A review of the theories of corporate social responsibility: Its evolutionary path and the road ahead

This study aims to trace the conceptual evolutionary path of theories on corporate social responsibility (CSR) and to reflect on the implications of the development. The retrospection has revealed that the trend has been a progressive rationalization of the concept with a particular focus on tighter coupling with organizations’ financial goals. Rationalization involves two broad shifts in the conceptualization of CSR. First, in terms of the level of analysis, researchers have moved from the discussion of the macro‐social effects of CSR to organizational‐level analysis of CSR's effect on profit. Next, in terms of theoretical orientation, researchers have moved from explicitly normative and ethics‐oriented arguments to implicitly normative and performance‐oriented managerial studies. Based on the retrospection, the limitations of the current state of CSR research that places excessive emphasis on the business case for CSR are outlined, and it is suggested that future research needs to refocus on basic research in order to develop conceptual tools and theoretical mechanisms that explain changing organizational behavior from a broader societal perspective.     

Utilitarian,managerial and relational theories of corporate social responsibility

Concepts and theories of corporate social responsibility (CSR) have been examined and classified by scholars since the mid‐1970s. However, owing to the evolving meaning of CSR and the huge number of scholars who have begun to analyze the issue in recent years fresh efforts are needed to understand new developments. Since there is a great heterogeneity of theories and approaches, the task remains a very hard one, mainly because heterogeneity derives from multi‐disciplinary diversity. The criterion for selection is to consider the role that theorists confer to the firm. Following this idea, three groups of theories have been discerned: (1) the utilitarian group, in which the corporation is intended as a maximizing ‘black box’ where problems of externalities and social costs emerge; (2) the managerial category, where problems of responsibility are approached from inside the firm (internal perspective); (3) relational theories, or those in which the type of relations between the firm and the environment are at the center of the analysis. The three perspectives allow the reader to understand the most significant differences between the various theories of CSR. The objective is to classify the theories and to draw a map in which group specificities can be made available. This allows scholars to reach a better understanding of corporate–society relations, and enhances developments both in theoretical and empirical terms.     

Institutional theory-based research on corporate social responsibility: Bringing values back in

Research applying institutional theory to corporate social responsibility (CSR) has experienced remarkable momentum. Institutional theory-based CSR research illustrates the role of values in guiding both agentic choices for CSR and the influence of institutional structures on CSR agency. Although values have been explored in this literature, systematic studies of values that seek to gain insights into the mutual relationship between agentic choices and structures are lacking. Such insights are crucial for exploring whether and how CSR is enabled or constrained. We thus ask two interrelated questions: (1) What is the role of values in institutional theory-based CSR research? (2) How and along which avenues should future institutional theory-based CSR research that focuses on values be mobilised? Based on our analysis of this line of literature from 1989 until 2021, first, we take stock of established institutional theory perspectives on CSR and disentangle what role values have played in this literature. Second, we outline how to mobilise values in future institutional CSR research based on four promising but under-investigated areas. From our literature analysis, two central functions emerge (which we label ‘bridging’ and ‘referencing’) that values can perform in the institutional analysis of CSR. Based on these two functions, our values-focused framework will help scholars examine the moral foundations that inform business–society interactions as well as understand how companies can responsibly manage those interactions with societal stakeholders.     

The role of human and social board capital in driving CSR reporting

The objective of this paper is to analyze the effect of the professional, technical and relational background (human and social capital) of outside directors on promoting firm CSR disclosure. Following the Hillman et al. (2000) taxonomy of board members, we classify outside directors as business experts, support specialists and community influential, and examine whether business and technical expertise or political ties in the boardroom affect CSR disclosure.This study confirms that not all outside directors are equally effective in improving CSR disclosure and that only certain kinds of outside directors, those classified as support specialists, help promote it. On the other hand, our findings also show that directors with previous experience as politicians affect CSR disclosure negatively, probably due to their interests in safeguarding their reputation within the company, in avoiding public scrutiny and in protecting their political connections. In addition, our set of analysis with interaction effects reveals that powerful CEOs have the incentive to promote CSR-related strategies and to convince business experts and support specialist directors to enhance profitable sustainability strategies and transparency in CSR disclosure. Nevertheless, the powerful CEO effect is not enough to compensate the negative role of political directors on CSR reporting. Therefore, this paper supports the theories in favor of analyzing the multiple configurations of corporate governance mechanisms by adopting a holistic approach, and the need to combine these configurations in order to analyze their impact on CSR behavior.     

社会责任的信号作用——基于中国市场的研究

承担社会责任能否提升未来公司绩效一直是国内外学者关注的焦点,大部分研究认为履行社会责任有助于提升公司未来绩效,将社会责任视为一种价值投资。在控制了当期绩效因素对企业承担社会责任的影响后,本文发现：（1）承担社会责任不能提升公司未来财务绩效,仅能对企业未来股票回报产生正向影响;（2）当期经济绩效较好的企业,社会责任会对未来财务绩效产生正向影响,而当期经济绩效较差的企业,社会责任会对未来财务绩效产生负向影响。文章结果表明：当期绩效较差公司承担社会责任存在更大成本,当期绩效较好公司可以通过履行社会责任向市场传达信号使其与当期绩效较差公司区分,但此信号行为本身不对公司绩效存在影响。早期研究发现社会责任与未来公司财务绩效的正向关系很可能是因未考虑当期公司绩效同时正向影响当期公司社会责任履行程度和未来财务绩效而产生的伪相关关系。本文实证结果一定程度上对现有社会责任促进公司绩效的理论分析框架构成了挑战。     

Politics and Power within Multinational Corporations: Mainstream Studies,Emerging Critical Approaches and Suggestions for Future Research

Given the increased public interest in the use and misuse of power in multinationals in the aftermath of the financial crisis, it is notable that power relations in multinational corporations (MNCs) have not gained enhanced attention in the academic community. What is missing so far in the study of MNCs is a systematic examination of how power and politics within MNCs have been addressed in mainstream international business (IB) and sociological research studying the MNC. This paper starts by critically reviewing these two mainstream approaches in the study of MNCs as organizations and seeking to understand the shortcomings of former research. Next, it reviews new emergent critical perspectives, which the authors call socio‐political studies of MNCs, where power and politics are addressed not just more prominently, but also differently, from a more bottom‐up and actor‐centred perspective. After reviewing this emergent stream of research, the authors propose that future studies should take a more micro‐political perspective and focus in more detail on the micro‐foundations of power relations. In the concluding section, the authors show how future studies of MNCs can learn from both critical interactionist and discursive theories when analysing organizational politics and power relations. A framework is proposed for the study of micro‐level political game‐playing in MNCs, based on a three‐dimensional framework for organizational power (episodic, rules of the game and domination), and some key research questions for future studies are suggested.     

Determinants of voluntary CSR disclosure: empirical evidence from Germany

Currently, companies spend a great deal of effort on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) disclosures. CSR disclosure relates to the provision of information on companies’ environmental and social performance. From an economic perspective, companies might disclose this information to avoid or decrease potential political costs. We construct a CSR disclosure index based on the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) guidelines. Using content analysis, we analyze 130 listed German companies’ CSR disclosures (470 firm-year observations) to investigate the determinants of these voluntary disclosure activities. Our results show that, consistent with the political cost theory, German companies’ disclosures of all CSR issues are affected by their visibility, shareholder structure, and relationship with their US stakeholders. In addition, higher profitability is associated with more environmental disclosures. Finally, size and industry membership affect the amount of CSR disclosure.     

Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting as Substantive and Symbolic Behavior: A Multilevel Theoretical Analysis

This article describes a multilevel theoretical framework that examines the multiple causes of corporate social responsibility (CSR) reporting in the social environment of business. We argue that substantive and/or symbolic reporting flows from individual‐, aggregate‐, organizational‐, and institution‐level phenomena, and is thus a complex outcome of CSR and corporate social performance (CSP). Theoretical lenses range from reinforcement theory at the microlevel to legitimacy and stakeholder theories at the macrolevel, and include a discussion of the emergence of lower‐level CSR‐relevant characteristics to higher level constructs. Our goal is to clarify how this behavior develops from microlevel, mesolevel, and macrolevel processes with a view toward assisting corporations to better enact CSR reporting, and their stakeholders to effectively promote substantive reporting behavior.     

The Dark Side of Stakeholder Reactions to Corporate Social Responsibility: Tensions and Micro‐level Undesirable Outcomes

With a review of literature on corporate social responsibility (CSR) and its micro‐level impacts, this paper proposes an integrative framework to map undesirable relational outcomes of CSR activities on internal (employees) and external (customers) stakeholders. By adopting a paradox‐based perspective, the authors determine that unexpected, adverse stakeholder reactions to CSR are driven primarily by either performing or belonging tensions, related to exchange‐ and identity‐based stakeholder concerns, respectively. Specifically, contextual and personal influences can trigger and explain undesirable relational outcomes of CSR. On this basis, this paper offers a research agenda for developing a more refined understanding of CSR‐related tensions and a more nuanced perspective on the business case for CSR.     

Paradoxes and Dual Processes: A Review and Synthesis

Paradox and dual‐process theories are used by management and organization researchers in studying a variety of phenomena across a wide range of management sub‐fields. Cognition is a focal point of both of these theories. However, despite their growing importance and shared areas of inquiry, these two theories have developed largely in isolation from each other. To address this lack of integration, the authors conducted a review and synthesis of relevant aspects of the paradox and dual‐process literatures. Focusing bidirectionally on how paradox theory informs dual‐process theory and how dual‐process theory informs paradox theory, they highlight the ‘nestedness’ of intuition and analysis in paradox (a paradox within paradoxical thinking). On the basis of the review and synthesis, they identify four themes (epistemological and ontological assumptions in the relationship between intuition and analysis; psychological and psychometric issues in the relationships between intuition and analysis; managers’ experiences of tensions between intuition and analysis; managers’ approaches to tensions between intuition and analysis) and introduce an integrative framework that assimilates these two perspectives and sets out an agenda for future research and implications for management.     

Processes of senior managers' sensemaking and learning in a transitional economy

The purpose of this paper is to use sensemaking and learning theory to gain insight into how senior Ethiopian managers are coming to terms with radically different political and economic forces. These theories have developed in mature Western contexts and a further purpose is to test their applicability in an African context. The methods employed were detailed data gathering in five cases using semi-structured interviews and documentary analysis. The research found that senior managers in the five enterprises constructed very different sense-making patterns about the business environment and about appropriate business strategies depending on the degree of market or state dependency which they perceived. The analysis also reveals how these actors reflected upon the implications of their sense-making for their own and their organizations' future learning and capability development.     

The social responsibility of organizations: Perceptions of organizational morality as a key mechanism explaining the relation between CSR activities and stakeholder support

Prior research on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has documented how specific CSR activities relate to responses of relevant stakeholders, mainly examining employees. However, it is as yet unclear whether these findings generalize to other types of CSR activities or to responses of other stakeholder groups. In fact, results from studies to date also show inconsistent effects in need of further explanation.In this contribution we offer a new perspective on this literature. We extend current insights on organizational CSR activities and stakeholder support, by elaborating on the psychological mechanisms that can explain these relations. We draw together recent developments on organizational anthropomorphism with insights on organizational identification, to argue that the impact of CSR activities on a broad range of stakeholder responses depends on perceptions of organizational morality. We connect prior work on organizational ethics, CSR, and stakeholder support, to social psychological theory and research on impression formation, impression management, and impression updating. This new perspective allows us to broaden the current debate on CSR and stakeholder support.Building on this analysis, we propose a new model that offers a roadmap for future research. We explain the impact of organizational CSR on stakeholder responses, by highlighting perceived organizational morality as a key mediating variable. We then proceed to consider likely moderators of this relation distinguishing between (a) characteristics of the organization, (b) characteristics of (communications about) CSR activities, and (c) characteristics of the perceivers. On the basis of this extended model we develop specific predictions, and review initial evidence supporting these prediction.     

群决策理论、方法及其应用研究的综述与展望

群决策是近年来决策理论研究的热点课题,它在现代政治、管理、军事和科技等重大决策问题中起到了越来越重要的作用.对群决策的定义与理论基础进行评述,分析群决策理论、方法及其应用研究的现状与存在的问题,最后展望群决策的发展方向与趋势.     

Service Personnel,Technology, and Their Interaction in Influencing Customer Satisfaction*

Managing both the technologies and the personnel needed for providing high‐quality, multichannel customer support creates a complex and persistent operational challenge. Adding to this difficulty, it is still unclear how service personnel and these new communication technologies interact to influence the customer's perceptions of the service being provided. Motivated by both practical importance and inconsistent findings in the academic literature, this exploratory research examines the interaction of media richness, represented by three different technology contexts (telephone, e‐mail, and online chat), with six customer service representative (CSR) characteristics and their influences on customer satisfaction. Using a large‐sample customer survey data set, the article develops a multigroup structural equation model to analyze these interactions. Results suggest that CSR characteristics influence customer service satisfaction similarly across all three technology‐mediated contexts. Of the characteristics studied, service representatives contribute to customer satisfaction more when they exhibit the characteristics of thoroughness, knowledgeableness, and preparedness, regardless of the richness of the medium used. Surprisingly, while three other CSR characteristics studied (courtesy, professionalism, and attentiveness) are traditionally believed to be important in face‐to‐face encounters, they had no significant impact on customer satisfaction in the technology‐mediated contexts studied. Implications for both practitioners and researchers are drawn from the results and future research opportunities are discussed.     

We Are the Corporation: Dispersive CSR

We contend that the current trend of emphasis on corporate social responsibility (CSR) serves to divert the public's attention from the real ethical issues facing business and society. We extend the scope of social responsibility beyond business corporations to include a range of institutions. We also propose that CSRs be reconceptualized in terms of the ways that managers enable stakeholders to hold themselves and each other responsible for the ways their actions affect each other as they conduct business through the firm. In this article, we propose a new view of corporations and responsibility that reconstrues behavior currently referred to as CSR. Starting with an overview of theories of the firm, we show that the way in which a firm is conceived yields different views on CSR. A shortcoming of the theory of the firm approach to CSR is that it leads us to focus excessively on business corporations at the expense of a broader analysis of other institutional players. These theories also tend to emphasize the obligations of corporations to people rather than of people to each other. We propose that social responsibility be viewed through a systems theory paradigm instead. We then argue that corporations should be construed in terms of the people who impact them. We advance a different conception of business responsibility that is more comprehensive, inclusive, and systemic.     

Key to Effective Organizational Performance Management Lies at the Intersection of Paradox Theory and Stakeholder Theory

One of the fundamental and recurring issues in performance management is the adoption of a simplistic, short‐term, narrow, metrics‐oriented approach, which often results in unintended negative outcomes, some of which could be disastrous. This paper makes the case that the key to preventing this syndrome lies at the intersection of paradox and stakeholder theories. Both theories encourage a more complex, long‐term, holistic, balanced approach to management. Stakeholder theory focuses on addressing the many (sometimes conflicting) goals of multiple stakeholders, and paradox theory provides insights into how this challenging task (i.e. of simultaneously addressing multiple conflicting priorities) can be accomplished. Thus, the former provides the ‘what’ and the latter the ‘how’ of effective organizational performance management. Accordingly, the literature at the intersection of both theories (composed of 69 scholarly outputs), was reviewed, and in so doing, identified seven domain areas and 21 constructs, all of which implicitly deal with either performance management or its communication, thereby lending support to this paper's thesis. The implications of this review for both theory and practice, including the role of paradoxical cognitive mechanisms, is discussed.     

Corporate Social Responsibility in Developing Countries as an Emerging Field of Study

Given the rising interest in corporate social responsibility (CSR) globally, its local expressions are as varied as they are increasingly visible in both developed and developing countries. This paper presents a multilevel review of the literature on CSR in developing countries and highlights the key differentiators and nuanced CSR‐related considerations that qualify it as a distinctive field of study. This review entails a content analysis of 452 articles spanning two‐and‐a‐half decades (1990–2015). Based on this comprehensive review, the authors identify the key differentiating attributes of the literature on CSR in developing countries in relation to depictions of how CSR is conceived or ‘CSR Thinking’ and depictions of how CSR is practiced and implemented or ‘CSR Doing’. The authors synthesize from there five key themes that capture the main aspects of variation in this literature, namely: (1) complex institutional antecedents within the national business system (NBS); (2) complex macro‐level antecedents outside the NBS; (3) the salience of multiple actors involved in formal and informal governance; (4) hybridized and other nuanced forms of CSR expressions; and (5) varied scope of developmental and detrimental CSR consequences. The paper concludes by accentuating how the nuanced forms of CSR in the developing world are invariably contextualized and locally shaped by multi‐level factors and actors embedded within wider formal and informal governance systems.     

Uncovering Mechanisms of Theory Development in an Academic Field: Lessons from Leadership Research

Abstract

A long‐standing debate in organization studies has centered on the tension between paradigmatic consensus and theoretical pluralism in an academic field, but little attention has been paid to the underlying processes of field development that account for this. Using a mechanisms‐based approach, we examined the field of leadership over the last 50 years (1957–2007) focusing on: scholarly consensus on theory and methods; models and variables; and examinations of the state of the field. In spite of considerable advances in research, we find a general lack of commensuration or standards by which theories can be compared or synthesized; an emphasis on leaders’ effects on performance rather than meaning‐making or value infusion; and sparse instances of taking stock of the overall field. We conclude by proposing three research strategies for the future—theoretical compartmentalization, theoretical integration, and theoretical novelty—and advocating greater methodological variety.     

Will the Truth Set Us Free? An Exploration of CSR Motive and Commitment

This article examines why firms engage in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Specifically, it investigates the relationship between a firm's motivation to engage in CSR and the depth of its commitment. I propose that the enduring debate over CSR and financial performance is misaligned, and that scholars should instead focus on the underlying components of CSR engagement. This research sheds light on the motivational antecedents of a firm's engagement in CSR and their effect on CSR commitment. Despite calls for scientific investigation of this linkage, it has received scant attention in the literature. Pursuing this area of research requires the construction of measures of CSR motivation and CSR commitment, as prior work generally lacks objective analysis. I present measures and a research methodology that test hypotheses about how CSR motivation relates to different levels of CSR commitment. The results of this research both validate and challenge current theory. This refined understanding of CSR engagement may enhance firm transparency and accountability to stakeholders. It may reduce the uncertainty in both internal and external assessments of firm CSR and the potential for social and financial impact.