Corporate diplomacy and political CSR: Similarities, differences and theoretical implications

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to systematically review the body of knowledge on corporate diplomacy (CD) and political corporate social responsibility (PCSR) in journals from the fields of public relations, public diplomacy, general management and business ethics. By applying an interdisciplinary approach our study aims to (1) examine what definitions of CD and PCSR exist,(2) explore what theories have been applied to CD and PCSR and, (3) find differences and commonalities between the underlying concepts of CD and PCSR. Building on the results of our review, we redefine each construct and develop a theoretical framework of CD, which integrates PCSR, international public relations and public diplomacy. Our results serve as a foundation for an operationalization of the constructs in order to conduct empirical analyses and contribute to current research on the political role of multinational corporations.

Dialogue and Business Legitimacy

“…In the public arena, business legitimacy is negotiated and tested. The concept of public arena is used to describe different forums where the publics discuss, e.g., traditional journalistic media, social media, town hall meetings, and public places (e. g., Hutchins 1947;Whelan et al 2013;Ingenhoff and Marschlich 2019). This space may also be called the court of public opinion (Stoker and Rawlins 2005;Vos 2011) or the public sphere (e.g., Habermas 1991;Toepfl and Piwoni 2015).…”

“…Corporate diplomacy is a concept being used to describe the phenomenon where "multinational companies engage in societal and political issues that are directed at the key stakeholders in the company's host country aiming at gaining legitimacy" (Marschlich and Ingenhoff 2019: 172; see also Ingenhoff and Marschlich 2019). Corporate diplomacy is an umbrella concept that draws on thinking from scholars in many fields, e.g., international relations and diplomacy, CSR, peace through commerce, business management, business ethics, and corporate communication (Westermann-behaylo et al 2015;Mogensen 2019a;Ingenhoff and Marschlich 2019).…”

Conceptualizing data‐deliberation: The starry sky beetle, environmental system risk, and Habermasian CSR in the digital age

“…In such instances, MNCs may undertake political responsibilities along with civil society actors to address governance gaps, where national governments play a diminishing role or have a limited reach (Westermann‐Behaylo et al, ). Scherer et al (, p. 276) outline that in these situations, PCSR encompasses the engagement in public deliberation and collective decision‐making processes as well as “the provision of public goods or the restriction of public bads.” Political impacts of corporations may thus range from carrying out tasks of political and social regulation, as well as the provision of citizen rights and public goods, along with short‐term and long‐term policies and activities to reduce political tensions (Ingenhoff & Marschlich, ; Moon, Crane, & Matten, ; Scherer & Palazzo, , ; Westermann‐Behaylo et al, ). In contrast, to the focus on contexts where governments are limited in reach, another rising research stream explores PCSR in functioning states.…”

“…One broad stream of PCSR literature outlines corporate conduct concerning international contexts, in which multinational corporations (MNCs) are often faced with challenging political and social environments (Ingenhoff & Marschlich, 2019;Westermann-Behaylo et al, 2015). In such instances, MNCs may undertake political responsibilities along with civil society actors to address governance gaps, where national governments play a diminishing role or have a limited reach (Westermann-Behaylo et al, 2015).…”

“…Corporations can have varying political impacts, which may stem from diverse political ideals and different political contexts in which corporations operate (Frynas & Stephens, ; Mäkinen & Kourula, ; Whelan, ). Two broad streams of PCSR literature (see, e.g., Mellahi et al, ; Rao‐Nicholson, Khan, & Marinova, ) deal with the political understandings of corporations: (a) when it comes to corporate conduct under challenging political conditions, when the government is limited in reach and corporations act political by contributing to, for example, the provision of public goods or avoidance of public bad (Ingenhoff & Marschlich, ; Scherer, ; Westermann‐Behaylo, Rehbein, & Fort, ); and (b) when corporations act politically, by engaging in political processes to seek favorable regulatory outcomes (Anastasiadis, Moon, & Humphreys, ; Lock & Seele, , ).…”