Serving the World * A qualitative research into how Corporate Social Responsibility is incorporated in an organization and the roles of the organizational field and the organizational agents in this process

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2016-09-26
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en
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Corporate social responsibility is a concept whereby companies integrate social and environmental concerns in their business operations and interactions with stakeholders on a voluntary basis. A lot of research on CSR has been conducted. It became so important in society and research, that organizations have to use CSR related norms, rules and routines to guide decisions. If they do not, the organization will not be accepted to do business. The process of using these norms, rules and routines in order to fit an institution is called ‘incorporation’. Because the way how incorporation of CSR into organizations is still questioned, this master thesis in Organizational Design and Development answers the research question “How is corporate social responsibility incorporated in an organization?”. This is done via a qualitative, deductive method. Heineken serves as a single case, because Heineken’s CSR strategy Brewing a Better World (BaBW) is in top 50 of global organizations that have a positive impact on social and environmental issues (Fortune, 2016). Heineken can be an example for other organizations that incorporate CSR. To answer this question and thereby serve other companies by providing ecommendations based on Heineken’s case, a combination of institutional theory and agency theory assesses how incorporating CSR takes place, and what the role of the organizational agents is in this process. The organizational agents deal with exogenous norms, rules and routines from principals and endogenous norms, rules and routines from the organization itself. Document analysis and in-depth interviews are executed to gather data on how CSR is incorporated in Heineken. Analysis shows that stakeholders, who serve as principals, present exogenous norms, rules and routines related to CSR to Heineken’s agents. These agents perceive this via dialogues and interactions, to understand what issues from the organizational field Heineken needs to incorporate be accepted to do business. At the same time, the principals expect Heineken’s agents to achieve their goals. In addition, also endogenous norms, rules and routines are important, because this is an important part of Heineken’s identity and is captured in its strategy. As a result, the incorporation of CSR is a balancing act where the agents play an important role. The results of this study suggest that incorporation requires deliberate considerations of the organizational agents. The agents make the decision on what and how to incorporate via interaction, measurements, analyses and critical assessments. These activities shape how incorporation of CSR takes place. Resulting from these activities, artifacts are developed that stabilize how incorporation takes place. Examples of artifacts are BaBW, reports and targets. These activities and artifacts influence each other. Concluding, Heineken incorporates CSR not solely based on exogenous norms, rules and routines, as institutional theory suggests, but Heineken’s agents collaborate with stakeholders and consider compliance of exogenous with endogenous norms, rules and routines.
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Faculteit der Managementwetenschappen