Abstract
This paper demonstrates the political perspective of corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosures and, drawing on Weber’s notion of traditionalism, seeks to explain what motivates companies to make such disclosures in a traditional setting. Annual reports of 23 banking companies in Bangladesh are analysed over the period 2009–2012. This is supplemented by a review of documentary evidence on the political and social activities of corporations and reports published in national and international newspapers. We found that, in the banking companies over the period of study, apparently neutral, corporate, philanthropic activities disclosed and promoted in CSR reports are inextricably linked to powerful leaders’ personal projects and the ruling party’s agendas. We have demonstrated elements of traditional societies, including personal loyalty and the public display of loyalty, the master–servant relationship, and obedience to personal rather than formal authority, provide an understanding of why banks (with or without explicit political linkages with the ruling party) have employed politically charged CSR disclosure strategies. The paper contributes to disclosure studies where political motivations of corporate disclosure rarely discussed. The paper extends the debate on political CSR by demonstrating that the role of family and familial values at the organisational and national levels may be much more important when it comes to CSR disclosure and activities.
Highlights
This paper is concerned with the political perspective of corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosures
This paper demonstrates the political perspective of corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosures and, drawing on Weber’s notion of traditionalism, seeks to explain what motivates companies to make such disclosures in a traditional setting
In the banking companies over the period of study, apparently neutral, corporate, philanthropic activities disclosed and promoted in CSR reports are inextricably linked to powerful leaders’ personal projects and the ruling party’s agendas
Summary
This paper is concerned with the political perspective of corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosures. The political ties of corporations and their influence on corporate conduct take different shapes and forms, depending on the institutional and political settings of the countries in which they operate (Matten and Moon 2008; Dieleman and Boddewyn 2012). Previous studies have argued that countries with under-developed democratic institutions, family-led politics and poverty, which are more likely to be prevalent in traditional settings (Tsamenyi and Uddin 2008), create the necessary conditions for strong political ties between political elites and businesses (Berglof and Claessens 2006; Dieleman and Boddewyn 2012).. Dieleman and Boddewyn (2012) found that business groups in Indonesia are both highly dependent on governments to secure key resources, and face a unique set of risks associated with political ties. Yadav (2011) has argued that the close relationship between political parties and business groups enables political elites to strongly influence corporate conduct in emerging economies
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