Partnering for impact: how Swedish environmental NGOs characterize the impact of corporate collaborations

Vidhi Chaudhri and Annie Engström

Social Responsibility Journal, 2025, vol. 21, issue 9, 1769-1783

Abstract: PurposePremised on the growing prominence of non-governmental organization (NGO)-business partnerships in the context of corporate social responsibility, the purpose of this study is to examine how environmental NGOs in Sweden characterize the impact of corporate partnerships and, relatedly, what hinders or facilitates impact.Design/methodology/approachIn-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with NGO managers in Sweden. Interviewees were senior managerial and decision-making executives in NGOs that had existing corporate partnerships.FindingsNGOs characterize the principal impacts of collaborations in terms of awareness both of the partner and environmental issue through network formation, behavior change at the dual levels of business practice and consumer behavior, and a catalytic effect on partners to engage in co-creating “win-win” solutions. The authors refer to these as the ABC of NGO–business partnership impact. This study also highlights the multifaceted ways in which environmental NGOs understand and seek trust in collaborations.Research limitations/implicationsThis study contributes to a nuanced and multi-layered understanding of how “impact” is characterized in NGO–business collaborations.Originality/valueDespite the growing preference toward NGO–business collaborations, the impact of such efforts remains ambiguous. This study contributes to the nascent body of scholarship that views impact as a multidimensional construct that encompasses short-term, immediate and tangible goals to long-term behavioral or structural changes that may continue well beyond the duration of the partnership.

Keywords: Corporate social responsibility (CSR); Environment; Environmental NGOs; NGO–business partnerships; Non-government organizations (NGOs); Sweden (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.emerald.com/srj/article/21/9/1769/1269 ... wedish-environmental (text/html)
https://www.emerald.com/srj/article-pdf/21/9/1769/ ... j-10-2024-0721en.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eme:srjpps:srj-10-2024-0721

DOI: 10.1108/SRJ-10-2024-0721

Access Statistics for this article

Social Responsibility Journal is currently edited by Prof David Crowther

More articles in Social Responsibility Journal from Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Emerald Support ().