ARTICULATING CSR PUBLIC POLICY IN THE CHACAO GOVERNMENT: INSTITUTIONAL FACTORS, MOTIVATIONS, CSR VISION, AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT’S ROLES

This study is framed under the debates about CSR, new governance and government. In new governance configurations, business, society and government share roles. Accordingly, this setting provides a fertile field for CSR to emerge as part of new governance systems and also as part of public policy. The roles of government in shaping CSR have been studied mainly at the national level and relying on secondary data. Motivated by the observations of certain authors about the importance of the local level in terms of CSR and public policy, this research relies on single-case study of a local government in Caracas-Venezuela. The aim of the research is to uncover how local governments understand CSR and what roles they deploy in order to influence the CSR realm. Moreover, the study is framed under the institutional factors in which this local government is embedded. Results demonstrate that CSR can be understood under a very local approach as well as according to governments’ motivations. Most governments’ roles found in the literature, emerged out of the research; however, there are certain roles that reflect the very particular characteristics of municipal governments. Finally, this research suggests that on implementing CSR public policies, local governments’ relational roles must be understood beyond mere instrumentalist motivations and more as a way of strengthening local governance and opening room for CSR