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Corporate response to CSO criticism: decoupling the corporate responsibility discourse from business practice

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  • Jenny Ählström

Abstract

The general objective of this paper is to further research on the interaction between civil society organizations (CSOs) and corporations. The aim is to analyze how corporations are responding to demands to enlarge the responsibility sphere. A case is presented in which CSOs are putting pressure on the garment retailer Hennes & Mauritz (H&M) to be responsible for safeguarding workers' rights in the outsourced production of H&M garments. The conclusion of the paper, derived from analyzing the empirical context using discourse theory, is that: (1) CSOs represent a challenging discourse (responsible business) attempting to change the dominant corporate discourse (profitable business); (2) If the challenging discourse is threatening the legitimacy of the corporation, a responsible business discourse is created; and (3) Responding to the demands of the CSOs is done to keep the business practice intact, hence practice is decoupled from the responsible business discourse. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

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  • Jenny Ählström, 2010. "Corporate response to CSO criticism: decoupling the corporate responsibility discourse from business practice," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 17(2), pages 70-80, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:corsem:v:17:y:2010:i:2:p:70-80
    DOI: 10.1002/csr.232
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. William Shafer, 2006. "Social Paradigms and Attitudes Toward Environmental Accountability," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 65(2), pages 121-147, May.
    2. Kolk, Ans & van Tulder, Rob, 2002. "The Effectiveness of Self-regulation:: Corporate Codes of Conduct and Child Labour," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 20(3), pages 260-271, June.
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    2. Oscar Rikhotso & Thabiso John Morodi & Daniel Masilu Masekameni, 2022. "The Extent of Occupational Health Hazard Impact on Workers: Documentary Evidence from National Occupational Disease Statistics and Selected South African Companies’ Voluntary Corporate Social Responsi," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(17), pages 1-25, August.

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