Table 1 Characteristics of Instrumental... | Emerald Publishing

Table 1

Characteristics of Instrumental v. Political CSR approaches

Characteristics linked to the CSR approach		Instrumental CSR	Political CSR
Role of law	Mode of regulation	CSR is “rules-driven” (governmental regulation)	CSR is driven by self-regulation
	Dominant rules	CSR associated to formal rules “hard rules” (e.g. on products, safety, employment)	CSR is based on informal rules and “best practices”
	Level of obligation	High – often associated to compliance/enforcement	Low- mostly voluntary
	Precision of rules	High	Low
Governance model at national level	Locus of governance	National governance	Global, multi-level, and private governance
	Role of economic rationality	Dominance of short-term economic rationality	“Balancing” of economic and social rationalities for long-term growth and survival, i.e. using economic rationality as one of the criteria rather than the ultimate or primary criteria
	Separation of political and economic spheres	High	Low
Prevailing corporate governance model		Shareholder-oriented	Stakeholder-oriented and participative forms of governance
Legitimacy	Pragmatic	High	Medium-Low
Legitimacy	Moral	Low	Medium - High
Mode of corporate engagement		Passive / reactive; privileging of transactional relationships	Proactive (deeper engagement in social issues and activism)

Characteristics linked to the CSR approach		Instrumental CSR	Political CSR
Role of law	Mode of regulation	CSR is “rules-driven” (governmental regulation)	CSR is driven by self-regulation
	Dominant rules	CSR associated to formal rules “hard rules” (e.g. on products, safety, employment)	CSR is based on informal rules and “best practices”
	Level of obligation	High – often associated to compliance/enforcement	Low- mostly voluntary
	Precision of rules	High	Low
Governance model at national level	Locus of governance	National governance	Global, multi-level, and private governance
	Role of economic rationality	Dominance of short-term economic rationality	“Balancing” of economic and social rationalities for long-term growth and survival, i.e. using economic rationality as one of the criteria rather than the ultimate or primary criteria
	Separation of political and economic spheres	High	Low
Prevailing corporate governance model		Shareholder-oriented	Stakeholder-oriented and participative forms of governance
Legitimacy	Pragmatic	High	Medium-Low
Legitimacy	Moral	Low	Medium - High
Mode of corporate engagement		Passive / reactive; privileging of transactional relationships	Proactive (deeper engagement in social issues and activism)

Source(s): The authors, based on Scherer and Palazzo (2011, p. 908)