The Multiple Actors and Levels in Corporate Social Responsibility: Roles, Dynamic Capabilities and Influence

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The Multiple Actors and Levels in Corporate Social Responsibility: Roles, Dynamic Capabilities and Influence Abstract: This conceptual paper examines corporate social responsibility (CSR) from a

1 The Multiple Actors and Levels in Corporate Social Responsibility: Roles, Dynamic Capabilities and Influence Abstract: This conceptual paper examines corporate social responsibility (CSR) from a multilevel and multi-actor perspective and presents a novel role approach. On the one hand, widely utilized CSR approaches in strategic management remain focused on the company perspective and are unable to portray the complexity of the business environment. On the other hand, recent sociological and political approaches emphasizing the institutional context and political role of companies within CSR do not easily translate into strategies and actions. Using a multilevel and multi-actor framework, this study identifies five generic roles inventing, expanding, integrating, translating, and contesting that can be assumed by public, private, civil society and intergovernmental actors and cross-sector partnerships, and illustrates them through examples in the development of CSR as an empirical trend. Propositions will be developed linking actors, dynamic capabilities, roles and potential influence on CSR practice. This new role perspective is seen to have the potential to bridge the strategic, sociological and political approaches to further develop CSR theorizing. EGOS Submission Multiple Actors and Levels of CSR /17

2 INTRODUCTION Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) defines the duties of business enterprises towards societal stakeholders and natural environment and describes how managers should handle these duties (Windsor, 2006). It can be seen as an umbrella term of business society relations (Matten & Moon, 2008). In this paper, CSR is understood as the result of deliberation and bargaining between a wide set of societal actors. Thus, the changing role of business in society cannot be understood without evaluating the role of other societal actors, including public, civil society and intergovernmental organizations, and cross-sector partnerships, in this debate. Academic research on CSR has grown rapidly in the past decade (Garriga & Melé, 2004; Lockett et al., 2006; Scherer & Palazzo, 2011). However, current CSR approaches within strategic management are heliocentric in the sense that they focus on the company perspective and are thus incapable of portraying the complex intertwined interactions of the various actors (Roome, 2009). Furthermore, recent sociological and political approaches in CSR have developed a deeper understanding of the institutional and political context of CSR (Scherer & Palazzo, 2007; Matten & Moon, 2008), but do not necessarily focus on how responsibilities should be managed. All things considered, CSR literature is unable to fully address the inter-linkages and interoperability related issues between individual, organizational, national and transnational governance levels. In attempting to bridge different streams of literature, this study proposes that the concept of a role allows for a more comprehensive multilevel and multi-actor understanding of CSR. LITERATURE REVIEW OF CSR CSR has become firmly embedded in management sciences and a number of intertwined approaches have become widely used including stakeholder management, issues management, reputation management, and corporate political activity. These influential approaches are presented in Table 1 and compared to the role management approach proposed in this study (right column in Table 1). Based on this review, it is evident that existing approaches tend to adopt the point of view of the firm and the company as the primary unit of analysis. This paper argues that a multilevel perspective and a non-company centric view can lead to a better understanding of the EGOS Submission Multiple Actors and Levels of CSR /17

3 complexities of managing CSR. More sociologically and politically grounded literature can offer such an understanding. Table 1: Comparison of Influential CSR Approaches in Strategic Management and Role Management Within a more sociologically or politically oriented literature, a number of studies have attempted to use multilevel perspectives and theories attempting to link individual and organizational levels to broader economic and social systems. A new global governance or private regulatory framework has emerged in the past few decades and hundreds of voluntary corporate regulations and multi-stakeholder forums have been created (Doh & Guay, 2004; Christmann & Taylor, 2006; Terlaak, 2007). The literature on private regulation tends to move away from state-lead initiatives and offer business enterprises, especially large multinational corporations, an increasingly important role in global governance (Scherer et al., 2007; Bartley, 2010). EGOS Submission Multiple Actors and Levels of CSR /17

4 Another important area of multilevel CSR research is the examination of the institutional conditions under which CSR emerges and diffuses (van Tulder & van der Zwart, 2006; Sahlin- Andersson, 2006; Matten & Moon, 2008). CSR literature has also increasingly addressed national or regional differences in CSR (Midttun et al., 2006; Albareda, Lozano & Ysa, 2007) and a wide number of studies examine CSR in developing country contexts. Recently, CSR has experienced a political turn with two approaches leading this line of research: Corporate citizenship (Matten & Crane, 2005) and deliberative democracy (Scherer & Palazzo, 2007). For instance, Scherer and Palazzo (2007) adopt a Habermasian perspective to redefine the political responsibility of the corporation in an age of what is seen as inefficient or non-existing global governance framework. While this growing number of sociological and political studies has significantly developed our understanding of CSR, we argue that it does not necessarily translate into how responsibilities should be managed. ROLES WITHIN CSR To be able to examine how actors adopt roles within systems, we first need to present the system itself. The simplified context in which we observe roles is presented in the conceptual framework of Figure 1. Four key levels of analysis of CSR individual, organizational, national and transnational (Aguilera et al., 2007) 1 are combined with van Tulder and van der Zwart s (2006) conception of division of labor between the state, the market and civil society actors, to form the paper s conceptual framework. 1 While four levels of analysis are discussed in this abstract, we plan to examine two additional levels (intraorganizational and field) in the future versions of this paper. EGOS Submission Multiple Actors and Levels of CSR /17

Figure 1: Conceptual Framework CSR from a Multilevel and Multi-Actor Perspective To identify generic roles that different actors can take within the multilevel and multi-actor environment, we turn

5 Figure 1: Conceptual Framework CSR from a Multilevel and Multi-Actor Perspective To identify generic roles that different actors can take within the multilevel and multi-actor environment, we turn from observing CSR theories to examining CSR as an empirical phenomenon and a managerial trend. When taking a multilevel approach, different actors, such as individuals, organizations, networks, movements and institutions take different roles in developing CSR. Role Definition The concept of the role has a long history and early theorizing took place within sociology and social psychology in the form of role theory (influential contributors include Ralph Linton, George H. Mead, Robert K. Merton, and Jacob L. Moreno). The main aim of role theory was to explain how individuals who occupy social positions are expected to behave and how they expect others to behave. The level of analysis is that of the individual and the focus is on the social roles that individuals perform or enact as actors (such as parent, employee, and friend). Individuals have multiple roles and these roles can change, become outdated or illegitimate. According to a EGOS Submission Multiple Actors and Levels of CSR /17

6 stream of research within role theory, roles are heterogeneous positions that form the division of labor within society. In this study, a role is defined broadly as the combination of a temporary or permanent position or function that an individual, organization, network or movement adopts in relation to other actors within a system, and of the capabilities related to this position or function. A role can be adopted by any type of actor, whether it is an individual, a public organization, a company, a civil society organization, a social movement or a cross-sector partnership. Thus, roles are seen as adopted and managed by various actors, primarily purposefully. Role management can be seen as a company activity, but the point of view is not necessarily organizational. The primary point of view of role management is that of the actor, but it is important to note that the view of the actor is systemic and roles work in multiple levels of analysis. In line with the sociological definition, a role can be either permanent or temporary, meaning that roles can be dynamic within a system, which makes the management of roles dynamic as well. Also in line with the sociological perspective, actors can experience role conflict between multiple roles and role confusion when it is not clear what role an actor is or should play. An important part of the role concept in this study is that roles are not only simply positions or functions in relation to other actors within systems, but that these positions or functions are also intertwined underpinned with by specific enabling capabilities. To examine role related capabilities, we employ the strategic management concept of dynamic capabilities. Dynamic capabilities draws upon, but departs from, the assumptions of economic theory in that it does not focus on equilibrium states but instead addresses change (Teece, 2009) and how heterogeneous organizations adapt to, and can even drive, changes within their environments. This literature stream has long debated on what constitutes a capability, and a firm s routines and organizational capabilities (Nelson & Winter, 1982; Teece et al., 1997) have been put forward as the dominant way of thinking about heterogeneity and performance in strategic management. Dynamic capabilities refer to the capacity of an organization to reposition itself by purposefully creating, extending, or modifying its resource base (Helfat et al., 2007) to achieve strategic fit with its environment and change its relation to other actors. Thus, this paper puts forward a concept of a EGOS Submission Multiple Actors and Levels of CSR /17

7 role, which combines insights on capabilities from the dynamic capabilities literature and a systemic perspective of relational positions of actors towards other actors. Roles in the Development of CSR Observing an actor s role within a system is especially fruitful when considering complex global unregulated or under-regulated phenomena that are typically constantly in flux or take place unexpectedly and where no one legitimate solution necessarily exists. The lively debate over defining the role of companies in society can be considered such an empirical phenomenon with a huge number of relevant actors, perspectives, and approaches. We introduce five generic roles that different actors have adopted within the development of CSR: inventor, expander, integrator, translator, and contester. These roles emerge from both existing academic and practitioner literature on CSR and practical experiences working within this field. Table 2 examines these roles by identifying functions and related capabilities within the roles and by providing illustrative examples within the development of CSR. EGOS Submission Multiple Actors and Levels of CSR /17

Table 2: Roles, Related Functions and Capabilities and Illustrations The first generic role related to the development of CSR in practice is inventor (Figure 2).

8 Table 2: Roles, Related Functions and Capabilities and Illustrations The first generic role related to the development of CSR in practice is inventor (Figure 2). An important function within this inventor role is the creation of new practices, tools, and approaches, which necessitates capabilities related to specialized technical, managerial, or practical know-how about CSR. EGOS Submission Multiple Actors and Levels of CSR /17

Figure 2: The Role of Inventor in CSR A second generic role, expander, involves propagating and transferring CSR practices either horizontally within

9 Figure 2: The Role of Inventor in CSR A second generic role, expander, involves propagating and transferring CSR practices either horizontally within a level from one actor to another or top-down or bottom-up between levels (Figure 3). EGOS Submission Multiple Actors and Levels of CSR /17

Figure 3: The Role of Expander in CSR A third generic integrator role emerges, within which the various individuals, organizations, national and transnational actors create and undertake positions,

10 Figure 3: The Role of Expander in CSR A third generic integrator role emerges, within which the various individuals, organizations, national and transnational actors create and undertake positions, functions or responsibilities relationships in relation to each other (Figure 4). The key driver for the interaction is understood to be linked to the need to operate within a common, shared environment. EGOS Submission Multiple Actors and Levels of CSR /17

Figure 4: The Role of Integrator in CSR A fourth role relates to the sense-making needs that exist between actors that operate on varying levels, and between actors of varying nature (Figure 5).

11 Figure 4: The Role of Integrator in CSR A fourth role relates to the sense-making needs that exist between actors that operate on varying levels, and between actors of varying nature (Figure 5). This translator role enables actors to engage in transmission (of e.g. knowledge) between levels and within different actors. Unlike the case of expansion, translating involves a transformation of CSR. EGOS Submission Multiple Actors and Levels of CSR /17

12 Figure 5: The Role of Translator in CSR A final role of contester has received significant attention in CSR literature and is also constantly present in the press (Figure 6). Within the contesting role, the function of challenging is a central one. Figure 6: The Role of Contester in CSR EGOS Submission Multiple Actors and Levels of CSR /17

13 It should be noted that in many cases the roles are concurrent and exist in the same space and within the same actors. The five roles described above are by no means exhaustive, and it is assumed that others remain to be identified. CONCLUSIONS The paper argues that adopting a multilevel and multi-actor perspective leads to a more comprehensive understanding of complex phenomena than current research in the field of CSR is able to offer. This multilevel and multi-actor framework is seen as the context or the system in which roles are examined. The contribution of the study is the introduction of the concepts of role and role management to the CSR discourse and the identification of five generic roles. While other types of roles can be seen to exist, a role identification process is the first step towards role typologies. This work presents only the first building blocks of a role management approach or theory within CSR research. A role approach has the potential to form an integrative framework to bring together strategic management and sociological/political streams of CSR literature. The current abstract presents the concept of roles, their systemic context and links roles to functions and dynamic capabilities. The next version of the paper will link roles, their functions, organizational dynamic capabilities to the potential to influence CSR practice by developing theoretical propositions. Different actors potential for role adoption and influence will be evaluated using illustrative cases of a comprehensive set of actors within the development of CSR: intergovernmental, public (e.g. national governments, ministries, and municipalities), private (e.g. different legal forms of corporations and social entrepreneurs), and civil society (e.g. nongovernmental organizations, trade unions, churches, universities, social movements and individuals) actors, and cross-sector partnerships. EGOS Submission Multiple Actors and Levels of CSR /17

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The Multiple Levels of Corporate Social Responsibility: Towards a Theory of Role Management

SCANCOR MONDAY SEMINAR SERIES PRESENTATION FEBRUARY 14 TH, 2011 The Multiple Levels of Corporate Social Responsibility: Towards a Theory of Role Management Arno Kourula, Postdoctoral Fellow, Stanford University