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| Author: | Joutsenvirta, M. |
| Title: | Setting boundaries for corporate social responsibility: firm-NGO relationship as discursive legitimation struggle |
| Journal: | Journal of Business Ethics
2011 : AUG I, VOL. 102:1, p. 57-75 |
| Index terms: | corporate responsibility social responsibility organizational behaviour forestry industry companies Nordic countries Finland non-government organizations international |
| Freeterms: | CSR legitimacy discourse analysis rhetorical analysis sensemaking languages |
| Language: | eng |
| Abstract: | This article extends the understanding of the firm-nongovernmental organization (NGO) relationship by highlighting the role of language in shaping organizational behaviour. The focus is on discursive and rhetorical activity by which firms and NGOs jointly define boundaries for socially acceptable corporate behaviour. The discursive legitimation struggles of a leading Finnish forest industry company StoraEnso and Greenpeace are explored from 1985 to 2001. It is examined how these struggles participated in the (re)definition and institutionalization of corporate social responsibility (CSR). There is found a mixture of rational and moral struggles as a key feature of this legitimation work. It is shown how different manifestations of these struggles act as a central mechanism redefining what the boundaries of corporate responsibility are in a specific setting. It is also illustrated how the actors' ability to sense the publics' views contribute to rhetorical difficulties of the industry and ..., and how the rational and moral struggles build up in time to trigger changes in the actors' sensemaking and actions. |
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