Trade associations and corporate social responsibility: evidence from the UK water and film industries

Abstract

In highly structured organisational fields individual efforts to deal rationally with uncertainty and constraints tend to lead, in the aggregate, to greater homogeneity in structure, culture and output. Drawing on institutional theory, this paper develops research propositions regarding the nature and scope of corporate social responsibility (CSR) engagement at trade/industry association level. The cases of the water and sewerage and film industries are used in order to test these propositions. The findings suggest that (a) trade associations in more homogeneous industries are more likely to engage with CSR-related issues; (b) trade associations in industries that face greater external scrutiny and threats to legitimacy are more likely to engage with CSR-related issues; and (c) trade associations are more likely to engage with those substantive CSR issues that are of greater concern to the industry's most salient stakeholders. The findings also suggest that trade associations may have a greater tendency to engage in symbolic legitimation efforts through CSR if faced with the task of repairing industry legitimacy.

The “Voice of Industry”: Why management researchers should pay more attention to trade associations

“…On the positive side, they enable the construction of mutually beneficial public-private policy partnerships and the development of more effective self-regulatory regimes (Schaefer & Kerrigan, 2008).…”

Why Trade Associations Matter: Exploring Function, Meaning, and Influence

“…In seeking to shape public policy in their members' interest, TAs create influence (Schaefer & Kerrigan, 2008) and reputational trust with political actors (Tucker, 2008). TAs develop strong political resources and specialized political capabilities to generate access to policy makers and allow them to engage in lobbying and other forms of political activity (Minto, 2016).…”

A comprehensive model of business social responsibility (BSR) for small scale enterprises in Indian context

“…Although retaining good employees is considered to be quite effective strategy for continuous growth but sometimes because of unfavourable circumstances, firms may require to shift, relocate or lay off its employees. In this context researchers such as Abbott and Monsen (1979), Schaefer and Kerrigan (2008) and Douglas et al (2004) expressed that firms must assist the displaced employees to locate or find new work for their livelihood. Besides the normal work-related activities, Jenkins (2009) also stated that the SMEs must also conduct social events for staff and employees.…”

“…The important aspects of CSR in relation to employees include, personal development, quality assurance of training process, rational recruitment, selection, promotion, medical aspects, retirement aspects, treatment of workforce and health and safety, etc. (Castka et al, 2004;Schaefer and Kerrigan, 2008;Siwar and Hossain, 2009). Although retaining good employees is considered to be quite effective strategy for continuous growth but sometimes because of unfavourable circumstances, firms may require to shift, relocate or lay off its employees.…”

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