IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/jbuset/v167y2020i2d10.1007_s10551-019-04157-0.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

When Corporations Cause Harm: A Critical View of Corporate Social Irresponsibility and Corporate Crimes

Author

Listed:
  • Rafael Alcadipani

    (Fundação Getulio Vargas/EAESP)

  • Cíntia Rodrigues Oliveira Medeiros

    (Universidade Federal de Uberlândia)

Abstract

Corporations perform actions that can inflict harm with different levels of intensity, from death to material loss, to both companies’ internal and external stakeholders. Research has analysed corporate harm using the notions of corporate social irresponsibility (CSIR) and corporate crime. Critical management studies (CMS) have been subjecting management and organizational practices and knowledge to critical analysis, and corporate harm has been one of the main concerns of CMS. However, CMS has rarely been deployed to analyse CSIR and corporate crime. Thus, the aim of this paper is to critically analyse the perspectives of CSIR and corporate crimes on corporate harm via CMS in general and postcolonial studies in particular. The paper contributes by arguing that research on CSIR and corporate crime could be perceived as producing research that does not challenge the essence of contemporary corporation profit-seeking activities that ultimately produces corporate harm. We argue that CSIR and corporate crime are ideologies that assist in disguising the contradiction between producing shareholder value and the social good that is at the heart of the modern corporation system and the current economic system. Furthermore, the postcolonial view of CSIR and corporate crime highlights how they are based on a Western-centric view of corporate harm that ignores the realities and perspectives of the Global South, especially in situations where corporate harm leads to death in the Global South.

Suggested Citation

  • Rafael Alcadipani & Cíntia Rodrigues Oliveira Medeiros, 2020. "When Corporations Cause Harm: A Critical View of Corporate Social Irresponsibility and Corporate Crimes," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 167(2), pages 285-297, November.
  • Handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:167:y:2020:i:2:d:10.1007_s10551-019-04157-0
    DOI: 10.1007/s10551-019-04157-0
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10551-019-04157-0
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10551-019-04157-0?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
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ajnesh Prasad & Albert Mills, 2010. "Critical Management Studies and Business Ethics: A Synthesis and Three Research Trajectories for the Coming Decade," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 94(2), pages 227-237, August.
    2. Sweetin, Vernon H. & Knowles, Lynette L. & Summey, John H. & McQueen, Kand S., 2013. "Willingness-to-punish the corporate brand for corporate social irresponsibility," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 66(10), pages 1822-1830.
    3. Michelle Greenwood, 2007. "Stakeholder Engagement: Beyond the Myth of Corporate Responsibility," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 74(4), pages 315-327, September.
    4. Vanessa M Strike & Jijun Gao & Pratima Bansal, 2006. "Being good while being bad: social responsibility and the international diversification of US firms," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 37(6), pages 850-862, November.
    5. Abhijeet Vadera & Ruth Aguilera, 2015. "The Evolution of Vocabularies and Its Relation to Investigation of White-Collar Crimes: An Institutional Work Perspective," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 128(1), pages 21-38, April.
    6. Lisa Calvano, 2008. "Multinational Corporations and Local Communities: A Critical Analysis of Conflict," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 82(4), pages 793-805, November.
    7. Jan Lepoutre & Aimé Heene, 2006. "Investigating the Impact of Firm Size on Small Business Social Responsibility: A Critical Review," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 67(3), pages 257-273, September.
    8. Murphy, Patrick E. & Schlegelmilch, Bodo B., 2013. "Corporate social responsibility and corporate social irresponsibility: Introduction to a special topic section," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 66(10), pages 1807-1813.
    9. Windsor, Duane, 2013. "Corporate social responsibility and irresponsibility: A positive theory approach," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 66(10), pages 1937-1944.
    10. Brandy L. Aven, 2015. "The Paradox of Corrupt Networks: An Analysis of Organizational Crime at Enron," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 26(4), pages 980-996, August.
    11. Armstrong, J. Scott, 1977. "Social irresponsibility in management," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 5(3), pages 185-213, September.
    12. Anonymous, 2013. "Introduction to the Issue," Journal of Wine Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 8(3), pages 243-243, December.
    13. Kolk, Ans, 2016. "The social responsibility of international business: From ethics and the environment to CSR and sustainable development," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 51(1), pages 23-34.
    14. Andreas Georg Scherer & Guido Palazzo, 2011. "The New Political Role of Business in a Globalized World: A Review of a New Perspective on CSR and its Implications for the Firm, Governance, and Democracy," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(4), pages 899-931, June.
    15. Mehdi Boussebaa & Shuchi Sinha & Yiannis Gabriel, 2014. "Englishization in offshore call centers: A postcolonial perspective," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 45(9), pages 1152-1169, December.
    16. Jie Wu, 2014. "The Antecedents of Corporate Social and Environmental Irresponsibility," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 21(5), pages 286-300, September.
    17. repec:dau:papers:123456789/12277 is not listed on IDEAS
    18. Brian Jones & Ryan Bowd & Ralph Tench, 2009. "Corporate irresponsibility and corporate social responsibility: competing realities," Social Responsibility Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 5(3), pages 300-310, July.
    19. Julian F. Kölbel & Timo Busch & Leonhardt M. Jancso, 2017. "How Media Coverage of Corporate Social Irresponsibility Increases Financial Risk," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(11), pages 2266-2284, November.
    20. Lin-Hi, Nick & Müller, Karsten, 2013. "The CSR bottom line: Preventing corporate social irresponsibility," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 66(10), pages 1928-1936.
    21. Lynch, Michael J. & McGurrin, Danielle & Fenwick, Melissa, 2004. "Disappearing act: The representation of corporate crime research in criminological literature," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 32(5), pages 389-398.
    22. Anonymous, 2013. "Introduction to the Issue," Journal of Wine Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 8(2), pages 129-130, November.
    23. Craig Pearce & Charles Manz, 2011. "Leadership Centrality and Corporate Social Ir-Responsibility (CSIR): The Potential Ameliorating Effects of Self and Shared Leadership on CSIR," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 102(4), pages 563-579, September.
    24. Dawn L. Keig & Lance Eliot Brouthers & Victor B. Marshall, 2015. "Formal and Informal Corruption Environments and Multinational Enterprise Social Irresponsibility," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 52(1), pages 89-116, January.
    25. Grappi, Silvia & Romani, Simona & Bagozzi, Richard P., 2013. "Consumer response to corporate irresponsible behavior: Moral emotions and virtues," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 66(10), pages 1814-1821.
    26. Chanhoo Song & Seung Hun Han, 2017. "Stock Market Reaction to Corporate Crime: Evidence from South Korea," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 143(2), pages 323-351, June.
    27. Putrevu, Sanjay & McGuire, Jean & Siegel, Donald S. & Smith, David M., 2012. "Corporate social responsibility, irresponsibility, and corruption: Introduction to the special section," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 65(11), pages 1618-1621.
    28. Herzig, Christian & Moon, Jeremy, 2013. "Discourses on corporate social ir/responsibility in the financial sector," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 66(10), pages 1870-1880.
    29. Pavel Castka & Michaela A. Balzarova & Christopher J. Bamber & John M. Sharp, 2004. "How can SMEs effectively implement the CSR agenda? A UK case study perspective," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 11(3), pages 140-149, September.
    30. Verghese Chirayath & Kenneth Eslinger & Ernest De Zolt, 2002. "Differential Association, Multiple Normative Standards, and the Increasing Incidence of Corporate Deviance inan Era of Globalization," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 41(1), pages 131-140, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Sofia Villo & Natalya Turkina, 2023. "How do Russian National Systems of Institutional Absences Shape Insensitive Corporate Environmental Violence of a Russian Extractive Multinational Corporation?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 185(2), pages 315-331, June.
    2. Maria Ehrnström-Fuentes & Steffen Böhm, 2023. "The Political Ontology of Corporate Social Responsibility: Obscuring the Pluriverse in Place," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 185(2), pages 245-261, June.
    3. Sarah Williams & David F. Murphy, 2023. "Learning from Each Other: UK Global Businesses, SMEs, CSR and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(5), pages 1-17, February.
    4. Arabella Mocciaro Li Destri & Anna Minà & Pasquale Massimo Picone, 2024. "Corporate social irresponsibility and stakeholders’ support: evidence from a case study," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 28(1), pages 37-62, March.
    5. María Iborra & Marta Riera, 2023. "Corporate social irresponsibility: What we know and what we need to know," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 30(3), pages 1421-1439, May.
    6. Soliman, Salma & Papanastassiou, Marina & Saka-Helmhout, Ayse, 2023. "The role of subsidiaries in Global Value Chains (GVCs): An institutional voids perspective on LVC upgrading and integration," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 29(2).
    7. Deanna Kemp & John R. Owen, 2022. "Corporate social irresponsibility, hostile organisations and global resource extraction," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 29(5), pages 1816-1824, September.
    8. Ioannis Ioannou & George Kassinis & Giorgos Papagiannakis, 2023. "The Impact of Perceived Greenwashing on Customer Satisfaction and the Contingent Role of Capability Reputation," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 185(2), pages 333-347, June.
    9. Chipangamate, Nelson S. & Nwaila, Glen T. & Bourdeau, Julie E. & Zhang, Steven E., 2023. "Integration of stakeholder engagement practices in pursuit of social licence to operate in a modernising mining industry," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 85(PB).
    10. Tianli Feng & Fan Yang & Biao Tan & Jihong Wu, 2022. "Corporate Social Irresponsibility Punishments from Stakeholders—Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(8), pages 1-14, April.

    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. María Iborra & Marta Riera, 2023. "Corporate social irresponsibility: What we know and what we need to know," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 30(3), pages 1421-1439, May.
    2. Anita Mendiratta & Shveta Singh & Surendra Singh Yadav & Arvind Mahajan, 2023. "Bibliometric and Topic Modeling Analysis of Corporate Social Irresponsibility," Global Journal of Flexible Systems Management, Springer;Global Institute of Flexible Systems Management, vol. 24(3), pages 319-339, September.
    3. Xiaoyang Zhao & Jie Mi, 2024. "Firms’ corporate social irresponsibility behaviors during interplay with consumers in evolutionary game models," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-9, December.
    4. Jill A. Küberling-Jost, 2021. "Paths of Corporate Irresponsibility: A Dynamic Process," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 169(3), pages 579-601, March.
    5. Lin-Hi, Nick & Müller, Karsten, 2013. "The CSR bottom line: Preventing corporate social irresponsibility," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 66(10), pages 1928-1936.
    6. Valor, Carmen & Antonetti, Paolo & Zasuwa, Grzegorz, 2022. "Corporate social irresponsibility and consumer punishment: A systematic review and research agenda," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 144(C), pages 1218-1233.
    7. Price, Joseph M. & Sun, Wenbin, 2017. "Doing good and doing bad: The impact of corporate social responsibility and irresponsibility on firm performance," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 82-97.
    8. Wang, Yujie & Tsang, Albert & Xiang, Yi & Yao, Daifei (Troy), 2023. "Corporate social responsibility misconduct and formation of board interlocks," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    9. Maria del García-de los Salmones & Angel Herrero & Patricia Martínez, 2021. "Determinants of Electronic Word-of-Mouth on Social Networking Sites About Negative News on CSR," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 171(3), pages 583-597, July.
    10. Jan Anton van Zanten & Rob van Tulder, 2018. "Multinational enterprises and the Sustainable Development Goals: An institutional approach to corporate engagement," Journal of International Business Policy, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 1(3), pages 208-233, December.
    11. Federica Nieri & Luciano Ciravegna, 2019. "Investigating firms' involvement in corporate social irresponsibility: Are family owned MNEs better corporate citizens?," Discussion Papers 2019/254, Dipartimento di Economia e Management (DEM), University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy.
    12. Paolo Antonetti & Stan Maklan, 2016. "An Extended Model of Moral Outrage at Corporate Social Irresponsibility," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 135(3), pages 429-444, May.
    13. Nils Christian Hoffmann & Juelin Yin & Stefan Hoffmann, 2020. "Chain of Blame: A Multi-country Study of Consumer Reactions Towards Supplier Hypocrisy in Global Supply Chains," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 60(2), pages 247-286, April.
    14. Swaen, Valérie & Demoulin, Nathalie & Pauwels-Delassus, Véronique, 2021. "Impact of customers’ perceptions regarding corporate social responsibility and irresponsibility in the grocery retailing industry: The role of corporate reputation," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 709-721.
    15. Harjoto, Maretno A. & Hoepner, Andreas G.F. & Li, Qian, 2022. "A stakeholder resource-based view of corporate social irresponsibility: Evidence from China," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 144(C), pages 830-843.
    16. Anita, Mendiratta & Shveta, Singh & Yadav Surendra, S. & Arvind, Mahajan, 2023. "When do ESG controversies reduce firm value in India?," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 55(C).
    17. Paolo Antonetti & Stan Maklan, 2018. "Identity Bias in Negative Word of Mouth Following Irresponsible Corporate Behavior: A Research Model and Moderating Effects," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 149(4), pages 1005-1023, June.
    18. Dharwadkar, Ravi & Guo, Jun & Shi, Linna & Yang, Rong, 2021. "Corporate social irresponsibility and boards: The implications of legal expertise," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 143-154.
    19. Luciano Ciravegna & Federica Nieri, 2022. "Business and Human Rights: A Configurational View of the Antecedents of Human Rights Infringements by Emerging Market Firms," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 179(2), pages 431-450, August.
    20. Harjoto, Maretno A. & Hoepner, Andreas G.F. & Li, Qian, 2021. "Corporate social irresponsibility and portfolio performance: A cross-national study," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).

    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:kap:jbuset:v:167:y:2020:i:2:d:10.1007_s10551-019-04157-0. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    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.