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Integrating CSR Initiatives in Business: An Organizing Framework

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Abstract

Integrating corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives in business is one of the great challenges facing firms today. Societal stakeholders require much more from the firm than pursuing profitability and growth. But these societal stakeholders often simply assume that increased societal expectations can easily be accommodated within efficiently run business operations, without much attention devoted to process issues. We build upon the core–periphery thesis to explore potential avenues for firms to add recurring CSR initiatives to their existing business practices. Based on Siggelkow’s (Admin Sci Quart 47:125–159, 2002) analysis of organizational change, we conceptualize seven major patterns of CSR initiative adoption. We develop a new organizing framework showing how a firm can integrate CSR initiatives in business. Within the new framework, each of the seven patterns represents an idiosyncratic path through which recurring CSR initiatives can be included as practices into conventional operations. We also explore the nature of the resulting internal fit between recurring CSR initiatives and business practices.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Management, University of Lethbridge, 4401 University Drive, Calgary Campus, Lethbridge, AB, T1K 3M4, Canada

    Wenlong Yuan & Yongjian Bao

  2. International Business Strategy, McCaig Chair in Management, Haskayne School of Business, University of Calgary, 2500 University Drive NW, Calgary, AB, T2N 1N4, Canada

    Alain Verbeke

  3. Solvay Business School, University of Brussels (VUB), Pleinlaan 2, 1050, Brussels, Belgium

    Alain Verbeke

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  1. Wenlong Yuan
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  2. Yongjian Bao
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Correspondence to Wenlong Yuan.

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Yuan, W., Bao, Y. & Verbeke, A. Integrating CSR Initiatives in Business: An Organizing Framework. J Bus Ethics 101, 75–92 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-010-0710-z

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