Does Culture Matter? Measuring Cross-Country Perceptions of CSR Communication Campaigns about COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought several challenges to businesses and societies. In response, many corporations have supported local communities and authorities in the management of the pandemic. Although these initiatives, which can be considered forms of corporate social responsibility (CSR), were highly coupled with explicit CSR communication campaigns, little is known about whether these campaigns were effective. Previous research indicates that culture can shape people’s perceptions of CSR initiatives and communications, suggesting that businesses pay attention to careful consideration of cultural norms for effective CSR communication. However, the COVID-19 pandemic as a new CSR setting may challenge earlier findings. This study empirically investigates whether three cultural factors (individualism/collectivism, uncertainty avoidance, and power distance) affect public perceptions measured as recall of and favorability towards corporate COVID-19 response initiatives across six countries. Findings from a representative survey of adults across these countries show that respondents in individualistic and collectivistic countries recall these CSR communication campaigns about these corporate COVID-19 response initiatives quite differently, and these are related to differences in power distance and uncertainty avoidance. However, no difference was found in overall corporate favorability, indicating that cultural factors did not affect levels of favorability towards such initiatives. This, we argue, can be explained by the global dimension of the COVID-19 pandemic, which is the context of these CSR initiatives. This study contributes to CSR communication literature with empirical findings from a global pandemic setting. It offers businesses and managers empirical grounds to understand the communicative impact of COVID-19 response initiatives, which can inform future CSR actions.

Professionalization and Corporate Social Responsibility: A Comparative Study on German and US Job Requirements in CSR

Given the steady interest in corporate social responsibility (CSR), this study explores the process of professionalization of CSR. Drawing upon the literature on ‘organizational’ professionals, explicit and implicit CSR, as well as varieties of capitalism, professionalization of CSR is explored in order to trace processes of explicitization and potential cross-national differences between the United States and Germany. In a comparative longitudinal study, we analyse job announcements in the field of CSR and find that although the hybridity of explicit and implicit CSR between the US and Germany is starting to unfold, job characteristics and job requirements in CSR in Germany and the US are still not the same. Our results suggest there is a more distinct trend in professionalization in the US than in Germany in terms of the manifestation of explicit CSR and that the institutional context is linked to how employers drive professionalization processes in non-traditional professions.

Conceptualizing corporate social responsibility practice: an integration of obligation and opportunity

Purpose This paper aims to develop an integrated model to analyse the corporate social responsibility (CSR) perception of organizations in a regulated environment. The developed model is used as a basis to analyse practice and perception of CSR using the obligation-opportunity concepts. Design/methodology/approach The paper critically reviews the seminal literature and identifies inherent shortcomings in CSR’s existing conceptualizations. The concepts of implicit and explicit CSR are used to build a case for the integrated obligation-opportunity conceptual model. To analyse the CSR perception of select Indian organizations, a set of propositions are developed. The propositions are evaluated using the interpretive qualitative approach to analyse interviews from 12 CSR heads across 10 organizations. Findings The paper develops an obligation-opportunity conceptual model as an analytical tool to visually map existing CSR models and analyse organizations’ CSR perceptions. The results of the analysis of interviews suggest: the organizations in India are contributing towards CSR to abide by the law that is as an obligation; organizations can contribute towards strategic CSR by incorporating economic, social and environmental responsibilities simultaneously with the help of the developed model; CSR environment in India is implicitly-explicit in nature. Originality/value The proposed obligation-opportunity model enables mapping different theories along the dimensions of obligation-opportunity conceptualizations. It can be a powerful tool for researchers and practitioners to understand, research and strategically implement CSR in the given institutional environment.

Corporate social responsibility of Islamic and conventional banks

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to compare the sustainability practices of Islamic and conventional banks, with the aim of evaluating whether their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) strategies converge or diverge in response to formal and informal institutions in an emerging country.Design/methodology/approachDrawing on institutional theory, this study contextualizes the competitive scenario through the National Business System (NBS) framework, and showcases the CSR strategies employed by large conventional and Islamic banks in Turkey. CSR patterns are examined from different angles such as motivations, strategy, actions and institutional results.FindingsWithin the same institutional environment, Islamic and non-Islamic banks combine convergent and divergent models to accommodate institutional realities in their CSR policies. Islamic banks exhibit an implicit commitment to CSR that is mostly based on informal institutions, whereas conventional banks use explicit CSR strategies as a means to fill the voids in formal institutions. In addition, philanthropy-oriented CSR prevails in Islamic banks, as opposed to the CSR actions associated with core business that are followed by conventional banks.Social implicationsAn increased focus on formal institutions and explicit CSR actions by Islamic banks may further contribute to social well-being in emerging countries.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the paucity of research, from an institutional perspective, related to CSR practices amongst Islamic and conventional banks in emerging countries.

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) communication and small and medium sized enterprises: The governmentality dilemma of explicit and implicit CSR communication

Businesses that promote corporate social responsibility (CSR) through their supply chains by requiring their suppliers to report on and otherwise communicate their CSR are doing a great thing, aren’t they? In this article, we challenge this assumption by focusing on the impact on small and medium sized enterprise (SME) suppliers when their large customer firms pressurize them to make their implicit CSR communication more explicit. We expose a ‘dark side’ to assumed improvements in CSR reporting within a supply chain. We present a conceptual framework that draws on previous research on communication constitutes organization (CCO) theory, implicit and explicit CSR, and Foucault’s governmentality. We identify and discuss the implications of three resulting dilemmas faced by SMEs: authenticity commercialization, values control and identity disruption. The overarching contribution of our article is to extend theorizing on CSR communication and conceptual research on CSR in SME suppliers (small business social responsibility). From a practice and policy perspective, it is not ultimately clear that promoting CSR reporting among SMEs will necessarily improve socially responsible practice.

Business News Framing of Corporate Social Responsibility in the United States and the United Kingdom: Insights From the Implicit and Explicit CSR Framework

This study aims to contribute to the understanding of business news coverage of corporate social responsibility (CSR) within a comparative international context by investigating two business newspapers, The Wall Street Journal from the United States and The Financial Times from the United Kingdom. Drawing on the news framing research and the implicit and explicit CSR framework of Matten and Moon, this content analysis shows that business news coverage of CSR in the United States and in the United Kingdom differs in terms of news framing (thematic vs. episodic), motive attributions of CSR as a concept, motive attributions of referenced companies in relation to CSR, general tone toward the concept of CSR, and the general tone toward referenced companies in relation to CSR. Most significantly, findings suggest that business news plays different roles in constructing and legitimizing CSR in the two countries. In the United States, CSR’s legitimacy and its conceptual positivity may be more implied through the coverage of singular events or actors (episodic framing), whereas in the United Kingdom, CSR’s illegitimacy and its conceptual negativity may be more exposed for further discussion through the coverage of larger societal contexts (thematic framing). Other theoretical as well as practical implications are also discussed.

CSR in Afghanistan: a global CSR agenda in areas of limited statehood

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explain the emergence of CSR in Afghanistan as a novel context in the South-Asian CSR debate. Design/methodology/approach – The findings of the paper are based on case studies of four corporations in the Afghan mobile telecommunications industry. Multiple sources of qualitative data are coded according to the analytical framework of the paper to generate the findings. Findings – The findings highlight that the Afghan national setting can be conceptualised as an “area of limited statehood” indicating the weak national institutional setting, which enables space for manoeuvring for non-state actors to play a pivotal role in business-society relations. The paper highlights that the CSR practices are driven by the multi-level organisational field that through a unique blend of global coercive, mimetic and normative pressures lead to convergence around explicit CSR themes. Research limitations/implications – The findings are based on CSR practices that are explicitly stated and do not include informal and/or implicit business-society practices in such contexts. Originality/value – This paper combines the literature on areas of limited statehood and the neo-institutional theory to explain the emergence of CSR the Afghan mobile telecommunications industry. The paper advocates for a shift from a national setting focus to a multi-level institutional field lens in providing contextualised explanation of the emergence of CSR in developing countries.