The Social Construction of CSR: A Relational View on The Role of CSR Consultants in South Korea

Abstract

While the notion of corporate social responsibility (CSR) has attracted wide attention from scholars and practitioners, little research has been conducted on the specific processes and mechanisms under which CSR is socially constructed and institutionalized. Existing research that links CSR and institutional theory has mainly focused on macro-institutional determinants and cross-national variations in CSR adoption and practice. Further, while increasing research has explored the processes and mechanisms by which actors, practices and strategies socially construct and institutionalize CSR, research has given lack of attention to the role of CSR consultants in socially constructing CSR; in particular, no related studies to date have been conducted in South Korea. This dissertation study aims to explore how CSR consultants contribute to the social construction and institutionalization of CSR in the context of South Korea. By adopting Bourdieu’s theory of practice as a theoretical lens, this study explores: (a) what factors influence the adoption of CSR in Korea; (b) what factors influence the CSR consulting industry and practices in Korea; and, (c) how CSR consultants perceive their role in socially constructing CSR. The study findings provide important implications for the scholarship and practice in the fields of CSR, human resource development (HRD) and organization development (OD), and contribute to the growing literature on applications of the institutional theory in HRD research.