IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/acctfi/v65y2025i1p169-189.html

Philanthropic forms of corporate social responsibility practices in a multinational company: Colonial and post‐colonial perspectives

Author

Listed:
  • Mahmood Momin
  • Mohammad Nurunnabi
  • Tareq Hossain
  • Zahirul Hoque

Abstract

This paper explores how colonial and post‐colonial philanthropic ideals shape a multinational shoe manufacturing company's corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices. We conducted a qualitative field study in Bangladesh, analysing semi‐structured interviews and archival documents. The findings revealed significant and distinct variations in social, institutional, and political relationships across three historical periods: colonisation, state despotism, and capital imperialism. Notably, benevolence, elitism, socialist enterprise paternalism, and institutionalised strategic philanthropy ideals were found to dominate firm‐level CSR practices. These findings suggest that colonial and post‐colonial contexts can shape and ideologically frame philanthropic forms of CSR practices in organisations over time.

Suggested Citation

  • Mahmood Momin & Mohammad Nurunnabi & Tareq Hossain & Zahirul Hoque, 2025. "Philanthropic forms of corporate social responsibility practices in a multinational company: Colonial and post‐colonial perspectives," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 65(1), pages 169-189, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:acctfi:v:65:y:2025:i:1:p:169-189
    DOI: 10.1111/acfi.13322
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/acfi.13322
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/acfi.13322?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. repec:eme:aaaj00:aaaj-05-2014-1715 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Helen Etchanchu & Marie-Laure Djelic, 2019. "Old Wine in New Bottles? Parentalism, Power, and Its Legitimacy in Business–Society Relations," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 160(4), pages 893-911, December.
    3. Pilar Acosta & Mar Pérezts, 2019. "Unearthing Sedimentation Dynamics in Political CSR: The Case of Colombia," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 155(2), pages 425-444, March.
    4. Marie-Laure Djelic & Helen Etchanchu, 2017. "Contextualizing Corporate Political Responsibilities: Neoliberal CSR in Historical Perspective," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 142(4), pages 641-661, June.
    5. Waris Ali & Jedrzej George Frynas & Zeeshan Mahmood, 2017. "Determinants of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Disclosure in Developed and Developing Countries: A Literature Review," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 24(4), pages 273-294, July.
    6. repec:eme:aaaj00:09513579610121956 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Miller, Peter & Hopper, Trevor & Laughlin, Richard, 1991. "The new accounting history: An introduction," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 16(5-6), pages 395-403.
    8. Garry D. Carnegie, 2014. "The present and future of accounting history," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 27(8), pages 1241-1249, October.
    9. Khan, Arifur & Muttakin, Mohammad Badrul & Siddiqui, Javed, 2015. "Audit fees, auditor choice and stakeholder influence: Evidence from a family-firm dominated economy," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 47(3), pages 304-320.
    10. Shahzad Uddin & Javed Siddiqui & Muhammad Azizul Islam, 2018. "Corporate Social Responsibility Disclosures, Traditionalism and Politics: A Story from a Traditional Setting," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 151(2), pages 409-428, August.
    11. Akhtaruddin, M., 2005. "Corporate mandatory disclosure practices in Bangladesh," The International Journal of Accounting, Elsevier, vol. 40(4), pages 399-422.
    12. Garry D. Carnegie & Christopher J. Napier, 2012. "Accounting's past, present and future: the unifying power of history," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 25(2), pages 328-369, February.
    13. Øyvind Ihlen & Heidi Weltzien Hoivik, 2015. "Ye Olde CSR: The Historic Roots of Corporate Social Responsibility in Norway," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 127(1), pages 109-120, March.
    14. Lee Parker, 2004. "'Presenting' the past: perspectives on time for accounting and management history," Accounting History Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 14(1), pages 1-27.
    15. Walker, Stephen P., 2016. "Revisiting the roles of accounting in society," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 41-50.
    16. Poul F. Kjaer, 2019. "The Transnational Constitution of Europe's Social Market Economies: A Question of Constitutional Imbalances?," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 57(1), pages 143-158, January.
    17. Carol A. Tilt, 2018. "Making Social and Environmental Accounting Research Relevant in Developing Countries: A Matter of Context?," Social and Environmental Accountability Journal, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(2), pages 145-150, May.
    18. Muttakin, Mohammad Badrul & Monem, Reza M. & Khan, Arifur & Subramaniam, Nava, 2015. "Family firms, firm performance and political connections: Evidence from Bangladesh," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 11(3), pages 215-230.
    19. repec:eme:aaaj00:09513571211198782 is not listed on IDEAS
    20. Rehana Anwar & Jaleel A. Malik, 2020. "When Does Corporate Social Responsibility Disclosure Affect Investment Efficiency? A New Answer to an Old Question," SAGE Open, , vol. 10(2), pages 21582440209, June.
    21. Anna Lee Rowe & James Guthrie, 2010. "The Chinese Government's Formal Institutional Influence On Corporate Environmental Management," Public Management Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 12(4), pages 511-529, July.
    22. Pilar Acosta & Mar Pérezts, 2019. "Unearthing Sedimentation Dynamics in Political CSR : The Case of Colombia," Post-Print hal-02311985, HAL.
    23. Garry D. Carnegie, 2014. "The present and future of accounting history," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 27(8), pages 1241-1249, October.
    24. Carol A. Tilt, 2016. "Corporate social responsibility research: the importance of context," International Journal of Corporate Social Responsibility, Springer, vol. 1(1), pages 1-9, December.
    25. Tinker, Tony & Neimark, Marilyn, 1987. "The role of annual reports in gender and class contradictions at general motors: 1917-1976," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 12(1), pages 71-88, January.
    26. Napier, Christopher J., 2006. "Accounts of change: 30 years of historical accounting research," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 31(4-5), pages 445-507.
    27. Margaret Griesse, 2007. "Caterpillar’s Interactions with Piracicaba, Brazil: A Community-based Analysis of CSR," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 73(1), pages 39-51, June.
    28. Muhammad Islam & Steven Dellaportas, 2011. "Perceptions of corporate social and environmental accounting and reporting practices from accountants in Bangladesh," Social Responsibility Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 7(4), pages 649-664, October.
    29. Garry D. Carnegie & Christopher J. Napier, 1996. "Critical and interpretive histories: insights into accounting’s present and future through its past," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 9(3), pages 7-39, August.
    30. Elias Bengtsson, 2008. "A History of Scandinavian Socially Responsible Investing," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 82(4), pages 969-983, November.
    31. Garry D. Carnegie & Christopher J. Napier, 2012. "Accounting's past, present and future: the unifying power of history," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 25(2), pages 328-369, February.
    32. Muhammad Islam & Steven Dellaportas, 2011. "Perceptions of corporate social and environmental accounting and reporting practices from accountants in Bangladesh," Social Responsibility Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 7(4), pages 649-664, October.
    33. Momin, Mahmood Ahmed & Parker, Lee D., 2013. "Motivations for corporate social responsibility reporting by MNC subsidiaries in an emerging country: The case of Bangladesh," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 45(3), pages 215-228.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Stacchezzini, Riccardo & Masiero, Eleonora & Lai, Alessandro, 2023. "Histories as counter-accounting," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    2. Rasid Mail & Sharifah Milda Amirul & Noor Kaziemah Sariman & Sharifah Rahama Amirul, 2025. "Accounting History During The Colonial Era In The North Borneo: A Methodological Discussion," International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS), vol. 9(14), pages 2347-2360, October.
    3. Robert Phillips & Judith Schrempf-Stirling & Christian Stutz, 2020. "The Past, History, and Corporate Social Responsibility," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 166(2), pages 203-213, October.
    4. Carnegie, Garry D. & McBride, Karen M. & Napier, Christopher J. & Parker, Lee D., 2020. "Accounting history and theorising about organisations," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 52(6).
    5. Shaizy Khan & Seema Gupta & V. K. Gupta, 2025. "Unveiling the black box of green accounting information disclosure: an analysis of disclosure diversity and difficulties from a developing economy perspective," International Journal of Disclosure and Governance, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 22(3), pages 591-618, September.
    6. Sohel Mehedi & Shamsun Nahar & Dayana Jalaludin, 2024. "Determinants of corporate climate change disclosure: Is the mediating role of corporate strategic response to environmental governance and policy matter? Evidence from emerging market," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 32(1), pages 195-210, February.
    7. Suraiyah Akbar & Craig Deegan, 2021. "Analysis of corporate social disclosures of the apparel industry following crisis: an institutional approach," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 61(2), pages 3565-3600, June.
    8. Sadaf Ehsan & Mian Sajid Nazir & Mohammad Nurunnabi & Qasim Raza Khan & Samya Tahir & Ishfaq Ahmed, 2018. "A Multimethod Approach to Assess and Measure Corporate Social Responsibility Disclosure and Practices in a Developing Economy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(8), pages 1-18, August.
    9. Osman, Mohamed & Gallhofer, Sonja & Haslam, Jim, 2021. "Contextualising and critically theorising corporate social responsibility reporting: Dynamics of the late Mubarak Era in Egypt," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    10. Mathieu Alemany Oliver, 2022. "Navigating Between the Plots: A Narratological and Ethical Analysis of Business-Related Conspiracy Theories (BrCTs)," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 175(2), pages 265-288, January.
    11. Qian, Wei & Parker, Lee & Zhu, Jingyu, 2024. "Corporate environmental reporting in the China context: The interplay of stakeholder salience, socialist ideology and state power," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 56(1).
    12. Wim Van Lent & Andrew D. Smith, 2020. "Using Versus Excusing: The Hudson’s Bay Company’s Long-Term Engagement with Its (Problematic) Past," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 166(2), pages 215-231, October.
    13. Alessandro Lai & Delfina Gomes, 2018. "Accounting in different cultures and from different perspectives," CONTABILIT? E CULTURA AZIENDALE, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2018(2), pages 7-12.
    14. Mathieu Alemany Oliver, 2020. "Navigating Between the Plots: A Narratological and Ethical Analysis of Business-Related Conspiracy Theories (BrCTs)," Post-Print hal-03289831, HAL.
    15. Gianluca Antonucci, 2023. "The Church and the art of governing people in a period of crisis: An analysis of the Inchiesta Innocenziana (1650-55)," CONTABILIT? E CULTURA AZIENDALE, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 0(1), pages 39-59.
    16. Paolo Ferri & Maria Lusiani & Luca Pareschi, 2016. "Accounting for accounting history: An exploratory study through topic modeling approach," Working Papers 5, Venice School of Management - Department of Management, Università Ca' Foscari Venezia.
    17. Marie Di Nardo & Franck Brulhart & Marion Vieu, 2025. "Assessing the relevance of the concept of political corporate social responsibility in management research," Post-Print halshs-04837335, HAL.
    18. Walker, Stephen P., 2016. "Revisiting the roles of accounting in society," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 41-50.
    19. Craig Deegan, 2025. "“Accounting” in retrospect: A personal reflection about change, contribution, and opportunity following decades of immersion," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 65(1), pages 1009-1045, March.
    20. Lida Esperanza Villa‐Castaño & Jesús Perdomo‐Ortiz & Sebastian Dueñas‐Ocampo, 2023. "Business–society interface: An exploration of a paradigmatic heuristic model of corporate social responsibility in Colombia," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 30(6), pages 3203-3221, November.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:acctfi:v:65:y:2025:i:1:p:169-189. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/aaanzea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.