Political Corporate Social Responsibility Research Articles

Mapping corporate climate change ethics: Responses among three Danish energy firms

This article develops a mapping tool for how corporations can approach the ethical aspects of climate change based on a literature survey. Literature on this topic tends to focus on the instrumental drivers for businesses, leaving the ethical issues aside. We seek to compensate for this lacuna by suggesting a spectrum of approaches that business corporations adopt in response to climate change, making the ethical orientations explicit. The critical issue of the climate agenda is whether business communities can sufficiently contribute to absolute targets for climate mitigation. In order to avoid charges of greenwashing, business corporations need to be engaged with absolute targets, such as the 1.5 °C target of the Paris Agreement. Moreover, they need to be politically engaged as corporate citizens in order to mitigate climate change in partnership with state and civil society organisations. To provide a test of the proposed mapping tool, we present a case study based on interviews and a survey of sustainability reports (2007–2017) conducted at three Danish energy firms. We conclude that the case study confirms a wide range of corporate responses to climate change, spanning instrumental approaches like the natural-resource-based view, to also include more normative aspirational approaches such as corporate citizenship and political CSR. Furthermore, the mapping tool suggests also including green conservatism and systemic-critical views. Finally, the article discusses how sustainability managers handle the ethical dilemmas of responding to climate change, as well as the limits of the research design, and future prospects and issues raised by the study.

Unmanaged migration and the role of MNEs in reducing push factors and promoting peace: A strategic HRM perspective

The global migration crisis has prompted calls by the United Nations and others for private sector involvement in migration governance. Drawing on the strategic human resource management (HRM) and peace through commerce literature, we propose that MNEs can mobilize the resources of the firm to reduce migration push factors and promote peace in origin and at-risk countries by adopting peacebuilding as a strategic objective implemented through political CSR and conflict-sensitive HRM within a strategic HRM framework. MNEs that take up this ‘grand challenge’ are likely to benefit from greater stability and lower risk, the development of new markets, and enhanced organizational reputation, legitimacy, and competitiveness. We develop research propositions on the likelihood of MNE adoption. Policy and management implications are provided.

Corporate Social Responsibility as Obligated Internalisation of Social Costs

We propose that corporations should be subject to a legal obligation to identify and internalise their social costs or negative externalities. Our proposal reframes corporate social responsibility (CSR) as obligated internalisation of social costs, and relies on reflexive governance through mandated hybrid fora. We argue that our approach advances theory, as well as practice and policy, by building on and going beyond prior attempts to address social costs, such as prescriptive government regulation, Coasian bargaining and political CSR.

Corporate Responsibility in India: Academic Perspectives on the Companies Act 2013

Developing prosperous and inclusive societies requires a reformulation of the business-society nexus toward sustainability. This means that all economically motivated behaviors of firms also need to consider their social and environmental impact, and all social and environmental policies their impact on the business sector and the economy. With the Companies Act 2013, the Indian government adopted a legislative approach to reconfigure the business-society nexus. Mandating what has been considered discretionary elicited an extensive academic debate. To study this India-specific political corporate social responsibility (CSR), we employ Content Configuration Analysis on 70 local and international English-language book chapters, research articles, reports, reviews, and expert commentaries published between 2013 and 2019 to develop a typology of the advantages and disadvantages associated with the Companies Act 2013. Among a large number of positions for and against the Act, we find that arguments extolling its advantages concurrently appear as disadvantages in other texts. This paradox is indicative of the difficulties of satisfying stakeholder expectations, as well as the complexities corporate responsibility programs face in India. Nonetheless, CSR as a policy tool allows the Indian government to instrumentalize the growing success of the business sector to address local and national needs and expectations. By systematizing the opportunities and challenges associated with the Companies Act 2013, we show how, similar to China, context and culture influence India’s socioeconomic development trajectory beyond the conventional market economy canon. Our analyses reveal how advantages and disadvantages are frequently connected to multiple stakeholders, including the government, business, and society. We conclude by highlighting the contribution this study makes to the field of political CSR.

Can corporations take political roles [and should they]? The case of Papua New Guinea and the extractive industry

Political corporate social responsibility (PCSR), a relatively recent development in the literature, calls on organizations to assume both political and social responsibility to fill regulatory gaps. In this paper we offer insights to PCSR in practice, specifically in relation to the provision of public goods and within the context of a fragile nation state. This context has been identified in the literature as an area that warrants further consideration. Drawing on the extractive industry in Papua New Guinea (PNG) and eight semi-structured interviews with personnel of an international extracting company operating in PNG, we highlight concerns associated with corporations’ relatively short-term commitments, compared with long term social needs and community survival beyond mining. Specifically, we suggest that corporate activity should not be a substitute for government roles in the provision of public goods in the long term.

Political connections and corporate social responsibility reporting in Portugal

PurposeThis paper aims to examine the relation between firms’ political connections and corporate social responsibility (CSR) reporting in Portugal. The authors argue that in settings where the existence of political connections are viewed as damaging collective interests of stakeholders, political connected firms can deal with legitimacy issues from such connections by resorting to CSR practices and the reporting thereof.Design/methodology/approachUsing archival data from a panel sample of 36 firms from Portugal between 2009 and 2012, the authors examine the relationship between political connections and CSR reporting by way of regression analysis.FindingsThe authors find a positive relationship between political connections and CSR reporting.Originality/valueThis study draws on legitimacy theory to highlight that CSR can be used to deal with stakeholder activism and vigilance pertaining to suspicion related to the existence of political connections.

THE EFFECT OF POLITICAL CONNECTION OF CSR DISCLOSURE WITH PROFITABILITY AS MODERATING VARIABLE

The purpose of the study is to examine the effect of political connection to the level of voluntary corporate social responsibility disclosure with profitability as a moderating variable. Political connection in this research using 2 proxies that are the government share ownership and the board of directors. The sample of this study was 110 state-owned companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) for the period 2012-2017. The sampling method uses purposive sampling technique. The analytical tool used is simple linear regression analysis and analysis of Moderated Regression Analysis (MRA). The results of the study found that political connection of the government ownership and board director doesn’t show any significant effect toward CSR disclosure. Profitabilias, as a moderating variable, doesn’t moderate the influence of political connection using both proxies toward corporate social responsibility disclosure. The study makes a significant contribution to the literature by examine the influence political connection and CSR using neo-pluralist perspective of legitimacy theory. The implication of this research was suggested to increase the sector and more detail proxy of the research variable.

Revisiting Politics in Political CSR: How coercive and deliberative dynamics operate through institutional work in a Colombian company

This article analyses the political dynamics taking place within a Colombian supplier company during the implementation of a client’s global Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programme, which radically transformed the local understandings of the supplier’s social responsibilities. We distinguish two forms of politics in political CSR – coercive and deliberative politics – and examine how they unfold through lower-level managers’ institutional work. Our longitudinal case study identifies four types of institutional work, which combine into three political configurations – irreconcilable politics, complementary politics and aligned deliberative politics – resulting in the hybridization of explicit and implicit CSR. By analysing how local managers from emerging countries and at the bottom of the supply chain cope with the new political role of MNCs, we expand the political microfoundations of CSR and highlight the interactive and political nature of institutional work aimed at addressing major societal challenges.

THEORETICAL RESEARCHES AND PROBLEMS OF REALIZATION OF SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY OF BUSINESS

The purpose of this article is to analyze the conceptual foundations of social responsibility of business and the problems of implementation of socially responsible practices in Ukraine. The approach is to present the importance of this activity, a review of the evolution of the corporate social responsibility concept, the main directions and difficulties of the implementation of these activities in practice.For this study we used the integrated CRS group theories, including Instrumental theories, Political theories, Integrative theories, Ethical theories. Within this classification the more detailed, already existing, directions of research are considered.All basic CSR models include three levels: 1. compliance with legislation, 2. social responsibility for profit 3. social activity that is not directly related to the receipt of benefits.The article also discusses a number of key modern areas of research of Political CSR, the business case for CSR, upstream/ downstream CSR, CSR in emerging economies, Corporate Social Irresponsibility (CSiR). An important area of research today is the relationship between the concepts of CSR and strategic management. In this case, social responsibility is considered as a paradigm principles — processes — results. This approach involves identifying specific ways to integrate CSR into corporate strategy.Based on the research materials of Ukrainian scientists, the main directions, forms and problems of implementation of socially responsible practices in Ukraine are analyzed.

CEO Activism and Stakeholder Opinion Formation: How Does Incongruence Affect Stakeholder Influence?

In recent years, we have seen an increase in the prevalence of corporate executives taking public stances on social and environmental issues that do not directly impact their firms. Strategy scholars, such as Chatterji and Toffel (2017), have begun to refer to this emergent phenomenon as CEO activism. Scholars within the domain of non-market strategy, however, have been slow to examine CEO activism, which is unfortunate insofar as this sub-field possesses the theoretical toolkit necessary for explicating this phenomenon. Thus, in drawing on the rich theoretical tradition within of non-market strategy and CSR, I argue that political CSR provides a useful conceptual foundation by which to theoretically enrich research on CEO activism, while CEO activism scholarship, on the other hand, is able to reciprocate by helping to extend the scope of political CSR theorizing beyond the socially responsible actions of the corporation to that of the CEO. Moreover, I further the CEO activism literature by engaging in a theoretical assessment of stakeholder (i.e. the general public, consumers, investors, and SMOs) reactions to CEO activism, when such action is both congruent and incongruent with firm action.

Business, Society and Subalterness: Revisiting Political CSR from a Creolized Perspective

Business, Society and Subalterness: Revisiting Political CSR from a Creolized Perspective

Emerging Paradigms of Corporate Social Responsibility, Regulation, and Governance: Introduction to the Thematic Symposium

Over the last decade, corporate social responsibility (CSR) has experienced a “governance turn” as scholars began examining the institutionally embedded nature of CSR (Brammer et al. 2012; Campbell 2007; Matten and Moon 2008; Waddock 2008). This was also a period when foundational work in institutional and political CSR appeared, including Habermasian approaches (Scherer and Palazzo, 2007), corporate citizenship (Matten and Crane 2005), and corporate accountability through multi-stakeholder initiatives (MSIs) (Gilbert and Rasche 2007). Simultaneously, scholars utilizing post-colonial insights began surfacing the negative effects of CSR (Banerjee 2008). In short, CSR has emerged as an important part of a wider field of institutions governing the corporation and the economy, perhaps even as a mode of governance in itself (Brammer et al. 2012, p. 3). The aim of this thematic symposium of the Journal of Business Ethics is to contribute to and further these debates and highlight some questions still remaining to be addressed.

Political CSR and legitimation via corporate foundation: a public management program

Purpose This paper aims to investigate the political involvement of a corporate foundation (CF) though CSR under two perspectives: CF managers and the sponsor firm managers. Design/methodology/approach A single case with a Brazilian CF was conducted. Interviews with sponsor firms and foundations managers were combined with firms’ sustainability reports data and CF’s website information. Findings It was found that CF acts as an ambassador and can be a source of political legitimacy for their sponsor firm. They intermediate in governance challenges as the goals and working style of the CF, firms and municipalities can be sometimes antagonistic. Research limitations/implications The authors could not reach the municipalities officials and their perception of the Public Management Program (PMP). Practical implications The PMP creates personal and organizational relationships with public officials, a resource that can be employed to impact the political strategies of the sponsor firm. Social implications The authors also show how CF’s may help managers to deal with the typical Brazilian peculiarity of policy discontinuity in local governments. Originality/value This case study sheds light a new phenomenon: CF’s support on public management. It adds to the CSR and corporate political activities literature, the role of foundations as ambassadors of the relationship between the firm, government and society. They are not only filling gaps left by the State but are also dealing with local governments administrative deficiencies.

Who Fills the Global Governance Gap? Rethinking the Roles of Business and Government in Global Governance

Political CSR has made great strides towards a better appreciation of the political involvement of corporations in global governance. However, its portrayal of the shifting balance between business and government in the globalized economy rests on a central, yet largely uncontested, assumption: that of a zero-sum constellation of substitution in which firms take on public responsibilities to fill governance gaps left by governments. This conceptual paper expands the political CSR perspective and makes three contributions to the debate on the political role of business and the role of government in global governance. First, it deconstructs the problematic assumptions underlying the zero-sum notion of governance gaps filled by corporations. Second, it offers a variable-sum mapping of how private and public authority interact in global governance where substitution is only one of four constellations. The mapping identifies ‘soft steering’ as a prominent mode of governments governing business conduct. Third, the paper theorizes ‘orchestration’, a ‘soft steering’ tool discussed in the global governance literature, from an organizational, corporate perspective. It identifies the mechanisms through which orchestration may address the barriers to corporate engagement with the public good and applies these mechanisms to the case of the Global Reporting Initiative.

Do No Harm and Do More Good Too: Connecting Business and Human Rights with Political CSR to Identify Business Opportunities for Contributing to the SDGs

Purpose: Explaining how companies can benefit from their human rights due diligence process to identify opportunities for Sustainable Develop Goal (SDG) activities in an operationalisation of political corporate social responsibility (PCSR). Design/methodology/approach: Combining PCSR, SDGs and business & human rights (BHR) literatures, the article develops an extension of the risk-based due diligence process described by the BHR literature, helping companies identify societal needs to which they may contribute in accordance with PCSR through engaging in the SDGs. Findings: Companies can benefit from resources they already invest in due diligence to identify their adverse human rights impacts, by drawing on the insights gained on broader needs, including human rights, to which they may contribute. This can help them develop appropriate interventions to address local needs and advance their moral legitimacy through assisting in SDG-relevant fulfilment of human rights. Research limitations/implications: The article provides theory-based guidance on how companies can assess their capacity for contributing societal value through human-rights-oriented SDG-interventions. Future empirical research may explore how companies apply the extended due diligence process to assess needs and determine relevant actions. Practical implications: The article offers a principle-based analytical approach for integrating the ‘do-no-harm’ imperative of BHR theory with PCSR’s call for business assistance in the delivery of public goods and the SDGs' call for business action to ‘do good’. Social implications: Enhanced business implementation of the SDGs in line with PCSR and human rights theory, especially the emergent field of Business & Human Rights. Originality/value: Theory-based guidance for companies for SDG contributions based on innovative combination of literatures.

The European regulation of corporate social responsibility: The role of beneficiaries' intermediaries

AbstractIntended beneficiaries have an undeniable relevance to regulation. However, current research has focused mainly on the two‐party relationship between rulemaking and rule‐taking. We attempt to fill this gap by exploring the formal and informal roles that beneficiaries’ intermediaries played in co‐creating European Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) rules and associated practices between 2000 and 2017. By linking recent conceptualizations of regulatory intermediaries with the literature on critical political CSR, we offer a more dynamic and contextualized understanding of the roles of beneficiaries’ intermediaries. Specifically, we identify six micro‐dynamics through which they influenced the regulatory process. Notably, our findings highlight how the convergence of interests between three groups of beneficiaries’ intermediaries – the Non‐governmental organization–Investor–Union nexus – had a key role in reshaping CSR rules. We conclude that, in the European context, stronger and better‐coordinated beneficiaries’ intermediaries are crucial in order to achieve more effective corporate conduct regulation.

Corporate diplomacy and political CSR: Similarities, differences and theoretical implications

The purpose of this study is to systematically review the body of knowledge on corporate diplomacy (CD) and political corporate social responsibility (PCSR) in journals from the fields of public relations, public diplomacy, general management and business ethics. By applying an interdisciplinary approach our study aims to (1) examine what definitions of CD and PCSR exist, (2) explore what theories have been applied to CD and PCSR and, (3) find differences and commonalities between the underlying concepts of CD and PCSR. Building on the results of our review, we redefine each construct and develop a theoretical framework of CD, which integrates PCSR, international public relations and public diplomacy. Our results serve as a foundation for an operationalization of the constructs in order to conduct empirical analyses and contribute to current research on the political role of multinational corporations.

Dynamic De-responsibilization in Business–Government Interactions

I contribute to the ‘political CSR’ debate on whether companies can or should fill public governance gaps by exploring how related business–government interactions may result in corporate social irresponsibility. I studied interactions between mining companies and the government in South Africa between 2002 and 2012, focusing on processes that contributed to the deterioration of living conditions in the Marikana area, site of an infamous massacre in 2012. The analysis resulted in a process model of dynamic de-responsibilization, in which business–government interactions progressively dissipate the adopted and enacted social responsibilities of both the government and business. This extends extant critiques of political CSR and elaborates CSiR as not only a systemic, but also a processual phenomenon, and it focuses related scholarly and practical attention on problematizing the government’s role as custodian of democratic accountability.

Progressive and Conservative Firms in Multistakeholder Initiatives: Tracing the Construction of Political CSR Identities Within theAccord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh

The proliferation of multistakeholder initiatives (MSIs) over the past years has sparked an intense debate on the political role of corporations in the governance of global business conduct. To gain a better understanding of corporate political behavior in multistakeholder governance, this article investigates how firms construct a political identity when participating in MSIs. Based on an in-depth case study of the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh—an MSI established after the collapse of the Rana Plaza garment factory complex in 2013 to improve working conditions in the Bangladeshi garment industry—we introduce the construct of a political CSR (corporate social responsibility) identity (PCSRI) and explore how firms construct their PCSRIs in MSIs. Employing a qualitative, inductive theory-building method, we analyze interviews and archival data to develop a framework that elucidates how companies construct their PCSRIs within a continuum ranging from conservative to progressive. We show that constructing a PCSRI involves enacting specific, yet interrelated, political strategies that are themselves shaped by several forces over time. This article contributes to the literature by providing a political perspective on organizational identity construction that extends the emerging integrative perspective in political corporate social responsibility (PCSR) research. We suggest that MSIs should be conceptualized as inherently political governance mechanisms that are driven by multidirectional and dynamic political processes of identity construction. Our study shows that corporate political engagement in MSIs is a more nuanced and complex phenomenon than presently theorized.

Corporate Social Responsibility as Obligated Internalisation of Social Costs

We propose that corporations should be subject to a legal obligation to identify and internalise their social costs or negative externalities. Our proposal reframes corporate social responsibility (CSR) as obligated internalisation of social costs, and relies on reflexive governance through mandated hybrid fora. We argue that our approach advances theory, as well as practice and policy, by building on and going beyond prior attempts to address social costs, such as prescriptive government regulation, Coasian bargaining and political CSR.