Navigating multidirectional CSR tensions: a micro perspective on CSR middle managerial practice

Abstract

Middle managers are positioned in a cross-pressure with conflicting expectations between top and lower levels. With the prevalence of CSR in corporate strategy, the middle manager faces new pressures between social goals and economic goals. Based on a micro-level case study, we illustrate how the CSR manager (as a middle manager) navigates and works through tensions inherent in everyday practices. The analysis illustrates how the CSR manager reacts emotionally to the tensions, how she uses different strategies to act on the tensions and employs so-called managerial buffers to cushion the tensions. We outline three contributions to the CSR middle management literature: 1) Tensions are not only experienced as constraining for the CSR manager, but also as fostering positive energy; 2) Tensions do not leave the CSR manager in a powerless void; rather they enable progression; and 3) Tensions are omnipresent and multidirectional, hence an inescapable premise of middle managerial practice in CSR contexts.