IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/jbuset/v149y2018i3d10.1007_s10551-016-3027-8.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Accountable to Whom? Rethinking the Role of Corporations in Political CSR

Author

Listed:
  • Waheed Hussain

    (University of Toronto)

  • Jeffrey Moriarty

    (Bentley University)

Abstract

According to Palazzo and Scherer, the changing role of business corporations in society requires that we take new measures to integrate these organizations into society-wide processes of democratic governance. We argue that their model of integration has a fundamental problem. Instead of treating business corporations as agents that must be held accountable to the democratic reasoning of affected parties, it treats corporations as agents who can hold others accountable. In our terminology, it treats business corporations as “supervising authorities” rather than “functionaries.” The result is that Palazzo and Scherer’s model does not actually address the democratic deficit that it is meant to solve. In order to fix the problem, we advocate removing business corporations from any policymaking role in political CSR and limiting participation to political NGOs and other groups that meet the standards we set out for a politically representative organization (PRO).

Suggested Citation

  • Waheed Hussain & Jeffrey Moriarty, 2018. "Accountable to Whom? Rethinking the Role of Corporations in Political CSR," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 149(3), pages 519-534, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:149:y:2018:i:3:d:10.1007_s10551-016-3027-8
    DOI: 10.1007/s10551-016-3027-8
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10551-016-3027-8
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10551-016-3027-8?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. Michael C. Jensen, 2010. "Value Maximization, Stakeholder Theory, and the Corporate Objective Function," Journal of Applied Corporate Finance, Morgan Stanley, vol. 22(1), pages 32-42, January.
    2. Brenkert, George G., 1992. "Freedom, Participation and Corporations: The Issue of Corporate (Economic) Democracy," Business Ethics Quarterly, Cambridge University Press, vol. 2(3), pages 251-269, July.
    3. Baur, Dorothea & Palazzo, Guido, 2011. "The Moral Legitimacy of NGOs as Partners of Corporations," Business Ethics Quarterly, Cambridge University Press, vol. 21(4), pages 579-604, October.
    4. Boatright, John R., 2004. "Employee Governance and the Ownership of the firm," Business Ethics Quarterly, Cambridge University Press, vol. 14(1), pages 1-21, January.
    5. Scherer, Andreas Georg & Palazzo, Guido & Baumann, Dorothée, 2006. "Global Rules and Private Actors: Toward a New Role of the Transnational Corporation in Global Governance," Business Ethics Quarterly, Cambridge University Press, vol. 16(4), pages 505-532, October.
    6. Kobrin, Stephen J., 2009. "Private Political Authority and Public Responsibility: Transnational Politics, Transnational Firms, and Human Rights," Business Ethics Quarterly, Cambridge University Press, vol. 19(3), pages 349-374, July.
    7. 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.
    8. Guido Palazzo & Andreas Scherer, 2006. "Corporate Legitimacy as Deliberation: A Communicative Framework," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 66(1), pages 71-88, June.
    9. Jonathan P. Doh, 2005. "Offshore Outsourcing: Implications for International Business and Strategic Management Theory and Practice," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(3), pages 695-704, May.
    10. Boatright, John R., 1994. "Fiduciary Duties and the Shareholder-Management Relation: or, What's so Special About Shareholders?," Business Ethics Quarterly, Cambridge University Press, vol. 4(4), pages 393-407, October.
    11. McCall, John J., 2001. "Employee Voice in Corporate Governance: A Defense of Strong Participation Rights," Business Ethics Quarterly, Cambridge University Press, vol. 11(1), pages 195-213, January.
    12. Sandra Moog & André Spicer & Steffen Böhm, 2015. "The Politics of Multi-Stakeholder Initiatives: The Crisis of the Forest Stewardship Council," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 128(3), pages 469-493, May.
    13. BOATRIGHT, John R., 2004. "Employee governance and the ownership of the firm," Economic and Social Journal (Economisch en Sociaal Tijdschrift), University of Antwerp, Faculty of Business and Economics, vol. 57(4), pages 423-449, Februari.
    14. Ruggie, John Gerard, 2004. "Reconstituting the Global Public Domain: Issues, Actors and Practices," Working Paper Series rwp04-031, Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government.
    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. Jennifer Goodman & Jukka Mäkinen, 2022. "Democracy in Political Corporate Social Responsibility: A Dynamic, Multilevel Account," Post-Print hal-04002327, HAL.
    2. Gillian K. Hadfield & Jack Clark, 2023. "Regulatory Markets: The Future of AI Governance," Papers 2304.04914, arXiv.org, revised Apr 2023.
    3. Stephanie Schrage & Dirk Ulrich Gilbert, 2021. "Addressing Governance Gaps in Global Value Chains: Introducing a Systematic Typology," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 170(4), pages 657-672, May.
    4. Tadhg Ó Laoghaire, 2023. "Why (Some) Corporations Have Positive Duties to (Some of) the Global Poor," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 184(3), pages 741-755, May.
    5. Andersen, Sophie Esmann & Johansen, Trine Susanne, 2021. "Corporate citizenship: Challenging the corporate centricity in corporate marketing," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 686-699.
    6. Antonio Bontempi & Daniela Bene & Louisa Jane Felice, 2023. "Counter-reporting sustainability from the bottom up: the case of the construction company WeBuild and dam-related conflicts," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 182(1), pages 7-32, January.
    7. Hurst, Bree & Roper, Juliet & George, Michael, 2019. "Can corporations take political roles [and should they]? The case of Papua New Guinea and the extractive industry," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    8. Bimal Arora & Arno Kourula & Robert Phillips, 2020. "Emerging Paradigms of Corporate Social Responsibility, Regulation, and Governance: Introduction to the Thematic Symposium," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 162(2), pages 265-268, March.
    9. Gastón de los Reyes & Markus Scholz, 2023. "Assessing the Legitimacy of Corporate Political Activity: Uber and the Quest for Responsible Innovation," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 184(1), pages 51-69, April.
    10. Subhabrata Bobby Banerjee, 2022. "Decolonizing Management Theory: A Critical Perspective," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 59(4), pages 1074-1087, June.
    11. Subhabrata Bobby Banerjee, 2022. "Decolonizing Deliberative Democracy: Perspectives from Below," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 181(2), pages 283-299, November.
    12. Buhmann, Alexander & Fieseler, Christian, 2021. "Towards a deliberative framework for responsible innovation in artificial intelligence," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    13. Sandrine Blanc, 2023. "Deliberative Democracy and Corporate Constitutionalism: Considering Corporate Constitutional Courts," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 188(1), pages 1-15, November.
    14. Daniela Coluccia & Stefano Fontana & Silvia Solimene, 2018. "Does Institutional Context Affect CSR Disclosure? A Study on Eurostoxx 50," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(8), pages 1-20, August.
    15. Aurélien Feix & Georg Wernicke, 2024. "When Is CEO Activism Conducive to the Democratic Process?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 190(4), pages 755-774, April.
    16. Rob Barlow, 2022. "Deliberation Without Democracy in Multi-stakeholder Initiatives: A Pragmatic Way Forward," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 181(3), pages 543-561, December.
    17. Michael Bennett, 2023. "Managerial Discretion, Market Failure and Democracy," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 185(1), pages 33-47, June.
    18. Gabriela Gutierrez-Huerter O & Stefan Gold & Alexander Trautrims, 2023. "Change in Rhetoric but not in Action? Framing of the Ethical Issue of Modern Slavery in a UK Sector at High Risk of Labor Exploitation," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 182(1), pages 35-58, January.

    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. Judith Schrempf-Stirling, 2018. "State Power: Rethinking the Role of the State in Political Corporate Social Responsibility," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 150(1), pages 1-14, June.
    2. Anselm Schneider & Andreas Scherer, 2015. "Corporate Governance in a Risk Society," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 126(2), pages 309-323, January.
    3. Brink, Alexander, 2011. "Spezifische Investitionen als Legitimationsgrundlage für Stakeholderansprüche," Die Unternehmung - Swiss Journal of Business Research and Practice, Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG, vol. 65(1), pages 50-68.
    4. Stephanie Schrage & Dirk Ulrich Gilbert, 2021. "Addressing Governance Gaps in Global Value Chains: Introducing a Systematic Typology," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 170(4), pages 657-672, May.
    5. Andrea Felicetti, 2018. "A Deliberative Case for Democracy in Firms," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 150(3), pages 803-814, July.
    6. Pasi Heikkurinen & Jukka Mäkinen, 2018. "Synthesising Corporate Responsibility on Organisational and Societal Levels of Analysis: An Integrative Perspective," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 149(3), pages 589-607, May.
    7. Pies, Ingo & Beckmann, Markus & Hielscher, Stefan, 2012. "The political role of the business firm: An ordonomic concept of corporate citizenship developed in comparison with the Aristoleian idea of individual citizenship," Discussion Papers 2012-1, Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg, Chair of Economic Ethics.
    8. Alexander Brink, 2010. "Enlightened Corporate Governance: Specific Investments by Employees as Legitimation for Residual Claims," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 93(4), pages 641-651, June.
    9. Barkemeyer, Ralf & Preuss, Lutz & Lee, Lindsay, 2015. "On the effectiveness of private transnational governance regimes—Evaluating corporate sustainability reporting according to the Global Reporting Initiative," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 50(2), pages 312-325.
    10. Wim Dubbink & Luc Liedekerke, 2014. "Grounding Positive Duties in Commercial Life," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 120(4), pages 527-539, April.
    11. Pies, Ingo & Beckmann, Markus & Hielscher, Stefan, 2009. "Competitive markets, corporate firms, and new governance - An ordonomic conceptualization," Discussion Papers 2009-13, Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg, Chair of Economic Ethics.
    12. Anna-Lena Maier, 2021. "Political corporate social responsibility in authoritarian contexts," Journal of International Business Policy, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 4(4), pages 476-495, December.
    13. 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.
    14. Norma Schönherr, 2022. "Same Same but Different? A Quantitative Exploration of Voluntary Sustainability Standards in Agriculture," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-18, April.
    15. Steffen Roth & Vladislav Valentinov & Markus Heidingsfelder & Miguel Pérez-Valls, 2020. "CSR Beyond Economy and Society: A Post-capitalist Approach," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 165(3), pages 411-423, September.
    16. Ulf Richter, 2010. "Liberal Thought in Reasoning on CSR," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 97(4), pages 625-649, December.
    17. Christian Voegtlin & Andreas Georg Scherer, 2017. "Responsible Innovation and the Innovation of Responsibility: Governing Sustainable Development in a Globalized World," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 143(2), pages 227-243, June.
    18. Frederick Ahen & Joseph Amankwah-Amoah, 2018. "Institutional Voids and the Philanthropization of CSR Practices: Insights from Developing Economies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(7), pages 1-27, July.
    19. Ulf Richter, 2011. "Drivers of Change: A Multiple-Case Study on the Process of Institutionalization of Corporate Responsibility Among Three Multinational Companies," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 102(2), pages 261-279, August.
    20. Michael S. Aßländer, 2020. "How to Overcome Structural Injustice? Social Connectedness and the Tenet of Subsidiarity," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 162(3), pages 719-732, March.

    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:149:y:2018:i:3:d:10.1007_s10551-016-3027-8. 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.