Connecting the Micro to the Macro: An Exploration of Micro-Behaviors of Individuals Who Drive CSR Initiatives at the Macro-Level

Grounded on a case study on the formation of an inter-corporate CSR initiative in which four corporations from Chennai, India collaborate, this paper explores the micro-behaviors that individual actors engage in to create CSR solutions later adopted at the macro-organizational level. Based on the findings, the paper (1) identifies five categories of micro-behaviors, namely increasing stakeholder salience by turning attention to the ethical and social responsibilities to specific stakeholder groups, emerging as a self-appointed CSR champion by assuming personal responsibility for action, creating CSR initiative prototypes by leveraging personal skills, garnering support by leveraging personal networks and amassing operational resources by organizational resources; (2) explicates the characteristics of individual approach to CSR that makes it different from, but complementary to organizational approach to CSR

Sales order backlog and corporate social responsibility

We examine the impact of sales order backlog, an important leading indicator of firm performance, on corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance (measured as responsible and irresponsible CSR performance). We rely on the stakeholder view and the resource availability view of CSR to develop our hypotheses. Under the stakeholder view, we posit a positive relation between sales order backlog and CSR performance. Under the resource availability view, we posit this relationship to be negative. Our empirical evidence shows a significant positive relation between order backlog and irresponsible CSR performance, suggesting that firms with higher order backlog demonstrate lower overall CSR performance. This evidence is consistent with the resource availability view that engaging in CSR activities consumes valuable firm resources (financial and human), and thus firms with limited resources are less likely to invest in CSR initiatives. Firms with high levels of unfulfilled sales orders must focus on fulfilling those orders, and may not be able to devote resources to CSR

Business Statesman or Shareholder Advocate? CEO Responsible Leadership Styles and the Micro-Foundations of Political CSR

International audienceIn this article we pursue two objectives. First, we refine the concept of responsible leadership from an upper echelon perspective by exploring two distinct styles (instrumental and integrative) and thereby further develop the understanding of the newly emerging integrative style. Second, we propose a framework that examines the micro-foundations of political corporate social responsibility (CSR). We explicate how the political CSR engagement of organizations (in social innovation and multi-stakeholder initiatives) is influenced by responsible leadership styles and posit that most CEOs tend to espouse either instrumental or integrative responsible leadership approaches, based on perceived moral obligations toward shareholders or stakeholders. We examine the moderating effects of societal- and organizational-level factors (such as power distance and corporate governance), and individual-level influences (such as cognitive and social complexity). We discuss both approaches with respect to their effectiveness in dealing with political CSR challenges in a complex environment and conclude that an instrumental responsible leadership style may be effective in relatively stable settings with strong institutional arrangements, while the complex and unstable context of a post-national constellation with weak institutions calls for an integrative responsible leadership style. The latter can be expected to be more effective in dealing with political CSR challenges in a global world, contributing to closing governance gaps and producing sustainable outcomes for societie