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Journal of Business Ethics

Erschienen in:

01.07.2013

Different Paths to Collaboration Between Businesses and Civil Society and the Role of Third Parties

verfasst von: Daniel Arenas, Pablo Sanchez, Matthew Murphy

Erschienen in: Journal of Business Ethics | Ausgabe 4/2013

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Abstract

In this article, we suggest that one of the unexplored paths toward collaboration between firms and civil society organizations starts with confrontation or potential conflict, and that the transition toward collaboration can be further understood if one focuses on triadic relationships rather than dyadic ones. We analyze the presence of third parties and their different roles to explain how collaboration is facilitated. The article aims at bringing together the bodies of research on business–civil society confrontation and on business–civil society collaboration. It offers a comparative analysis of four case studies, and proposes a typology of third parties composed of facilitating allies, participating allies, mediators, and solution seekers. We conclude with some implications for further research as well as for practice.

Vorheriger Artikel The Glocalization of Responsible Investment: Contextualization Work in France and Québec

Nächster Artikel CSR, Co-optation and Resistance: The Emergence of New Agonistic Relations Between Business and Civil Society

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Throughout the article, we use the terms nonprofit organization and NGO interchangeably as done by other authors in the field (Selsky and Parker, 2005). Yet, we favor the more generic term “civil society organization” (or CSO), which encompasses all groups that are neither controlled by the state nor the market, such as activists concerned with peace, the environment, and many other social and political issues; charities and “social purpose NGOs,” as well as “member NGOs” (Teegen et al. 2004); and also traditional and neo-traditional organizations (Kaldor 2003). In particular, the generic term can include social movements, trade unions, professional associations, faith-organizations, foundations and even socially oriented shareholder activists, which could be overlooked when using the term “NGO.”

Throughout the article, we use the terms “conflict,” “confrontation,” and “adversarial interaction” interchangeably, to refer to a situation in which a CSO and a firm have different assessments about the consequences of the firms’ operations (den Hond et al. 2010) which in turn leads to latent, felt, perceived or manifest struggle (Pondy 1967).

Even if some authors have criticized the use of a continuum as a classification scheme while supporting the use of typologies (Kolk and Mauser 2002, p. 11), others have pointed out that “an alternative theoretical approach is possible when two of the ideal types define the endpoints of a continuum” (Doty and Glick 1994, p. 237). Even if most typologies do not define a continuum, we claim that there can be theoretical value in establishing a continuum when the ideal types at the endpoints of the continuum are well defined.

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Titel: Different Paths to Collaboration Between Businesses and Civil Society and the Role of Third Parties
verfasst von: Daniel Arenas
Pablo Sanchez
Matthew Murphy
Publikationsdatum: 01.07.2013
Verlag: Springer Netherlands
Erschienen in: Journal of Business Ethics / Ausgabe 4/2013
Print ISSN: 0167-4544
Elektronische ISSN: 1573-0697
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-013-1829-5

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