An Institution of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in
Multi-National Corporations (MNCs): Form and Implications
Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has become a takenfor granted
concept within the Western society. Governments,consumers, employees, suppliers and many othergroups have shaped the concept of CSR through theirexpectation that corporations will act responsibly in the conduct of their operations. Although the specifics may be contested (Waddock 2004; Banerjee 2007; Matten and Moon 2008), at the broadest level, these expectations are based on the need to align the social, environmental and
economic responsibilities of business (e.g. Elkington 1997; Garriga and Mele´ 2004; Norman and MacDonald 2004). In other words, CSR is predicated upon the idea that business does not have a sole financial purpose, but a set of three core imperatives—economic, social and environmental—
which guide decisions and activity, and which are equally valid and necessary within business. This is different from the business case for CSR (henceforth called the business case), which seeks to demonstrate how consideration of social or environmental concerns contribute to the financial position of the business (e.g. Friedman 1970; Johnson 2006; Porter and Kramer 2006).
Described as an ‘almost truism’ (Norman and Mac- Donald 2004, p. 243), the
status of CSR as a set of takenfor-granted ideas within society, or institution(e.g.
DiMaggio and Powell 1991; Tolbert and Zucker 1996;Scott 2001), has received
little attention within the literature. This is an important oversight because institutional theory provides a powerful lens for helping us to explain how we come to understand and accept different attitudes and practices in a particular social context (Powell and DiMaggio 1991). In the case of CSR, there has yet to be any clear evidence of the existence of an institution, and if so, its form. Given that it is a relatively new idea for business and that its specifics are contested by the wide range of stakeholder interests (Mitchell et al. 1997; Cragg and Greenbaum 2002; Parent and Deephouse 2007), identifying its form is crucial to understanding future iterations.
这个是百度上的翻译吧,连不成句子啊