The Relationship between Action Logics of Business Leaders and CSR Behaviours in the Ready Made Garment Sector of Bangladesh

Nika Salvetti,Andre Nijhof

doi:10.13189/aeb.2020.080305

Abstract

This study focuses on understanding the inner psychological (intrinsic) motivations that influence local business leaders in adopting CSR behaviours. The inner motivations are hereby considered as the mind-sets of individuals, the human capacity to interpret reality. According to the constructive developmental theories, individuals experience several stages of consciousness development, as a consequence of their deeper understanding of reality, wisdom and ego awareness. More specifically, building upon the Action Logics framework of Rooke and Torbert (2005), it can be considered what type of action logics relate to advanced forms of CSR behaviours. One of the main contributions of this study to the leadership and CSR literature is to describe each action logics as specific intrinsic motivation and clarify empirically the relationship between action logics of local business leaders and different stages of CSR behaviours, in a specific local context. An inductive research strategy is applied. Nine local business leaders participated in this research and triangulation was applied based on in-depth interviews, observations and company reports to determine CSR behaviours and how they are related to action logics. Template analysis was used for coding the findings. The study resulted in four distinctive patterns about the relationships between action logics and CSR behaviours. The study indicates that: (1) Higher action logics are needed to be engaged in more advanced stages of CSR practices; (2) It is at the achiever action logic level when leaders start moving towards advanced stages of CSR behaviours; (3) Lower action logics cannot induce advanced stages of CSR behaviours; (4) Business leaders with higher action logics can still apply practices of the full range of CSR stages. Based on these findings this paper provides recommendations for future research and managerial practice.

Highlights

This implies that other stages remain relevant, depending on the contextual circumstances it is expected that more mature/advanced action logics would enable a leader to interpret the complexity of reality in a way that would nurture several and advanced forms of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) behaviours
The research had as its objectives to depict CSR determinants, in terms of the action logics which motivate local business leaders to adopt CSR behaviours despite the challenging context and on top of what is legally required
The first pattern confirms the constructive development theory by demonstrating that more mature action logics are needed to engage in more advanced forms of CSR

Summary

Introduction

The interest in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) as a field of academic study is evident, from both a broad management perspective (Aguinis & Glavas, 2012; Frynas & Yamahaki, 2016; Su, Peng, Tan & Cheung, 2016; Zheng, Luo & Maksimov, 2015; ) and from more an international business perspective, with special emphasis on developing countries (Amaeshi, Adegbite & Rajwani, 2016; Jamali & Karam, 2016; Jamali, Karam, Yin & Soundararajan, 2017; Kolk, 2016; Pisani, Kourula, Kolk, & Meijer, 2017;). One specific topic in this body of knowledge about CSR – and one that is especially relevant for this study – is the variation among CSR behaviours between companies (Amaeshi, Adegbite & Rajwani, 2016; Jamali, Karam, Yin & Soundararajan, 2017; Kolk, 2016). Several stage models about CSR have yielded insight into the progress in CSR behaviours, including related requirements (Benn, Dunphy & Perrott, 2011; Maon, Lindgreen & Swaen, 2010; Visser, 2011; Zadek, 2004). These stage models assume that greater CSR impact emerges from different styles of leadership. That is why this study seeks to focus on the individual level of analysis

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Conclusion