The use of corporate social responsibility in the recovery phase of crisis management: A case study in the Brazilian company Petrobras

Abstract

Despite evidence that the extractive industry adheres to corporate social responsibility (CSR), companies developing such activities still attract negative attention because of their frequent involvement in crises. The adoption of CSR practices to respond to crises is particularly important for the postcrisis, for which the literature has been extensive in documenting the mechanisms mobilized by organizations for damage control and for learning from crisis events. However, the previous literature has been less prolific in investigating the recovery phase of crises, which involves a series of actions that organizations might undertake between the phases of damage control and learning. By employing an inductive and qualitative approach, this paper examines the use of CSR practices during the recovery phase of crises in the oil industry context by investigating three cases involving the Brazilian company Petrobras. Our findings indicate that four mechanisms are mobilized in the recovery phase of the different crises: penance, deference, renaissance and insurance. With the adoption of a processual perspective, our paper provides a comprehensive understanding of the processes underlying these four mechanisms and how they shape the actions of organizations in high-risk activities such as the extractive industry.