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The Glocalization of Responsible Investment: Contextualization Work in France and Québec

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Abstract

This study investigates the institutional work that underlies the diffusion of responsible investment (RI) and enhances its adaptation to local settings. Building on institutional theory and actor–network theory, we advance the concept of contextualization work to describe the institutional work that sustains RI glocalization. Empirical data from two case studies highlight how entrepreneurial actors imported the notion of RI from the US to France and Québec. Our findings uncover three types of contextualization work—filtering, repurposing, and coupling—that sustain RI glocalization, and show how actors employed them in both settings to overcome the lack of technical, cultural, or political fit between the imported practice and their local context. Our results explain how divergent glocalized versions of RI are developed and adapted through contextualization work. Last, we discuss how our repertoire of contextualization work can account for local forms of a global concept and the uneven pattern of its diffusion.

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Notes

  1. Following Arjaliès (2010), our search—conducted in the Factiva database—included a variety of terms such as “ethical investment,” “responsible investment” and “socially responsible investment.”

  2. According to our interviewees, the acronym ARESE stands for “Agence de Rating Environnemental et Social des Entreprises” which means literally, a social and environmental rating agency.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to Peer Fiss, Martin Kornberger, Magnus Larsson, Dirk Matten, Jeremy Moon, Marie-France Turcotte, Sidney Winter, our reviewers, and the editors of this special issue for helpful comments and suggestions on earlier versions of this paper. Data collection in Québec was made possible by financial support from Kai Houmann Nielsens Fund in Denmark.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Cass Business School, City University London, 106, Bunhill Row, London, EC1Y 8TZ, UK

    Jean-Pascal Gond

  2. MINES ParisTech, 60, Boulevard Saint-Michel, 75272, Paris cedex 06, France

    Eva Boxenbaum

  3. Copenhagen Business School, Kilevej 14A, 2000, Frederiksberg, Denmark

    Eva Boxenbaum

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  1. Jean-Pascal Gond
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  2. Eva Boxenbaum
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Correspondence to Jean-Pascal Gond.

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Table 2 List of interviews
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Gond, JP., Boxenbaum, E. The Glocalization of Responsible Investment: Contextualization Work in France and Québec. J Bus Ethics 115, 707–721 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-013-1828-6

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