Corporate social responsibility in challenging and non-enabling institutional contexts do institutional voids matter?
Date
2014-10-14
Authors
Amaeshi, K.
Adegbite, E.
Rajwani, T.
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
ISSN
0167-4544
1573-0697
1573-0697
Volume Title
Publisher
Springer
Peer reviewed
Yes
Abstract
The extant literature on comparative Corporate
Social Responsibility (CSR) often assumes functioning and
enabling institutional arrangements, such as strong government,
market and civil society, as a necessary condition
for responsible business practices. Setting aside this dominant
assumption and drawing insights from a case study of
Fidelity Bank, Nigeria, we explore why and how firms still
pursue and enact responsible business practices in what
could be described as challenging and non-enabling institutional
contexts for CSR. Our findings suggest that
responsible business practices in such contexts are often
anchored on some CSR adaptive mechanisms. These
mechanisms uniquely complement themselves and inform
CSR strategies. The CSR adaptive mechanisms and strategies,
in combination and in complementarity, then act as
an institutional buffer (i.e. ‘institutional immunity’), which
enables firms to successfully engage in responsible practices
irrespective of their weak institutional settings. We
leverage this understanding to contribute to CSR in
developing economies, often characterised by challenging
and non-enabling institutional contexts. The research,
policy and practice implications are also discussed.
Description
The file attached to this record is the author's final peer reviewed version. The Publisher's final version can be found by following the DOI link.
Keywords
CSR, Adaptive mechanisms, Institutional theory, Developing countries, Institutional voids, Nigeria
Citation
Amaeshi, K., Adegbite, E. and Rajwani, T. (2016) Corporate social responsibility in challenging and non-enabling institutional contexts do institutional voids matter? Journal of Business Ethics, 134 (1), pp. 135-153