Corporate Social Responsibility Disclosures, Traditionalism and Politics: A Story from a Traditional Setting

This paper demonstrates the political perspective of corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosures and, drawing on Weber's notion of traditionalism, seeks to explain what motivates companies to make such disclosures in a traditional setting. Annual reports of 23 banking companies in Banglad...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of business ethics 2018-08, Vol.151 (2), p.409-428
Main Authors: Uddin, Shahzad, Siddiqui, Javed, Islam, Muhammad Azizul
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Annual reports
Banking
Business and Management
Business Ethics
Companies
Debates
Documentary evidence
Education
Ethics
Family roles
Loyalty
Management
Obedience
Philanthropy
Philosophy
Political parties
Politics
Quality of Life Research
Social activities
Social responsibility
Traditional societies
Traditionalism
Values
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Summary:This paper demonstrates the political perspective of corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosures and, drawing on Weber's notion of traditionalism, seeks to explain what motivates companies to make such disclosures in a traditional setting. Annual reports of 23 banking companies in Bangladesh are analysed over the period 2009-2012. This is supplemented by a review of documentary evidence on the political and social activities of corporations and reports published in national and international newspapers. We found that, in the banking companies over the period of study, apparently neutral, corporate, philanthropic activities disclosed and promoted in CSR reports are inextricably linked to powerful leaders' personal projects and the ruling party's agendas. We have demonstrated elements of traditional societies, including personal loyalty and the public display of loyalty, the master–servant relationship, and obedience to personal rather than formal authority, provide an understanding of why banks (with or without explicit political linkages with the ruling party) have employed politically charged CSR disclosure strategies. The paper contributes to disclosure studies where political motivations of corporate disclosure rarely discussed. The paper extends the debate on political CSR by demonstrating that the role of family and familial values at the organisational and national levels may be much more important when it comes to CSR disclosure and activities.
ISSN:0167-4544
1573-0697
DOI:10.1007/s10551-016-3214-7