Communicative institutionalization of CSR: a content analysis of firms’ motivations in social reports from three market economies

Abstract

ABSTRACT Drawing on institutional theory, this content analysis explored firms' social reports for a ten-year period in three market economies. Specifically, this study analyzed firms' motivations for corporate social responsibility (CSR) through a proxy of the salience of stakeholder groups in social reports. First, firms' competitive motivations for CSR were significantly higher in the stated-led market economies (SLMEs: France, South Korea) than in the liberal market economies (LMEs: US, UK), which showed the lowest level of firms' competitive motivations for CSR during all investigated periods. Secondly, firms' socially cohesive motivations for CSR significantly decreased over time in SLMEs only, while increasing in LMEs and the coordinated market economies (CMEs: Germany, Japan). Theoretical and practical implications are discussed in terms of the constitutive role of communication in the institutionalization of CSR.