Corporate Social Responsibility in the Russian Federation

Abstract

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has emerged as a concept for business from within developed, Western economies. Such economies are underpinned by functioning institutions, where compliance with regulation is assumed. Recently, however, the ability of this traditional understanding of CSR to take account of the different economic and institutional arrangements found in non-Western contexts has been challenged. It has been argued that CSR research needs to be more contextualized and that the Western interpretation and assumptions about what CSR is and how it is enacted needs to be broadened and challenged to take account of different stages of economic development. With this argument in mind, this article presents a contextualized critique of CSR undertaken in the Russian Federation. Based on a qualitative study involving managers within privatized Russian firms, this article explores the type, nature, and scope of CSR undertaken and attendant motivation of firms to engage in CSR practice. By taking account of the historical and cultural antecedents of both the Soviet Union and the post-Soviet transition period, the author reveals that while the market is driving conventional forms of CSR within some Russian firms, the historical legacy of both the Soviet Union and more recent political developments have a stronger influence on the type and nature of CSR undertaken. These findings challenge the assumptions about both the voluntary nature of CSR and the prerequisites needed for CSR to take place.

Corporate social responsibility, coexistence and contestation: large farms’ changing responsibilities vis-à-vis rural households in Russia

“…We examine large-scale farms' support to household plot holders from the perspective of CSR because (1) the concept is gaining influence in Eastern Europe and Russia (Crotty 2016), including in agriculture (Bugay, Akishina, and Fannenstiel 2015;Gagalyuk 2017); (2) it does not rule out compatibility of market orientation and social support; and (3) it allows one to go beyond superficial, PR-like CSR, by drawing on the concept of "implicit" CSR.…”

“…Those companies with Western stakeholders began introducing CSR in consideration of Western customers (Crotty 2016) or investors. Reporting requirements for Western investors normally include a CSR.…”

“…Most companies, however, are rather closed and oligarch-led, predominantly targeting the Russian market. For them state pressure is the key driver for explicit CSR (Belyaeva 2013;Crotty 2016). Overall, CSR by Russian businessesat least the explicit variantremains limited both in terms of its range and depth, leading Belyaeva (2013, 495) to call it mostly "cosmetic".…”

The Multi-Functionality of Professional and Business Associations in a Transitional Context: Empirical Evidence from Russia

“…Most of the literature on Russia's nonprofit sector overlooks this contribution of associations as a fundamental building block of market, political and societal life. This is especially disappointing, given the very sceptical and rarely challenged assumptions about Russia's civil society a priori adopted by Western nonprofit researchers (Crotty 2014). A rare but powerful exception is a call to be more balanced in assessing civil society development in Russia (Javeline and Lindemann-Komarova 2010).…”

The impact of changes in stakeholder salience on corporate social responsibility activities in Russian energy firms: A contribution to the divergence/convergence debate

“…In this empirical paper, we examine the drivers underpinning changes to socially responsible behaviours in the Russian energy sector (oil, gas, electrical power, and coal). Responding to recent requests to contextualise corporate social responsibility (CSR) research (Crane & Matten, ; Crane, Matten, & Spence, ; Crotty, ), we focus on how changing stakeholder saliency is reflected in Russian corporations' CSR activities. Based on interviews with more than 30 industry professionals, our findings suggest that Russian energy companies' CSR activities are strongly stakeholder‐driven, and organisations are adapting their activities according to their dependence on the resources that these salient stakeholders possess.…”