Building Institutions for Social Intrapreneurship - A case of practices by Business in the Community (BitC)

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has received considerable renewed attention in the last few decades. With economic globalisation intensifying, there is increasing pressure for business firms to increase CSR efforts in alleviating social issues within communities that they operate. Despite the efforts by business firms with their current CSR programme initiatives, there are increasing calls for innovative solutions to alleviate the issues. To achieve this, there are institutions in the industry that lead the way in encouraging businesses to take action in response to increasing societal issues by engaging in more CSR activities. The overall purpose of this research is thus to critically explore and assess to what extent current understandings and arguments support the case of external actors in the scene of promoting business firms to engage in CSR. As an exploratory and descriptive study, it strives to identify the contribution of an external actor to CSR engagement in the current literature, with particular examination of how institutional actors help build institutions for social intrapreneurship. More specifically, the research identifies how business firms engage in CSR through encouragement by institutional actors. The report also finds supportive understanding of how external actors practise institutional theory to encourage business firms to engage in CSR. Additionally, the research finds how collaboration between business firm and external institutions is important in implementing a successful, long term CSR programme initiative. This research thus contributes to several current research agendas within corporate social responsibility as well as pointing to new research agendas regarding the building of institutions for social intrapreneurship