Making Sense of CSR Challenges and Shortcomings in Developing Economies of Latin America

Christian Hauser (), Jose Godinez () and Erica Steckler ()
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Christian Hauser: University of Applied Sciences of the Grisons
Jose Godinez: University of Massachusetts Lowell
Erica Steckler: University of Massachusetts Lowell

Journal of Business Ethics, 2024, vol. 192, issue 4, No 2, 665-687

Abstract: Abstract Firms operating in developing economies are increasingly expected to implement CSR practices aligned with recognized global standards. Drawing on extensive field study data in four Latin American countries, we contribute to business ethics scholarship by making visible and explaining firm shortcomings across social, environmental, and governance goals and activities of CSR. Building on and extending sensemaking literature, we find that leaders and managers responsible for their firms’ CSR activities make sense of and justify CSR shortcomings. We specify that justification based on individual, organizational/industry, and macro-environmental influences serves as a mechanism that decouples firms’ actual CSR practices from recognized CSR standards. Further, we propose that detachment, involving disconnection from the local operating environment, underlies the CSR shortcomings of firms. We develop a theoretical multi-level model that specifies justification as a mechanism and detachment as an underlying driver of CSR shortcomings.

Keywords: Corporate social responsibility (CSR); CSR shortcomings; Sensemaking; Detachment; Developing economies; Latin America (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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DOI: 10.1007/s10551-023-05550-6

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