Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-fbnjt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-08T14:32:08.110Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Orchestrating Governmental Corporate Social Responsibility Interventions through Financial Markets: The Case of French Socially Responsible Investment

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 April 2020

Stéphanie Giamporcaro ,
Jean-Pascal Gond  and
Niamh O’Sullivan
Stéphanie Giamporcaro
Affiliation:
Nottingham Trent University University of Cape Town
Jean-Pascal Gond
Affiliation:
City, University of London
Niamh O’Sullivan
Affiliation:
University of Nottingham
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Although a growing stream of research investigates the role of government in corporate social responsibility (CSR), little is known about how governmental CSR interventions interact in financial markets. This article addresses this gap through a longitudinal study of the socially responsible investment (SRI) market in France. Building on the “CSR and government” and “regulative capitalism” literatures, we identify three modes of governmental CSR intervention—regulatory steering, delegated rowing, and microsteering—and show how they interact through the two mechanisms of layering (the accumulation of interventions) and catalyzing (the alignment of interventions). Our findings: 1) challenge the notion that, in the neoliberal order, governments are confined to steering market actors—leading and guiding their behavior—while private actors are in charge of rowing—providing products and services; 2) show how governmental CSR interventions interact and are orchestrated; and 3) provide evidence that governments can mobilize financial markets to promote CSR.

Keywords

corporate social responsibilityfinancial marketsgovernmentorchestrationregulationsocially responsible investment
Type
Article
Information
Business Ethics Quarterly , Volume 30 , Issue 3 , July 2020 , pp. 288 - 334
Copyright
© 2020 Business Ethics Quarterly

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abbott, K. W., & Snidal, D. 2009. Strengthening international regulation through transnational new governance: Overcoming the orchestration deficit. Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law , 42: 501–577.Google Scholar
Abbott, K. W., Genschel, P., Snidal, D., & Zangl, B. (Eds.) 2015. International organizations as orchestrators. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Abbott, K. W., Genschel, P., Snidal, D., & Zangl, B. 2017. Two logics of indirect governance: Delegation and orchestration. British Journal of Political Science, 46: 719–729.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Acquier, A., Gond, J.-P., & Pasquero, J., 2011. Rediscovering Howard R. Bowen’s legacy: The unachieved agenda and continuing relevance of social responsibilities of the businessman. Business & Society, 50(4): 607–646.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Albareda, L., Lozano, J. M., Tencati, A., Midttun, A., & Perrini, F. 2008. The changing role of governments in corporate social responsibility: Drivers and responses. Business Ethics: A European Review , 17: 347–363.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Arjaliès, D.-L. 2010. A social movement perspective on finance: How socially responsible investment mattered. Journal of Business Ethics, 92: 57–78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Arjaliès, D.-L., & Durand, R. 2019. Product categories as judgment devices: The moral awakening of the investment industry. Organization Science. DOI: 0.1287/orsc.2018.1267.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Arjaliès, D.-L., Grant, P., Hardie, I., MacKenzie, D., & Svetlova, E. 2017. Chains of finance. How investment management is shaped. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barnett, M. L., Hartmann, J., & Salomon, R. M. 2018. Have you been served? Extending the relationship between corporate social responsibility and lawsuits. Academy of Management Discoveries, 4(2): 109–126.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Behfar, K., & Okhuysen, G.A., 2018. Discovery within validation logic: Deliberately surfacing, complementing, and substituting abductive reasoning in hypothetico-deductive Inquiry. Organization Science, 29(2): 323–340.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Biernarcki, P., & Wardof, D. 1981. Snowball sampling: Problems and techniques of chain referral sampling. Sociological Methods and Research, 10: 141–163.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Botzem, S., & Quack, S. 2006. Contested rules and shifting boundaries: International standard-setting in accounting. In Djelic, M.-L. & Sahlin-Andersson, K. (Eds.), Transnational governance: Institutional dynamics of regulation: 266–286. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Bowen, H. R. 1953. Social responsibilities of the businessman. New York: Harper & Brothers.Google Scholar
Braithwaite, J. 2011. The essence of responsive regulation. UBC Law Review, 44(3): 475–520.Google Scholar
Braithwaite, J., & Drahos, P. 2000. Global business regulation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brovelli, L., Drago, X., & Molinié, E. 2013. 20 propositions pour renforcer la démarche de responsabilité sociale des entreprises (RSE). [Twenty proposals to reinforce companies CSR positioning]. Government report, République Française. http://www.economie.gouv.fr/files/rapport-brovelli-drago.pdf.Google Scholar
Bunge, M., 1997. Mechanism and explanation. Philosophy of the Social Sciences, 27(4): 410–465.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carroll, A. B. 2008. A history of corporate social responsibility: Concepts and practices. In: Crane, A., McWilliams, A., Matten, D., Moon, J., & Siegel, D.S. (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of corporate social responsibility: 3–15. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Crawford, A., 2006. Networked governance and the post-regulatory state? Steering, rowing and anchoring the provision of policing and security. Theoretical Criminology, 10(4): 449–479.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crifo, P., Durand, R., & Gond, J.-P. 2019. Encouraging investors to enable corporate sustainability transitions: The case of responsible investment in France. Organization & Environment, 32(2): 87–97.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crifo, P., & Mottis, N. 2016. Socially responsible investment in France. Business and Society, 55: 576–593.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davis, G. F., McAdam, D, Scott, W. R., & Zald, M. N. 2006. Social movements and organization theory. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Davis, G. F. 2009. The rise and fall of finance and the end of the society of organizations. Academy of Management Perspectives, 23: 27–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Déjean, F., J.-P, Gond., & Leca, B. 2004. Measuring the unmeasured: An institutional entrepreneur strategy in an emerging industry. Human Relations, 57(6): 741–764.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Denhardt, R.B., & Denhardt, J.V., 2000. The new public service: Serving rather than steering. Public Administration Review, 60(6): 549–559.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dentchev, N. A., Haezendonck, E., & van Balen, M. 2017. The role of governments in the business and society debate. Business and Society, 56(4): 527–544.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Djelic, M.-L., & Sahlin-Andersson, K. (Eds.). 2006. Transnational governance: Institutional dynamics of regulation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Donaghey, J., & Reinecke, J., 2018. When industrial democracy meets corporate social responsibility—A comparison of the Bangladesh accord and alliance as responses to the Rana Plaza disaster. British Journal of Industrial Relations, 56(1): 14–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Engels, A. 2006. Market creation and transnational rule-making: The case of CO2 emission trading. In: Djelic, M.-L., & Sahlin-Andersson, K. (Eds.) Transnational governance: Institutional dynamics of regulation: 329–348. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Eurosif. 2018. Eurosif European Survey 2018. Retrieved November 2018 from http://eurosif.org.Google Scholar
Fainshmidt, S., Judge, W.Q., Aguilera, R.V., & Smith, A., 2018. Varieties of institutional systems: A contextual taxonomy of understudied countries. Journal of World Business, 53(3): 307–322.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
FSCA, 2019. Guidance notice: Sustainability of investments and assets in the context of a retirement fund’s investment policy statement. Retrieved May 2019 from https://www.fsca.co.za/.Google Scholar
Fiss, P.C., 2007. A set-theoretic approach to organizational configurations. Academy of Management Review, 32(4): 1180–1198.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fox, T., Ward, H., & Howard, B. 2002. Public sector roles in strengthening corporate social responsibility. Washington DC: The World Bank Group.Google Scholar
FRR, 2017. Responsible investment strategy 2013–2017. Fond de Reserve des Retraites. Retrieved November 2018 from http://www.fondsdereserve.fr.Google Scholar
Freeman, R.E., 1984. Strategic Management: A Stakeholder Approach. Boston: Pitman.Google Scholar
Giamporcaro, S. 2006 . L’Investissement Socialement Responsable entre l’Offre et la Demande: Analyse et Enjeux de la Construction Sociale d’une Épargne Politique. PhD dissertation in sociology, University René Descartes-La Sorbonne, Éditions Universitaires Européennes 2010.Google Scholar
Giamporcaro, S., 2011. Sustainable and responsible investment in emerging markets: Integrating environmental risks in the South African investment industry. Journal of Sustainable Finance & Investment, 1(2): 121–137.Google Scholar
Giamporcaro, S., & Gond, J.-P. 2016. Calculability as politics in the construction of markets: The case of socially responsible investment in France. Organization Studies, 37(4): 465–495.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Giamporcaro, S., & Viviers, S., 2014. SRI in South Africa: A melting-pot of local and global influences. In Louche, C. & Hebb, T. (Eds.), Socially responsible investment in the 21st century: Does it make a difference for society? Bingley, United Kingdom: Emerald.Google Scholar
Gilbert, D.U., Rasche, A., & Waddock, S. 2011. Accountability in a global economy: The emergence of international accountability standards. Business Ethics Quarterly, 21(1): 23–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
J.-P, Gond., Kang, N., & Moon, J. 2011. The government of self-regulation: On the comparative dynamics of corporate social responsibility. Economy and Society, 40(4): 640–671.Google Scholar
Henriksen, L. S., & Ponte, S. 2018. Public orchestration, social networks, and the transnational environmental governance: Lessons from the aviation industry. Regulation & Governance, 12: 23–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hedström, P., & Swedberg, R. (Eds.), 1998. Social mechanisms: An analytical approach to social theory. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Huault, I., & Richard, C. 2012. Finance: The discreet regulator: How financial activities shape and transform the world. London: Palgrave Macmillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jackson, G., & Deeg, R. 2008. Comparing capitalisms: Understanding institutional diversity and its implications for international business. Journal of International Business Studies, 39(4): 540–561.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ketokivi, M., & Mantere, S., 2010. Two strategies for inductive reasoning in organizational research. Academy of Management Review, 35(2): 315–333.Google Scholar
Knudsen, J. S. 2018. Government regulation of international corporate social responsibility in the US and the UK: How domestic institutions shape mandatory and supportive initiatives. British Journal of Industrial Relations, 56(1): 164–188.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Knudsen, J. S., & Moon, J. 2017. Visible hands: Government regulations and international business responsibility. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Knudsen, J. S., Moon, J., & Slager, R. 2015. Government policies for corporate social responsibility in Europe: A comparative analysis of institutionalisation. Policy and Politics, 43: 81–99.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kourula, A., Moon, J., Salles-Djelic, M.L., & Wickert, C., 2019. New roles of government in the governance of business conduct: Implications for management and organizational research. Organization Studies. 40(8): 1101–1123.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kurtz, L. 2008. Socially responsible investment and shareholder activism. In Crane, A., McWilliams, A., Matten, D., Moon, J., & Siegel, D. S., The Oxford handbook of corporate social responsibility: 249–267. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Langley, A. 1999. Strategies for theorizing from process data. Academy of Management Review, 24(4): 691–710.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
La Tribune. 2002. Daniel Lebègue: La CDC est prête à accompagner la réforme de l’Etat. [Daniel Lebègue: The CDC is ready to support the State reform.] October 21.Google Scholar
Le Monde. 2012 . Le nouveau label de Novethic crée des vagues. [The new Novethic label makes waves.] October 11.Google Scholar
Le Monde. 2013 . Investissement responsable: la guerre des labels fait rage. [Responsible investment: The labels’ war rages on.] September 11.Google Scholar
Les Echos. 2006 . L’Agirc-Arrco choisit ses gérants ISR. [Agirc-Arcco chooses its SRI funds managers.] July 26.Google Scholar
Les Echos. 2009 . Le marché ISR résiste mieux à la crise. [The SRI market is more resilient to the crisis.] February 9.Google Scholar
Les Echos. 2012. L’investissement socialement responsable en route vers la maturité. [Socially responsible investment on the path towards maturity.] October 8.Google Scholar
Levi-Faur, D. 2005. The global diffusion of regulatory capitalism. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 598(1): 12–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marti, E., & Scherer, A. G. 2016. Financial regulation and social welfare: The critical contribution of management theory. Academy of Management Review, 41(2): 298–323.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Matten, D., & Moon, J. 2008. “Implicit” and “explicit” CSR: A conceptual framework for a comparative understanding of corporate social responsibility. Academy of Management Review , 33(2): 404–424.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McBarnet, D. 2007. Corporate social responsibility beyond law, through law, for law: The new corporate accountability. In: McBarnet, D., Voiculescu, A., & Campbell, T. (Eds.), The new corporate accountability: Corporate social responsibility and the law: 9–56. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
McCrudden, C. 2007. Buying social justice: Equality, government procurement and legal change. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McWilliams, A., & Siegel, D. 2001. Corporate social responsibility: A theory of the firm perspective. Academy of Management Review, 26(1): 117–127.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Merhpouya, A. 2015. Instituting a transnational accountability regime: The case of sovereign wealth funds and “GAPP.” Accounting, Organization and Society, 44: 15–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miller, P. 1992. Accounting and objectivity, the invention of calculative selves and calculative spaces. Annals of Scholarship, 9: 61–86.Google Scholar
Misangyi, V.F., Greckhamer, T., Furnari, S., Fiss, P.C., Crilly, D., & Aguilera, R., 2017. Embracing causal complexity: The emergence of a neo-configurational perspective. Journal of Management, 43(1): 255–282.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moon, J., & Vogel, D. 2008. Corporate social responsibility, government, and civil society. In Crane, A., McWilliams, A., Matten, D., Moon, J., and Siegel, D. (Eds.), The handbook of corporate social responsibility: 303–323. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Morgan, G. 2017. National business systems research: Progress and prospects. Scandinavian Journal of Management, 23(2): 127–145.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Muet, P.A., Bayard, S., & Pannier-Runacher, A. 2002. Rapport d’Enquête sur la Finance Socialement Responsable et la Finance Solidaire. Inspection Générale des Finances. N°2001-M-044–01. Ministère de l’Economie et des Finances, 2002.Google Scholar
Orlitzky, M., Schmidt, F. L., & Rynes, S. L., 2003. Corporate social and financial performance: A meta-analysis. Organization Studies, 24(3): 403–441.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Osborne, D., & Gaebler, T. 1992. Reinventing government. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.Google Scholar
Polanyi, K. 1957. Economy as instituted process. In Polanyi, K., Arenseberg, C. M., & Pearson, H. (Eds.), Trade and market in the early empires: Economies in history and theory: 243–270. Glencoe, IL: The Free Press.Google Scholar
Power, M. 2012. Foreword by Michael Power. In: Huault, I. & Richard, C. 2012. Finance: The discreet regulator: How financial activities shape and transform the world: xii–xiv. Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Reinecke, J., & Donaghey, J., 2015. After Rana Plaza: Building coalitional power for labour rights between unions and (consumption-based) social movement organisations. Organization, 22(5): 720–740.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reinecke, J., Manning, S., & von Hagen, O. 2012. The emergence of a standards market: Multiplicity of sustainability standards in the global coffee industry. Organization Studies, 33(3–4): 789–812.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ruggie, J.G., 2018. Multinationals as global institution: Power, authority and relative autonomy. Regulation & Governance, 12(3): 317–333.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scherer, A.G., Rasche, A., Palazzo, G., & Spicer, A., 2016. Managing for political corporate social responsibility: New challenges and directions for PCSR 2.0. Journal of Management Studies, 53(3): 273–298.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schmidt, V. A. 2016. Varieties of capitalism: A distinctly French model? In Elgie, R., Mazur, A., Grossman, E., & Appleton, A. (Eds.) The Oxford handbook of French politics: 606–635. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Schneider, A., & Scherer, A. 2019. State governance beyond the ‘shadow of hierarchy’: A social mechanisms perspective on governmental CSR policies. Organization Studies, 40(8): 1147–1168.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Slager, R., Gond, J.-P., & Moon, J. 2012. Standardization as institutional work: The regulatory power of a responsible investments standard. Organization Studies, 33(5–6): 763–790.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Steurer, R. 2010. The role of government in corporate social responsibility: Characterising public policies on CSR in Europe. Policy Sciences , 43: 49–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Steurer, R., Margula, S., & Martinuzzi, A. 2008. Socially responsible investment in EU member states: Overview of government initiatives and SRI experts’ expectations towards governments. Final Report to the EU High-Level Group on CSR.Google Scholar
Steurer, R., Martinuzzi, A., & Margula, S. 2012. Public policies on CSR in Europe: Themes, instruments, and regional differences. Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, 19: 206–227.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stinchcombe, A. L. 1991. The conditions of fruitfulness for theorizing about social mechanisms in social sciences. Philosophy of the Social Sciences, 21: 367–388.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thaler, R., & Sunstein, C. R. 2003. Libertarian paternalism. American Economic Review, 93(2): 175–179.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thaler, R., & Sunstein, C. R. 2008. Nudge: Improving decisions about health, wealth, and happiness. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Useem, M. 1996. Investor Capitalism. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Valiorgue, B., & Roulet, T. 2018. “Gilets jaunes”: Macron pris au piège d'un mouvement social délibérément désorganisé. [“Yellow vests”: Macron trapped by a deliberately disorganized social movement.] The Conversation, 4 December.Google Scholar
Vallentin, S. 2015. Governmentalities of CSR: Danish government policy as a reflection of political difference. Journal of Business Ethics, 127(1): 33–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vallentin, S., & Murrillo, D. 2012. Governmentality and the politics of CSR. Organization, 19(6): 825–883.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vasudeva, G. 2013. Weaving together the normative and regulative roles of government: How the Norwegian Sovereign Wealth Fund’s responsible conduct is shaping firms’ cross-border investments. Organization Science, 24(6): 1601–1669.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wood, G., & Wright, M., 2015. Corporations and new statism: Trends and research priorities. Academy of Management Perspectives, 29(2): 271–286.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yin, R. K. 2009. Case study research: Design and methods. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Zaouati, P. 2018. La Finance Verte commence à Paris.[Green Finance starts in Paris.] Paris: Edition Rue de l’Echiquier.Google Scholar
Zerk, J. A. 2006. Multinationals and corporate social responsibility: A new regulatory agenda. In Zerk, J. A. (Ed.) Multinationals and corporate social responsibility: Limitations and opportunities in international law: 7–59. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar