The Institutionalization of CSR: At the Crossroads of Home and Host Countries Institutional Settings, Multinational Corporations, and Multinational Institutions

This chapter examines the institutional configuration of internal CSR in MNCs operating in Canada and Brazil, as well as headquarters-subsidiary relations within the institutional settings of their home and host countries.

The institutional logics perspective is used as it provides a systematic approach to understanding the institutional orders at play in the development of soft policies.

Whereas the institutional framework of the host country is a key factor in the regulatory and distributive spheres, the spheres of discretionary spending and soft policies are largely influenced and shaped by the MNCs through self-regulation, and may also be guided by intergovernmental institutions and NGOs.

The empirical data is limited to two case studies. It seeks to understand the multiple facets of CSR reality and produce contextual insights. Generalizations might fit better with other context communities – research subjects and the researchers who investigate them, beyond the mining industry – in a non-positivist, non-probabilistic sense, than with other context settings within the same industry.

The chapter concludes that institutional discourses and practices around internal CSR seek to strengthen a firm’s legitimacy. CSR does not necessarily increase the MNC’s performance when viewed in a market logic, but its operational viability can align with the corporation’s global strategy and identity. It also highlights resistance resulting from professional and community institutional logics.

This chapter contributes to the literature on internal CSR and is original in including an MNC from the South with subsidiaries in the North.