A Socio-Political Perspective on Corporate Social Responsibility: Understanding Regulatory Substitution and the Persistence of Irresponsibility

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) reflects a socio-political shift toward private self-regulation based on voluntarism and market-based pressures of enforcement. CSR initiatives have been linked to political demands for market liberalization and the absence of regulation, and legitimated increasingly in terms of a “business case” or positive-sum relationship between social responsibility and good business performance. The institutionalization of CSR as voluntary realm suggests several paradoxes observed in empirical evidence: between CSR as a complement or substitute of regulation, between responsible and irresponsible corporate actions, and between the diffusion and implementation of CSR. Empirical evidence suggests that CSR adoption is driven by substitution for formal regulation associated and business activities falling into regulatory voids. Moreover, its adoption is highly correlated with corporate irresponsibility. However, efforts to improve implementation through legal regulation or multi-stakeholder initiatives may threaten to undermine the business case that legitimated its initial adoption.