Being or appearing socially responsible? How do public relations agencies demonstrate their commitment to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) projects, whether they are supporting external initiatives or pursuing their own

Introduction: Since the introduction of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), sustainable development and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) are one of the main strategic trends in public relations (PR). Our research objectives are to identify whether the PR consultancies make their offer of specialized CSR services visible, and to verify their own implication in the issue. Methodology: We have analyzed the websites of 50 communication consultancies that operate in Spain, based on the reference ranking of the magazine El Publicista (2022 edition) and 66 CSR campaigns identified through these websites (43 campaigns developed for their clients and 23 promoted by the agencies themselves). Quantitative and qualitative content analysis has been applied, with the variables analyzed being: type of consultant, CSR services offered, CSR case studies shown, own CSR actions implemented, and professionals specialized in CSR. Results: Results show that there is still a large number of agencies that do not offer CSR specific services (58%) nor do they have specialized professionals in its communication (only 12%). In turn, the 43 CSR case studies developed for their clients prove their growing ability to convince promoters (current and potential clients) about the positive impact of CSR communication on organizational reputation. Discussion: However, the PR sector itself does not demonstrate the same level of implication, given that the implementation of own CSR actions in the industry is still a minority phenomenon (34%, and 23 CSR campaigns), although it is true that it can serve as an incentive for other agencies to follow this path. Conclusions: CSR communication represents an area of PR specialization which, in the case of agencies operating in Spain, means that almost half claim to offer communication services in this field. Although, according to their websites, there are still few professional specialists in this matter within the agencies, and few also the agencies that promote their own CSR actions through this channel (as companies that they themselves are), an offer of specialized communication services mostly linked to the SDGs in the field of health, well-being and environmental protection has been detected.