The Instrumentalization of CSR by Rent-Seeking Governments: Lessons From Tanzania

Abstract

This article examines how corporate social responsibility (CSR) can serve as an external source of rents for governments that depend on foreign financing for state-building and development. The strategic, instrumental use of CSR has been overlooked in previous research on governments and CSR, especially in the Global South. To understand how CSR can serve as a lever for rents, the concept of “extraversion” is introduced to describe the way in which rent-seeking African governments instrumentalize their asymmetric external relations for political and private benefit. The connection between CSR and rent-seeking is analyzed through a case study of large gas investments in Tanzania. The article finds that the government has set up regulation that enables local and central government authorities to appropriate, mediate, reclaim, or possibly trick CSR practices to gain rents. Based on the study, two contributions are made to the literature on CSR and governments. First, the instrumental use of CSR in the Global South is added to the variety of perspectives that can be taken when studying government agency. Second, CSR is conceptualized as a potential stream of rents for governments to exploit. The article ends with discussing that the outcome of CSR in a rent-seeking environment depends on whether the leveraged resources are managed well to support peaceful and locally beneficial economic development or whether they serve private accumulation through corruption.

Beyond the business case? Retracing the walk of Corporate social responsibility and financial performance relationship in the Oil and Gas sector

“…Thus, a positive relationship would suggest a "business case" context for companies in this sector, where the economic perspective of CSR has great relevance. It would also confirm what has been stated in the literature by scholars including Nilsson (2023), Akporiaye (2023), and Kaupke and zu Knyphausen-Aufseß (2023).…”

“…According to stakeholder theory, the results confirm the search for legitimacy in the implementation of CSR strategies, however focusing their results towards profit maximization. Thus, the outcomes of this study demonstrate the business case for CSR in Oil and Gas sector of Pakistan which reflects the evolution of CSR practices among downstream Oil and Gas firms, confirming Nilsson (2023), Akporiaye (2023), and Kaupke and zu Knyphausen‐Aufseß (2023).…”

Invisible governance: Cognitive ability and corporate social responsibility

“…This conclusion is based on the political motivation of non‐SOEs to undertake social responsibilities in order to establish political connections and obtain resources. It has a consistent logic with previous studies on the political motivation of CSR (Lin et al, 2015; Nilsson, 2022; Xu & Liu, 2020).…”

Global South States’ Views on Building Partnerships with Corporations: An Agonistic Struggle in the UN and Beyond

“…Our aim is to understand how Global South states have positioned themselves within the UN General Assembly (UNGA) in regard to establishing partnerships with businesses for sustainable development. Our agonistic lens derives from the work of Mouffe (2009Mouffe ( , 2013 on an agonistic world order, which describes how blocs of states strive for hegemony through various practices and discourses. With our approach, we (1) problematise previous research on the UN and business ethics (Ferns & Amaeshi, 2019;Kell, 2005Kell, , 2013Rasche, 2009;Rasche et al, 2013;Williams, 2014) that has overlooked state-related power relations behind the formally established global consensus on working in partnership with businesses, and we (2) add insights to the ethics of dissensus stream of studies on marginalising dynamics in the UN's consensus-seeking approach to partnerships (e.g.…”

“…Inspired by critiques of the consensus approach, Whelan (2013) has called for more explicit normative appraisals of the role of dissensus in relation to business ethics and CSR. In recent years, Mouffe's (2005Mouffe's ( , 2013 ethico-political theoretical framing of agonistic pluralism has emerged as a fruitful way to conceptualise the positive role of dissensus in business ethics (e.g. Fougère & Solitander, 2020, Burchell & Cook, 2013Couch & Bernaccio, 2020;Dawkins, 2015Dawkins, , 2021Dawkins, , 2022Rhodes et al, 2020).…”