Managing complex institutional logics across borders: a study of CSR in Latin America

The embeddedness of MNCs in the institutional field of several countries opens space for complexity to emerge due to the plural institutional logics at play. These logics often carry competing meanings and practices regarding the social responsibility of firms. However, due to its context-bound and relational characteristics, enacting a social responsibility logic through CSR practices demands engagement with the dominant logics at a local level. We conceptualize how these logics lead to MNC intrinsic and extrinsic motivation to enact socially responsible logics. By using Siemens’s operation in Latin America as an illustrative case, we identify that MNCs respond through intrinsic motivations, i.e., HQ-subsidiary influence and individual agency, and extrinsic motivations, i.e., risk mitigation, legitimacy, and business survival, to enact socially responsible logics. Consequently, based on the illustrative case, we assert that MNCs exert power to promote significant transformations to the institutional orders at play in Latin American countries. This study connects micro-level phenomena to institutional concepts and advances relevant discussions for the international business field.