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UAL Research Online

Institutionalising Idealism; the adoption of CSR practices

Haberberg, Adrian and Gander, Jonathan and Rieple, Alison and Helm, Clive and Martin-Castilla, Juan-Ignacio (2010) Institutionalising Idealism; the adoption of CSR practices. Journal of Global Responsibility, 1 (2). pp. 366-381. ISSN 20141-2568

Type of Research: Article
Creators: Haberberg, Adrian and Gander, Jonathan and Rieple, Alison and Helm, Clive and Martin-Castilla, Juan-Ignacio
Description:

Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to identify and discuss the idiosyncratic features of the adoption and institutionalization of corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices.

Design/methodology/approach
– This is a conceptual paper in which current theory on the institutionalization of practices within organizational fields is extended. This is achieved through considering how well established models of the institutionalization process accommodate the idiosyncrasies of CSR practices.

Findings
– Established models of the institutionalization process do not properly account for the patterns of CSR adoption that are identified. This is because CSR has some features that differentiates it from other organizational initiatives, including idealism, delayed discovery of instrumental benefits, public attention, and the tension between public and private logics.

Research limitations/implications
– This is a conceptual paper which now needs to be explored empirically, either at the level of the CSR practice or at the organizational field. It is believed that a detailed examination is warranted of the effects of the truncated adoption process (a coercive bandwagon) on organizations' adoption of CSR practices. Neither has it been considered whether all categories of CSR practices are subject to the same dynamics or development path.

Practical implications
– It is argued that prizes and regulations that are introduced before the organizational case has been worked through properly can have a negative effect on the adoption of beneficial practices throughout the wider field. Similarly, accusations of greenwashing of firms who implement CSR prematurely, and the negative publicity that results, can result in the valuable ideals of CSR being operationalised in a sub‐optimal form.

Originality/value
– The paper offers a new conceptualisation of the path of the institutionalization of CSR practices.

Official Website: http://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/abs/10.1108/20412561011079443
Keywords/subjects not otherwise listed: Organizations, Corporate social responsibility, Organizational behaviour, Management culture, Strategy
Publisher/Broadcaster/Company: Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Your affiliations with UAL: Colleges > London College of Fashion
Date: 2010
Digital Object Identifier: 10.1108/20412561011079443
Related Websites: http://www.emeraldinsight.com/journal/jgr
Related Websites:
Date Deposited: 12 May 2015 15:26
Last Modified: 12 May 2015 15:26
Item ID: 7900
URI: https://ualresearchonline.arts.ac.uk/id/eprint/7900

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