The Paradox of Corporate Social Responsibility Standards

The purpose of this paper is to provide a constructive criticism of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) standards. After pointing out a number of benefits and limitations in the effectiveness of CSR standards, both from a theoretical point of view and in the light of empirical evidence, we formulate and discuss a Paradox of CSR standards: despite being well-intended, CSR standards can favor the emergence of a thoughtless, blind and blinkered mindset which is counterproductive of their aim of enhancing the social responsibility of the organization. We analyze three problems that might underlie the Paradox—namely the problem of deceptive measurements; the problem of responsibility erosion and the problem of blinkered culture. We apply the philosophical tradition of American Pragmatism to reflect on these issues in relation to different types of existing standards, and conclude by suggesting a number of considerations that could help both CSR standards developers and users to address the Paradox.

[1]  Robert D. Klassen,et al.  When One Size Does Not Fit All: A Problem of Fit Rather than Failure for Voluntary Management Standards , 2012, Journal of Business Ethics.

[2]  J. Dewey,et al.  The Public and its Problems , 1927 .

[3]  J. Elster.  Ulysses And The Sirens , 1979 .

[4]  Simone de Colle,et al.  The social and ethical alchemy: An integrative approach to social and ethical accountability , 2002 .

[5]  W. Barrett.  The Illusion of Technique: A Search for Meaning in A Technological Civilization, by William Barrett. Garden City, New York, Anchor Books, 1979. Pp. 392. Paper, $4.95 , 1979 .

[6]  Michael Clark,et al.  Paradoxes from A to Z , 2002 .

[7]  J. Moon,et al.  The Adoption of Voluntary Codes of Conduct in MNCs: A Three‐Country Comparative Study , 2004 .

[8]  Ann Terlaak,et al.  Order without law? the role of certified management standards in shaping socially desired firm behaviors , 2007 .

[9]  Arturo A. Keller,et al.  Free riding in voluntary environmental programs: The case of the U.S. EPA WasteWise program , 2005 .

[10]  Adrian Henriques.  Corporate Impact: Measuring and Managing Your Social Footprint , 2010 .

[11]  Jason Stansbury,et al.  Ethics Programs and the Paradox of Control , 2007, Business Ethics Quarterly.

[12]  Robert B. Pojasek,et al.  ISO 26000 guidance on social responsibility , 2011 .

[13]  Nicholas Dew,et al.  Innovations, Stakeholders & Entrepreneurship , 2007 .

[14]  A. Wicks,et al.  Getting Real: Stakeholder Theory, Managerial Practice, and the General Irrelevance of Fiduciary Duties Owed to Shareholders , 1999, Business Ethics Quarterly.

[15]  Michael J. Lenox,et al.  Industry Self-Regulation Without Sanctions: The Chemical Industry's Responsible Care Program , 2000 .

[16]  J. Elster.  Ulysses and the Sirens: Studies in Rationality and Irrationality , 1985 .

[17]  S. Waddock,et al.  Accountability in a Global Economy: The Emergence of International Accountability Standards , 2010 .

[18]  William James,et al.  Essays in Radical Empiricism , 1907 .

[19]  R. Freeman.  The Politics of Stakeholder Theory: Some Future Directions , 1994, Business Ethics Quarterly.

[20]  Deborah Leipziger,et al.  The Corporate Responsibility Code Book , 2003 .

[21]  R. Freeman.  Strategic Management: A Stakeholder Approach , 2010 .

[22]  Cesar Gómez.  Hechos y valores: sobre "The collapse of the fact. Value dichotomy and other essays", de Hilary Putnam , 2004 .

[23]  Andreas Rasche,et al.  The Limits of Corporate Responsibility Standards , 2010 .

[24]  Simone de Colle,et al.  Stakeholder Theory: The State of the Art , 2010 .

[25]  Andreas Rasche,et al.  Opportunities and Problems of Standardized Ethics Initiatives – a Stakeholder Theory Perspective , 2008 .

[26]  Magali A. Delmas,et al.  Voluntary agreements to improve environmental quality: symbolic and substantive cooperation , 2009 .

[27]  M. Schwartz,et al.  What Can We Learn from the U.S. Federal Sentencing Guidelines for Organizational Ethics , 1998 .

[28]  W. James,et al.  The Will to Believe , 1997, Arguing About Knowledge.

[29]  Andreas Rasche,et al.  Discourse Ethics and Social Accountability: The Ethics of SA 8000 , 2007, Business Ethics Quarterly.

[30]  R. Rorty.  Philosophy and Social Hope , 1999 .

[31]  R. Rorty.  Consequences of pragmatism , 1982 .

[32]  Michael J. Lenox,et al.  The Strategic Use of Decentralized Institutions: Exploring Certification With the ISO 14001 Management Standard , 2005 .

[33]  Timothy L. Fort,et al.  The 2004 Amendments to the Federal Sentencing Guidelines and their Implicit Call for a Symbiotic Integration of Business Ethics , 2006 .

[34]  R. Rorty.  Objectivity, Relativism, and Truth: Philosophical Papers , 1990 .

[35]  S. Waddock.  Building the Institutional Infrastructure for Corporate Social Responsibility , 2006 .

[36]  S. Zadek.  Titans or Titanic: Towards a Public Fiduciary , 2012 .

[37]  M. Toffel,et al.  Evaluating the Impact of SA 8000 Certification , 2008 .

[38]  W. Evan,et al.  Corporate governance: A stakeholder interpretation , 1990 .

[39]  David Hess.  A Business Ethics Perspective on Sarbanes Oxley and the Organizational Sentencing Guidelines , 2006 .

[40]  L. Menand,et al.  Pragmatism: A Reader , 1997 .

[41]  H. Putnam.  The Collapse of the Fact/Value Dichotomy and Other Essays , 2002 .

[42]  A. Rasche,et al.  From Stakeholder Management to Stakeholder Accountability , 2006 .

[43]  H. Saunders,et al.  The Khazzoom-Brookes Postulate and Neoclassical Growth , 1992 .

[44]  R. Phillips.  Stakeholder Theory and Organizational Ethics , 2003 .

[45]  Cynthia A. Williams,et al.  The Roles of Standardization, Certification, and Assurance Services in Global Commerce , 2008 .

[46]  L. Sacconi.  A Social Contract Account for CSR as Extended Model of Corporate Governance (Part Ii): Compliance, Reputation and Reciprocity , 2004 .

[47]  Gregory A. Bigley,et al.  Ethical Theory and Stakeholder-Related Decisions: The Role of Stakeholder Culture , 2007 .

[48]  V. C. Petersen.  Beyond Rules in Society and Business , 2002 .

[49]  M. Deutsch,et al.  Research Methods in Social Relations , 1952 .

[50]  D. Seidl.  Standard Setting and Following in Corporate Governance: An Observation-Theoretical Study of the Effectiveness of Governance Codes , 2007 .

[51]  Patricia H. Werhane,et al.  Moral Motivation Across Ethical Theories: What Can We Learn for Designing Corporate Ethics Programs? , 2008, Issues in Business Ethics.

[52]  Benedetta Siboni.  AA1000 Assurance Standard , 2009 .

[53]  H. Simon,et al.  Models of Man. , 1957 .

[54]  Andrew A. King,et al.  The effect of certification with the ISO 9000 Quality Management Standard: A signaling approach , 2006 .