CSR Institutionalized Myths in Developing Countries: An Imminent Threat of Selective Decoupling

Business and Society

Volumn 56, Issue 3, 2017, Pages 454-486

  Jamali, Dima ^a   Lund Thomsen, Peter ^b   Khara, Navjote ^c  

^a AMERICAN UNIVERSITY OF BEIRUT   (Lebanon)

^b Copenhagen Business School ^*  (Denmark)

^c Niagara College   (Canada)

Author keywords

corporate social responsibility (CSR); critical perspectives on CSR; institutional theory; selective decoupling; small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs)

Indexed keywords

EID: 85012901846     PISSN: 00076503     EISSN: 15524205     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1177/0007650315584303     Document Type: Article

References (68)

1. Accountability (with the United Nations Industrial Development Organization). (2006). SME clusters and responsible competitiveness in developing countries. London, England: Author. Retrieved from http://www.accountability.org/images/content/3/1/317/SME%20clusters%20and%20Responsible%20Competitiveness%20in%20Developing%20Count.pdf
2. Ang S., Cummings L. L., (1997). Strategic response to institutional influences on information systems outsourcing. Organizational Science, 8, 235-256.
3. Bansal P., Roth K., (2000). Why companies go green: A model of ecological responsiveness. Academy of Management Journal, 43, 717-737.
4. Barrientos S., Smith S., (2007). Do workers benefit from ethical trade? Assessing codes of labour practice in global production systems. Third World Quarterly, 28, 713-729.
5. Blowfield M., Frynas J. G., (2005). Setting new agendas: Critical perspectives on corporate social responsibility in the developing world. International Affairs, 81, 499-513.
6. Boxenbaum E., Jonsson S., (2008). Isomorphism, diffusion and decoupling. In Greenwood R., Suddaby R., Oliver C., Sahlin-Anderson K., (Eds.), Handbook of organizational institutionalism (pp. 78-98). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
7. Christensen T., Lagreid P., (2003). Administrative reform policy: The challenges of turning symbols into practice. Public Organization Review: A Global Journal, 3, 3-27.
8. Christmann P., (2004). Multinational corporations and the natural environment: Determinants of corporate environmental policy standardization. Academy of Management Journal, 47, 747-760.
9. Dawkins C., (2012). Labored relations: Corporate citizenship, labor unions and freedom of association. Business Ethics Quarterly, 22, 473-497.
10. De Kok J., Deijl C., Veldhuis-Van Essen C., (2013). Is small still beautiful? Literature review of recent empirical evidence on the contribution of SMEs to employment creation. Deutsche Gesellschaft Fur Internationale. Retrieved from http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/—ed_emp/—emp_ent/—ifp_seed/documents/publication/wcms_216909.pdf
11. De Neve G., (2009). Power, inequality and corporate social responsibility: The politics of compliance in the South Indian garment industry. Economic & Political Weekly, 44(22), 63-71.
12. DiMaggio P., Powell W., (1983). The iron cage revisited: Institutional isomorphism and collective rationality in organizational fields. American Sociological Review, 48, 147-160.
13. Egels-Zandén N., (2014). Revisiting supplier compliance with MNC codes of conduct: Recoupling policy and practice at Chinese toy suppliers. Journal of Business Ethics, 119, 59-75.
14. Friedland R., Alford R., (1991). Bringing society back in: Symbols, practices and institutional contradictions. In Powell W., DiMaggio P., (Eds.), The new institutionalism in organizational analysis (pp. 232-263). Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
15. Giuliani E., (2005). Cluster absorptive capacity: Why do some clusters forge ahead and others lag behind? European Urban and Regional Studies, 12, 269-288.
16. Godfrey P. C., Hatch N. W., (2007). Researching corporate social responsibility: An agenda for the 21st century. Journal of Business Ethics, 70, 87-98.
17. Goodrick E., Salancik G., (1996). Organizational discretion in responding to institutional practices: Hospitals and cesarean births. Administrative Science Quarterly, 41, 1-28.
18. Goodstein J., (1994). Institutional pressures and strategic responsiveness: Employer involvement in work-family issues. Academy of Management Journal, 37, 350-382.
19. Greenwood R., Hinings C., (1996). Understanding radical organizational change: Bringing together the old and the new institutionalism. Academy of Management Review, 21, 1022-1054.
20. Gupta A., Srinivasan V., (2009). Sports Goods Foundation of India (SGFI): A collective response to CSR issues (Working Paper No. 344, Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore). Retrieved from http://www.iimb.ernet.in/research/sites/default/files/WP%20No.%20344.pdf
21. International Labor Rights Forum. (2010). Missed the goal for workers: The reality of soccer ball stitchers in Pakistan, India, Thailand, and China. Washington, DC: Author.
22. Jamali D., (2010a). The CSR of MNC subsidiaries in developing countries: Global, local, substantive or diluted? Journal of Business Ethics, 93, 181-200.
23. Jamali D., (2010b). MNCs and international accountability standards through an institutional lens: Evidence of symbolic conformity or decoupling. Journal of Business Ethics, 95, 617-640.
24. Jamali D., Neville B., (2011). Convergence vs. divergence in CSR in developing countries: An embedded multi-layered institutional lens. Journal of Business Ethics, 102, 599-621.
25. Jamali D., Sidani Y., (2011). Is CSR counterproductive in developing countries: The unheard voices of change. Journal of Change Management, 11, 69-71.
26. Jamali D., Sidani Y., (2012). CSR in the Middle East: Fresh perspectives. In Jamali D., Sidani Y., (Eds.), Introduction: CSR in the Middle East: Fresh perspectives (pp. 1-11). London, England: Palgrave.
27. Jamali D., Zanhour M., Keshishian T., (2009). Peculiar strengths and relational attributes of SMEs in the context of CSR. Journal of Business Ethics, 87, 355-367.
28. Jenkins H., (2004). A critique of conventional CSR theory: An SME perspective. Journal of General Management, 29(4), 37-57.
29. Khan A., (2007). Power, policy and the discourse on child labour in the football manufacturing industry of Sialkot. Karachi, Pakistan: Oxford University Press.
30. Khan A., (2010). Discourses on childhood: Policy-making with regard to child labour in the context of competing cultural and economic perceptions. History and Anthropology, 21, 101-119.
31. Khan F. R., (2007). Representational approaches matter. Journal of Business Ethics, 73, 77-89.
32. Khan F. R., Lund-Thomsen P., (2011). CSR as imperialism: Towards a phenomenological approach to CSR in the developing world. Journal of Change Management, 11, 73-90.
33. Khan F. R., Munir K., Willmott H., (2007). A dark side of institutional entrepreneurship: Soccer balls, child labour and postcolonial impoverishment. Organization Studies, 28, 1055-1077.
34. Khara N., Lund-Thomsen P., (2012). Value chain restructuring, work organization, and labor outcomes in football manufacturing in India. Competition & Change, 16, 261-280.
35. Lawrence T. B., Suddaby R., (2006). Institutions and institutional work. In Clegg S., Hardy C., Lawrence T. B., Nord W. R., (Eds.), The SAGE handbook of organization studies (2nd ed., pp. 215-254). London, England: Sage.
36. Lawrence T. B., Suddaby R., Leca B., (2011). Institutional work: Refocusing institutional studies of organization. Journal of Management Inquiry, 20, 52-58.
37. Lund-Thomsen P., (2008). The global sourcing and codes of conduct debate: Five myths and five recommendations. Development and Change, 39, 1005-1018.
38. Lund-Thomsen P., (2013). Labor agency in the football manufacturing industry of Sialkot, Pakistan. Geoforum, 44, 71-81.
39. Lund-Thomsen P., Nadvi K., (2009). Global value chains, local clusters, and corporate social responsibility: A comparative assessment of the sports goods clusters in Sialkot, Pakistan and Jalandhar, India (Technical Paper 17 Industrial Policy and Private Sector Development Branch, United Nations Industrial Development Organization). Vienna, Austria: United Nations Industrial Development Organization. Retrieved from http://www.unido.org/fileadmin/user_media/Publications/Pub_free/Global_value_chains_local_clusters_and_CSR.pdf
40. Lund-Thomsen P., Nadvi K., (2010). Clusters, chains and compliance: Corporate social responsibility in football manufacturing in South Asia. Journal of Business Ethics, 93, 201-222.
41. Lund-Thomsen P., Nadvi K., Chan A., Khara K., Xue H., (2012). Labour in global value chains: Work conditions in football manufacturing in China, India and Pakistan. Development and Change, 43, 1211-1237.
42. Lund-Thomsen P., Pillay R., (2012). CSR in industrial clusters: An overview of the literature. Corporate Governance, 12, 568-578.
43. Marquis C., Glynn M. A., Davis G. F., (2007). Community isomorphism and corporate social action. Academy of Management Review, 32, 925-945.
44. Matten D., Moon J., (2008). “Implicit” and “explicit” CSR: A conceptual framework for a comparative understanding of corporate social responsibility. Academy of Management Review, 33, 404-424.
45. McWilliams A., Siegel D., (2001). Corporate social responsibility: A theory of the firm perspective. Academy of Marketing Review, 26, 117-127.
46. Meyer J., Rowan B., (1977). Institutionalized organizations: Formal structure as myth and ceremony. American Journal of Sociology, 83, 340-363.
47. Nadvi K., (1999). Collective efficiency and collective failure: The response of the Sialkot surgical instrument cluster to global quality pressures. World Development, 27, 1605-1626.
48. Nadvi K., (2011). Labour standards and technological upgrading: Competitive challenges in the global football industry. International Journal of Technological Learning, Innovation and Development, 4, 235-257.
49. Nadvi K., Barrientos S., (2004). Industrial clusters and poverty alleviation: Towards a methodology for poverty and social impact assessment of cluster development initiatives. Vienna, Austria: United Nations Industrial Development Organization. Retrieved from http://www.unido.org/fileadmin/user_media/Services/PSD/Clusters_and_Networks/publications/industrialClustersandpoverty_NADVI.pdf
50. Nadvi K., Lund-Thomsen P., Xue H., Khara N., (2011). Playing against China: Global value chains and labour standards in the international sports goods industry. Global Networks, 11, 334-354.
51. Neilson J., Pritchard B., (2009). Value chain struggles: Institutions and governance in the plantations of South India. Gloucester, UK: Wiley-Blackwell.
52. Nelson V., Martin A., Ewert J., (2007). The impacts of codes of practice on worker livelihoods. Journal of Corporate Citizenship, 28, 61-78.
53. Newell P., Frynas J. G., (2007). Beyond CSR? Business, poverty and social justice: An introduction. Third World Quarterly, 28, 669-681.
54. Ogawa R., Scribner S., (2002). Leadership: Spanning the technical and institutional dimensions of organizations. Journal of Educational Administration, 40, 576-588.
55. Oliver C., (1991). Strategic responses to institutional processes. Academy of Management Review, 16, 145-179.
56. Orton J. D., Weick K. E., (1990). Loosely coupled systems: A reconceptualization. Academy of Management Review, 15, 203-223.
57. Powell W. W., DiMaggio P. J., (1991). The new institutionalism in organizational analysis. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
58. Prieto-Carron M., Lund-Thomsen P., Chan A., Muro A., Bhushan C., (2006). Critical perspectives on CSR and development: What we know, what we don’t know, and what we need to know. International Affairs, 82, 977-987.
59. Ruwanpura K., Wrigley N., (2011). The costs of compliance? Views of Sri Lankan apparel manufacturers in times of global economic crisis. Journal of Economic Geography, 11(6), 1-19.
60. Sachdeva A., Panfil O., (2008). CSR perceptions and activities of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in seven geographical clusters—Survey report. Vienna, Austria: United Nations Industrial Development Organization. Retrieved from http://www.unido.org/fileadmin/user_media/Publications/Pub_free/CSR_perceptions_and_activities_of_SMEs_in_seven_geographical_clusters.pdf
61. Schmitz H., Nadvi K., (1999). Clustering and industrialization: Introduction. World Development, 27, 1503-1514.
62. Scott W. R., (2008). Institutions and organizations: Ideas and interests. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
63. Skadegaard Thorsen S., Jeppesen S., (2011, January). Changing course: A study into responsible supply chain management—Authored by GLOBAL CSR and Copenhagen Business School for the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Copenhagen, Denmark. Retrieved from http://www.global-csr.com/fileadmin/Our_Approach/RSCM_MainReport_110111.pdf
64. Tewari M., Pillai P., (2005). Global standards and the dynamics of compliance in the Indian leather industry. Oxford Development Studies, 33, 245-267.
65. Tolbert P. S., Zucker L. G., (1996). The institutionalization of institutional theory. In Clegg S., Hardy C., Nord W., (Eds.), Handbook of organization studies (pp. 175-190). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
66. United Nations Industrial Development Organization. (2002). Corporate social responsibility: Implications for small and medium enterprises in developing countries. Retrieved from http://www.unido.org/fileadmin/import/userfiles/puffk/corporatesocialresponsibility.pdf
67. United Nations Industrial Development Organization. (2008). Responsible responses: Responsible behavior of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises in India. New Delhi, India: Frame Zero for UNIDO. (Producer)
68. Willmott H., (2011). Institutional work for what? Problems and prospects of institutional theory. Journal of Management Inquiry, 20, 67-72.