TY - JOUR
T1 - A Responsibility to Whom?
T2 - Populism and Its Effects on Corporate Social Responsibility
AU - Hartwell, CA
AU - Devinney, TM
PY - 2024/2
Y1 - 2024/2
N2 - Although populism is an ideologically fluid political vehicle, it is not one that is intrinsically anti-business. Indeed, different varieties of populist parties may encourage business activity for utilitarian ends, but with their own ideas on what businesses should be doing. This reality implies that initiatives not related to national greatness or priorities as defined by the populist leadership may be viewed as redundant. Key among such initiatives would be corporate social responsibility (CSR). In a populist environment, it is possible that firms may divert resources away from broad-based CSR under pressure from populist governments. This article explores the relationship between populist governance and CSR with an econometric examination of over a thousand firms in 13 countries under both pro- and anti-business populist governments at varying times from 2012 to 2020. Using dynamic panel data methods, we find strong evidence that firms substitute away significantly from CSR under populism. This effect grows significantly larger under anti-business populists.
AB - Although populism is an ideologically fluid political vehicle, it is not one that is intrinsically anti-business. Indeed, different varieties of populist parties may encourage business activity for utilitarian ends, but with their own ideas on what businesses should be doing. This reality implies that initiatives not related to national greatness or priorities as defined by the populist leadership may be viewed as redundant. Key among such initiatives would be corporate social responsibility (CSR). In a populist environment, it is possible that firms may divert resources away from broad-based CSR under pressure from populist governments. This article explores the relationship between populist governance and CSR with an econometric examination of over a thousand firms in 13 countries under both pro- and anti-business populist governments at varying times from 2012 to 2020. Using dynamic panel data methods, we find strong evidence that firms substitute away significantly from CSR under populism. This effect grows significantly larger under anti-business populists.
KW - corporate social responsibility
KW - populism
KW - stakeholder capitalism
UR - https://www.webofscience.com/api/gateway?GWVersion=2&SrcApp=pure_starter&SrcAuth=WosAPI&KeyUT=WOS:000970331000001&DestLinkType=FullRecord&DestApp=WOS
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85153094365&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - https://www.mendeley.com/catalogue/91c9ae02-3e79-3258-b276-ff341427735a/
U2 - 10.1177/00076503231163536
DO - 10.1177/00076503231163536
M3 - Article
SN - 0007-6503
VL - 63
SP - 300
EP - 340
JO - Business & Society
JF - Business & Society
IS - 2
ER -