Culture Matters: Exploring the Importance of Competing Organisational Cultures in a Collective Response to Corporate Social Responsibility

In seeking to understand the antecedents of corporate social responsibility (CSR) practice, existing accounting literature has a strong focus on external economic factors such as governmental regulation, competitive advantage, and stakeholder concerns with the social impact of the corporate activity (Seuring & Müller, 2008). The fundamental assumption on which this business case relies is the existence of a market that demands and pays for ‘desirable’ CSR practices (Carroll & Shabana, 2010). A lack of such a market will, in certain cases, strike at the foundation of this approach. With reference to cultural theory (Douglas, 1966, 1986, 1999), this research aims to generate a holistic interpretation of why certain CSR issues elicit a firm’s response and why firms display a range of responses to social issues by focusing on the internal processes and practices of a case company Cocoa Co. that is actively engaged in its sustainable supply chain program Cocoa Future and attempts to reflect strategic imperatives in its initiatives. Rather than assuming that firms follow a universal instrumental rationale to justify their engagement with CSR, the novel conceptual framework (Douglas, 1966, 1986, 1999) adopted in this thesis distinguishes firms by their diverse cultural biases operating within the organisational structure. CSR communication is identified as the appropriate field for uncovering tension and collaboration between different cultures in the interpretation of issues and the selection of action, because it is through this culturally informed process that meaning is negotiated between various organisational participants (Brown & Starkey, 1994). Content analysis is conducted to examine archival documents that captures various form of internal communication and external communication. Acknowledging that different cultures coexist and compete constantly for dominance (Douglas 1999), this research investigates the various ways organizational participants make sense of organisational reality and their role within it. It examined the approach adopted to manage and mitigate social issues in the case company, showing a technical understanding of social issue and an accountability-focused approach prevalent among the dominant hierarchical culture vis-à-vis a values-led understanding and a participatory approach proposed by the minority egalitarian culture, adding to current theoretical insights on the cultural influence on CSR. In addition, based on the understanding that cultures interpret and reshape social issues in a way that is consistent with collective experience, this research draws a plausible account of the solution adopted by a minority organisational culture to legitimise and advance its claim on resources in order to achieve the social outcomes it identifies as appropriate. By illustrating how a group of individuals driven by socially responsible values could potentially influence the behaviour of a whole organisation, this research contributes to a theoretical understanding of how MNCs may be capable of creating genuine social benefits. Future research could build upon this understanding and design an approach to CSR that would appeal to the interests of different stakeholders. Another potential contribution of this research is to extend cultural theory to the analysis of CSR. Through an in-depth analysis of the chosen case study, complexities and competitions in cultural interactions are accounted for, which can inform and enhance cultural theory