The Organisational Dynamics Of A Corporate Responsibility Index

Responsible business indices have become increasingly important in both academic and empirical fields of corporate social responsibility (CSR) with a growing number of organisations purporting to record CSR practice in this manner; FTSE4Good, Dow Jones, Domini and Business in the Community (BITC) to name but a few. The perceived purpose of such indices is extremely diverse. Designed initially as measurement tools for investors or methods of promoting responsible business practice, indices are also used by many organisations to measure progress overtime, benchmark practices against peers or communicate CSR practices. Thus far the main body of literature in this area has explored indices’ financial impact, validity in gaining and conveying legitimacy or social impact in promoting responsible business practices. However, there seems to be little research exploring the dynamic nature of the organisations behind such indices, their various stakeholders and the changes they have undergone over time. The following paper addresses this theoretical gap through an exploration of the organisational dynamics of one of the UK’s most prominent CSR indices; BITC’s Corporate Responsibility (CR) Index. BITC is a business led charity founded in 1982. Each year since 2002 they have produced a CR index which benchmarks organisations in terms of their responsible business practice. The index has undergone many alterations over its 11 year history and is again on the precipice of transformation. This paper applies stakeholder analysis to map the organisational dynamics, interests and power relations that influence index development, arguing that networks and agency within the organisation and the organisation’s membership have an integral effect on change. The paper concludes by signposting how network theory may be applied to these various interests groups and power relations to add value to the analysis of stakeholders and our understanding of organisational change.