Greenwashing, CSR promises depend on national attitudes to competition: Oxford scholars
Updated: Apr 29, 2014 01:06:05pm
New Delhi, Apr 29 (KNN) In countries where people believe strongly in the virtues of competition, firms are more likely to practise 'greenwashing' which is to make a lot of noise about their CSR but do very little. However, in countries where liberalism is interpreted as predominantly about individual responsibility, firms are more likely to focus on concrete actions, according to Oxford University scholars.
“The assumption that corporations say one thing and do another when it comes to CSR is not far from the truth, but just how much they follow through on their promises depends on cultural interpretations of the principles of liberal economics and the perceived role and strength of the government,” said Thomas Roulet, a Research Fellow at the Said Business School of Oxford University.
In other words, greenwashing and the extent to which companies meet their corporate social responsibility (CSR) promises depend on national attitudes to competition and individualism.
Roulete and his co-author, Samuel Touboul of IPAG Business School in a paper for Journal of Business Ethics, “The intention with which the road is paved: Attitudes to liberalism as determinants of greenwashing”, said their research suggested a highly complex relationship between beliefs in particular virtues of economic liberalism and the socially responsible behaviours of organisations.
They said it also raises a number of subtle questions relating to the respective roles of business and the state. When a small state is favoured, for example, it seems more likely that companies will step in to ‘fill the gap’. Indeed, some businesses end up having more power than the state and, through becoming involved in developing infrastructures, even substitute for it.
However, some business people are keen to make a distinction between socially responsible things that businesses should be doing, such as reducing the harmful emissions that they generate themselves, and activities that they engage in that are not really part of their remit, but may enhance their reputations. Even when firms act responsibly, they can be doing so with a certain amount of cynicism.
In their survey, the researchers found that developed market economies such as Switzerland, the United States, New Zealand and Canada tended to have higher cultural beliefs in favour of individual responsibility. While those countries also score highly in terms of cultural beliefs in favour of competition, it appears that countries with higher scores on this variable are fast developing countries such as India, China, and Morocco.
They said firms are more likely to greenwash when populations’ beliefs in the virtue of competition are predominant, and when their beliefs in individual responsibility are less prominent.
In a country like Morocco, where beliefs in the virtue of individual responsibility are low, but in the virtue of competition are high, firms are more likely to greenwash. Conversely, in a country like France, where the population believes in the virtue of individual responsibility but prefers an absence of competition, firms are less likely to greenwash as they tend to implement socially and environmentally responsible actions without specifically signalling those actions.
Roulet accepted that firms are inherently selfish and more likely to indulge in symbolic CSR practices that look good, such as getting green accreditation, than actively trying to improve stakeholders’ welfare by, for example, reducing CO₂ emissions.
“In fact, our research has shown that what a firm does in the context of CSR is influenced by the shared cultural expectations in its country of origin, which either unconsciously encourage greenwashing or demand substantive action. Subtle distinctions between different countries’ interpretations of what a liberal economy, is all about can lead to very different attitudes and actions when it comes to how businesses operate in relation to society.” he said. (KNN/ST)
“The assumption that corporations say one thing and do another when it comes to CSR is not far from the truth, but just how much they follow through on their promises depends on cultural interpretations of the principles of liberal economics and the perceived role and strength of the government,” said Thomas Roulet, a Research Fellow at the Said Business School of Oxford University.
In other words, greenwashing and the extent to which companies meet their corporate social responsibility (CSR) promises depend on national attitudes to competition and individualism.
Roulete and his co-author, Samuel Touboul of IPAG Business School in a paper for Journal of Business Ethics, “The intention with which the road is paved: Attitudes to liberalism as determinants of greenwashing”, said their research suggested a highly complex relationship between beliefs in particular virtues of economic liberalism and the socially responsible behaviours of organisations.
They said it also raises a number of subtle questions relating to the respective roles of business and the state. When a small state is favoured, for example, it seems more likely that companies will step in to ‘fill the gap’. Indeed, some businesses end up having more power than the state and, through becoming involved in developing infrastructures, even substitute for it.
However, some business people are keen to make a distinction between socially responsible things that businesses should be doing, such as reducing the harmful emissions that they generate themselves, and activities that they engage in that are not really part of their remit, but may enhance their reputations. Even when firms act responsibly, they can be doing so with a certain amount of cynicism.
In their survey, the researchers found that developed market economies such as Switzerland, the United States, New Zealand and Canada tended to have higher cultural beliefs in favour of individual responsibility. While those countries also score highly in terms of cultural beliefs in favour of competition, it appears that countries with higher scores on this variable are fast developing countries such as India, China, and Morocco.
They said firms are more likely to greenwash when populations’ beliefs in the virtue of competition are predominant, and when their beliefs in individual responsibility are less prominent.
In a country like Morocco, where beliefs in the virtue of individual responsibility are low, but in the virtue of competition are high, firms are more likely to greenwash. Conversely, in a country like France, where the population believes in the virtue of individual responsibility but prefers an absence of competition, firms are less likely to greenwash as they tend to implement socially and environmentally responsible actions without specifically signalling those actions.
Roulet accepted that firms are inherently selfish and more likely to indulge in symbolic CSR practices that look good, such as getting green accreditation, than actively trying to improve stakeholders’ welfare by, for example, reducing CO₂ emissions.
“In fact, our research has shown that what a firm does in the context of CSR is influenced by the shared cultural expectations in its country of origin, which either unconsciously encourage greenwashing or demand substantive action. Subtle distinctions between different countries’ interpretations of what a liberal economy, is all about can lead to very different attitudes and actions when it comes to how businesses operate in relation to society.” he said. (KNN/ST)
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