figure no. 6. After reading the explanation in the text, the intention of the figure is clear, but it is hard to grasp the sense only by looking at the picture.
Author Response
Please see the attachment.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 4 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsThank you for submitting your paper. I have reviewed it carefully and found the topic of your study interesting. However, before resubmitting, I recommend that you consider the following points:
1. It is unclear what gap(s) in research your study intends to fill. What type of research gap that the author try to fill? I suggest developing research questions/objectives and explaining the need for this study as well as providing justifications for undertaking it. Although you mentioned the research objectives, they do not convincingly engage readers.
2. Line 54: please elaborate ‘B’ corporations.
3. What are the criteria to select those three case studies? Are there any commonalities among those three?
4. What is the theory(ies) underpinning this research?
5. How did the authors construct Figure 6? Please elaborate.
6. The conclusion should answer the research objective set in Section 1.
Comments on the Quality of English LanguageMinor editing of English language required.
Author Response
Please see the attachment.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Round 2
Reviewer 1 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsModerate editing of English language required
Comments for author File: Comments.pdf
The authors should address these minor issues before the publication of the article.
Author Response
Please see the attachment
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 2 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsDear Authors
In the revised manuscript, you carefully addressed the raised questions and concerns. Overall, the manuscript reads well, has clarity, and communicates your work.
Comments on the Quality of English LanguageThe English language is appropriate and understandable, requiring some minor corrections.
Author Response
Dear reviewer,
We would like to thank you for appreciating our efforts in revising the manuscript. We are grateful for your constructive comments. We feel that the work has indeed benefited from all your valuable suggestions.
Kind regards.
The authors
Reviewer 4 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsThe authors have done substantial revision. Good jobs!
Author Response
Dear reviewer,
Thank you very much for taking the time to review our manuscript. The suggestions you have made have been very helpful in improving our work.
Kind regards.
The authors
