Bridging Sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility: Culture of Monitoring and Evaluation of CSR Initiatives in India

Abstract

This study examines the continuum of sustainability and corporate social responsibility (CSR) policies, and analyzes broad patterns that have emerged with respect to monitoring and evaluation practices in the CSR programs of Indian companies under new CSR regulations. Under these regulations, the Indian firms are mandated to spend at least 2% of their profits on social and development sectors. We specifically analyze (i) how Indian companies have conceptualized the idea of sustainability in their annual sustainability reports, and how these ideas get reflected in their CSR policies, and (ii) the monitoring and evaluation practices in CSR interventions. The study uses both primary and secondary data sources, and employs text network analysis and narratives-based content analysis to analyze the data. We find that the conceptualization of sustainability is a largely rhetoric and customary exercise that does not take into account variations in firms’ businesses. This approach toward sustainability initiatives presents serious challenges to sustainability, including social sustainability. The study also finds that there is lack of ‘willingness’ and ‘readiness’ among Indian companies to measure and monitor the outcomes of CSR interventions, which is arguably one of the most robust ways to signal their commitment toward corporate sustainability. Although mandatory CSR spending is a recent phenomenon in India, our study establishes that it is only through the design of effective CSR policies that the best practices for Indian business community can emerge in the near future.

Corporate social responsibility and accountability: a new theoretical foundation for regulating CSR

“…However, these approaches to CSR regulation have several limitations. For example, India's mandatory CSR law does not address the concerns of immediate stakeholders while corporates can treat CSR as a charitable activity while not explicitly stating it to be so (Singh et al, 2018;Subramaniam et al, 2017). In case of France, the goal of achieving increased transparency remains unfulfilled (Chauvey et al, 2015).…”

“…As one example, the Indian government has mandated CSR requiring corporates to spend a proportion of their profit on social projects (Chhaparia & Jha, 2018;Gatti, Vishwanath, Seele, & Cottier, 2019). 1 Indian corporates can claim to have discharged their CSR obligations through such philanthropic spending while not adequately addressing the immediate concerns relating to stakeholders (Singh, Holvoet, & Pandey, 2018;Subramaniam, Kansal, & Babu, 2017). Carroll's model has contributed to a wide scope and ambit of CSR that has significantly diluted the scope for regulation with the potential to lead to misplaced regulation.…”

Corporate Environmental Disclosure in India: An Analysis of Multinational and Domestic Agrochemical Corporations

“…No external auditing process has been established to monitor companies' CSR actions and reporting. Singh et al [89] identify a need for further legislative change requiring more prescriptive policies, particularly in monitoring and evaluation. Overall, there is concern that the Act may reduce the value of CSR initiatives, as the Act fails to specify requirements regarding quantity or quality [86] and may have other adverse impacts on businesses [90,91].…”

Intrinsic Value Dari Pelaporan Keanekaragaman Hayati

“…Dari ketiga kategori informasi tersebut informasi tentang implementasi dan evaluasi menempati porsi yang lebih banyak dibandingkan dengan informasi dalam kategori perencanaan strategis. Dari persepktif pertanggungjawaban publik penyajian secara komprehensif atas informasi seperti ini dimaksudkan untuk memberi informasi kepada para pemangku kepentingan agar mereka paham mengapa perusahaan mengambil berbagai tindakan yang dimaksud, bagaimana cara mengelola dampak, dan evaluasi atas tindakan yang diambil (Amos, 2018;Curran, 2017;Singh, Holvoet, & Pandey, 2018). Artinya, dalam konteks pertanggungjawaban publik, tindak an dan evaluasi dianggap lebih kritis ketimbang perencanaan strategis meskipun ia merupakan hal yang penting (Samkin, Schneider, & Tappin, 2014).…”