Towards a convergent institutional perspective on corporate social responsibility (CSR)

PhD thesis in EconomicsThis thesis include published articles:PAPER 3: Blindheim, B-T. and Langhelle, O. (2010) Reinterpreting the Principles of CSR: A Pragmatic Approach. Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, 17: 107-117 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. and ERP Environment. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/csr.235/pdfThe research reported in this thesis has been directed by three interconnected questions: 1) How can institutional theory contribute to our understanding of the contingent nature of CSR and manifestations of CSR within national-level fields? 2) What are the potential institutional and political implications of CSR? and 3) How can institutional theory contribute to discussions of a justified foundation for companies (political) efforts on the societal arena? Since the 1950s, the role of business in, and the responsibility of companies towards, society have increasingly been addressed in terms of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) (Carroll, 1999, 2008; Frederick, 2006). Simply put, CSR refers to responsibilities that either a corporation has to society or responsibilities that society imposes on corporations (De George, 2008)....