IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/hal/journl/hal-03041023.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

How Scandals Act as Catalysts of Fringe Stakeholders' Contentious Actions against Multinational Corporations

Author

Listed:
  • Thibault Daudigeos
  • Thomas Roulet
  • Bertrand Valiorgue

    (CleRMa - Clermont Recherche Management - ESC Clermont-Ferrand - École Supérieure de Commerce (ESC) - Clermont-Ferrand - UCA [2017-2020] - Université Clermont Auvergne [2017-2020])

Abstract

In this article, we build on the stakeholder-politics literature to investigate how corporate scandals transform political contexts and give impetus to the contentious movements of fringe stakeholders against multinational corporations (MNCs). Based on Adut's scandal theory (2005), we flesh out three scandal-related processes that directly affect political-opportunity structures (POSs) and the generation of social movements against MNCs: convergence of contention towards a single target, publicisation of deviant practices, and contagion to other organisations. These processes reduce the obstacles to collective actions by fringe stakeholders by pushing corporate elites to be more sensitive to their claims, by decreasing MNCs' capability to repress contentious movements, by forcing the targeted MNCs to formalise a policy to monitor and eradicate the controversial practices and by helping fringe stakeholders find internal and external allies to support their claims. This conceptual model of scandals as catalysts of contentious actions contributes to a better understanding of stakeholder politics by unveiling the role of the political context in the coordination of fringe stakeholders.

Suggested Citation

  • Thibault Daudigeos & Thomas Roulet & Bertrand Valiorgue, 2020. "How Scandals Act as Catalysts of Fringe Stakeholders' Contentious Actions against Multinational Corporations," Post-Print hal-03041023, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:journl:hal-03041023
    DOI: 10.1177/0007650318756982
    Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.science/hal-03041023
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://hal.science/hal-03041023/document
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0007650318756982?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
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sébastien Mena & Daniel Waeger, 2014. "Activism for Corporate Responsibility: Conceptualizing Private Regulation Opportunity Structures," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 51(7), pages 1091-1117, November.
    2. Durand, Rodolphe & Clemente, Marco & Roulet, Thomas J., 2016. "The Recursive Nature of Institutional Change: An Annales School Perspective," HEC Research Papers Series 1159, HEC Paris.
    3. Böhm, Steffen & Spicer, André & Fleming, Peter, 2008. "Infra-political dimensions of resistance to international business: A Neo-Gramscian approach," Scandinavian Journal of Management, Elsevier, vol. 24(3), pages 169-182, September.
    4. Jordan, Lisa & van Tuijl, Peter, 2000. "Political Responsibility in Transnational NGO Advocacy," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 28(12), pages 2051-2065, December.
    5. McDonnell, Mary-Hunter & King, Brayden & Soule, Sarah A., 2015. "A Dynamic Process Model of Private Politics: Activist Targeting and Corporate Receptivity to Social Challenges," Research Papers 3319, Stanford University, Graduate School of Business.
    6. David P. Baron, 2003. "Private Politics," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 12(1), pages 31-66, March.
    7. Eveline Bruijn & Gail Whiteman, 2010. "That Which Doesn’t Break Us: Identity Work by Local Indigenous ‘Stakeholders’," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 96(3), pages 479-495, October.
    8. Eisinger, Peter K., 1973. "The Conditions of Protest Behavior in American Cities," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 67(1), pages 11-28, March.
    9. David P. Baron, 2001. "Private Politics, Corporate Social Responsibility, and Integrated Strategy," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 10(1), pages 7-45, March.
    10. Mena, Sébastien & Palazzo, Guido, 2012. "Input and Output Legitimacy of Multi-Stakeholder Initiatives," Business Ethics Quarterly, Cambridge University Press, vol. 22(3), pages 527-556, July.
    11. Lipsky, Michael, 1968. "Protest as a Political Resource," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 62(4), pages 1144-1158, December.
    12. William Ocasio, 1997. "Towards An Attention‐Based View Of The Firm," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(S1), pages 187-206, July.
    13. Javed Siddiqui & Shahzad Uddin, 2016. "Human rights disasters, corporate accountability and the state," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 29(4), pages 679-704, May.
    14. Jianjun Zhang & Xiaowei Rose Luo, 2013. "Dared to Care: Organizational Vulnerability, Institutional Logics, and MNCs’ Social Responsiveness in Emerging Markets," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 24(6), pages 1742-1764, December.
    15. Aurélien Acquier & Bertrand Valiorgue & Thibault Daudigeos, 2017. "Sharing the Shared Value: A Transaction Cost Perspective on Strategic CSR Policies in Global Value Chains," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 144(1), pages 139-152, August.
    16. Emily McAteer & Simone Pulver, 2009. "The Corporate Boomerang: Shareholder Transnational Advocacy Networks Targeting Oil Companies in the Ecuadorian Amazon," Global Environmental Politics, MIT Press, vol. 9(1), pages 1-30, February.
    17. Thomas Roulet, 2015. "“What Good is Wall Street?” Institutional Contradiction and the Diffusion of the Stigma over the Finance Industry," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 130(2), pages 389-402, August.
    18. Xiaomin Yu, 2009. "From Passive Beneficiary to Active Stakeholder: Workers’ Participation in CSR Movement Against Labor Abuses," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 87(1), pages 233-249, April.
    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. Mario Campana & Katherine Duffy & Maria Rita Micheli, 2022. "‘We're all Born Naked and the Rest is Drag’: Spectacularization of Core Stigma in RuPaul's Drag Race," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 59(8), pages 1950-1986, December.
    2. Lutz Preuss & Diego Vazquez-Brust & Natalia Yakovleva & Hamid Foroughi & Diana Mutti, 2022. "When social movements close institutional voids: Triggers, processes, and consequences for multinational enterprises," Post-Print hal-04702917, HAL.
    3. Pia Ellimäki & Ruth V. Aguilera & Nuria Esther Hurtado-Torres & J. Alberto Aragón-Correa, 2023. "The link between foreign institutional owners and multinational enterprises’ environmental outcomes," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 54(5), pages 910-927, July.
    4. Gómez-Bolaños, Efrén & Ellimäki, Pia & Hurtado-Torres, Nuria E. & Delgado-Márquez, Blanca L., 2022. "Internationalization and environmental innovation in the energy sector: Exploring the differences between multinational enterprises from emerging and developed countries," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 163(C).
    5. Preuss, Lutz & Vazquez-Brust, Diego & Yakovleva, Natalia & Foroughi, Hamid & Mutti, Diana, 2022. "When social movements close institutional voids: Triggers, processes, and consequences for multinational enterprises," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 57(1).
    6. Amankwah-Amoah, Joseph & Boso, Nathaniel & Kutsoati, James Kofi, 2022. "Institutionalization of protection for intangible assets: Insights from the counterfeit and pirated goods trade in sub-Saharan Africa," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 57(2).
    7. Ben-Slimane, Karim & Laifi, Amira & Germain, Olivier, 2024. "A relational power perspective on the positional shift of peripheral players in an organisational field: The case of Mediapart in the French press field," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 173(C).
    8. Heidi Reed, 2022. "When the Right Thing to Do Is Also the Wrong Thing: Moral Sensemaking of Responsible Business Behavior During the COVID-19 Crisis," Post-Print hal-04531082, HAL.
    9. Pablo Rodrigo & Ignacio J. Duran, 2021. "Why Does Context Really Matter? Understanding Companies’ Dialogue with Fringe Communities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(2), pages 1-26, 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. Sébastien Mena & Daniel Waeger, 2014. "Activism for Corporate Responsibility: Conceptualizing Private Regulation Opportunity Structures," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 51(7), pages 1091-1117, November.
    2. Abhinav Gupta & Anna Fung & Chad Murphy, 2021. "Out of character: CEO political ideology, peer influence, and adoption of CSR executive position by Fortune 500 firms," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(3), pages 529-557, March.
    3. Francesca Colli & Johan Adriaensen, 2020. "Lobbying the state or the market? A framework to study civil society organizations’ strategic behavior," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 14(3), pages 501-513, July.
    4. Julien Daubanes & Jean-Charles Rochet, 2013. "Activists versus Captured Regulators," CESifo Working Paper Series 4444, CESifo.
    5. Pei Sun & Jonathan P. Doh & Tazeeb Rajwani & Donald Siegel, 2021. "Navigating cross-border institutional complexity: A review and assessment of multinational nonmarket strategy research," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 52(9), pages 1818-1853, December.
    6. Prieur, Fabien & Zou, Benteng, 2018. "Climate politics: How public persuasion affects the trade-off between environmental and economic performance," Mathematical Social Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 63-72.
    7. Rucht, Dieter, 1994. "Öffentlichkeit als Mobilisierungsfaktor für soziale Bewegungen," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, pages 337-358.
    8. Bastian Grühn & Steffen Strese & Tessa C. Flatten & Nikolai A. Jaeger & Malte Brettel, 2017. "Temporal Change Patterns of Entrepreneurial Orientation: A Longitudinal Investigation of CEO Successions," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 41(4), pages 591-619, July.
    9. Julien Daubanes & Jean-Charles Rochet, 2019. "The Rise of NGO Activism," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 11(4), pages 183-212, November.
    10. Venkatesh, V.G. & Zhang, Abraham & Deakins, Eric & Mani, Venkatesh, 2021. "Antecedents of social sustainability noncompliance in the Indian apparel sector," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 234(C).
    11. Baron, David P. & Harjoto, Maretno A. & Jo, Hoje, 2009. "The Economics and Politics of Corporate Social Performance," Research Papers 1993r, Stanford University, Graduate School of Business.
    12. Jean-Pascal Gond & Luciano Barin Cruz & Emmanuel Raufflet & Mathieu Charron, 2016. "To Frack or Not to Frack? The Interaction of Justification and Power in a Sustainability Controversy," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(3), pages 330-363, May.
    13. Jodi L. Short & Michael W. Toffel & Andrea R. Hugill, 2016. "Code Contingencies: Designing Monitoring Regimes to Promote Improvement in Supply Chain Working Conditions," Harvard Business School Working Papers 17-001, Harvard Business School, revised Mar 2019.
    14. Yanhua Bird & Jodi L. Short & Michael W. Toffel, 2019. "Coupling Labor Codes of Conduct and Supplier Labor Practices: The Role of Internal Structural Conditions," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 30(4), pages 847-867, July.
    15. Rodolphe Durand & Panayiotis (Panikos) Georgallis, 2018. "Differential Firm Commitment to Industries Supported by Social Movement Organizations," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 29(1), pages 154-171, February.
    16. Jiao Luo & Aseem Kaul, 2019. "Private action in public interest: The comparative governance of social issues," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(4), pages 476-502, April.
    17. Heijnen, Pim & van der Made, Allard, 2012. "A signaling theory of consumer boycotts," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 63(3), pages 404-418.
    18. 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.
    19. Zijun Luo & Yonghong Zhou, 2020. "Decomposing the effects of consumer boycotts: evidence from the anti-Japanese demonstration in China," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 58(6), pages 2615-2634, June.
    20. Sophie Hatte & Pamina Koenig, 2020. "The Geography of NGO Activism against Multinational Corporations," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 34(1), pages 143-163.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    stakeholder politics; scandals; political-opportunity structures; multinational corporations; fringe stakeholders;
    All these keywords.

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:hal:journl:hal-03041023. 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: CCSD (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/ .

    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.