Community-Level CSR Implementation through the Lens of Institutional Theory: An Empirical Study

Authors

Aruna Jha Associate Professor, Shri Ram College of Commerce, Delhi UniversityFollow
Vijita S. Aggrawal Prof., GGSIPUFollow

Abstract

Researchers world over are increasingly realising that use of a theoretical framework is necessary for designing and conducting research on corporate-community relations. There are no empirical studies in India, to the best of our knowledge, which look at Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives of a corporate in local community through theoretical lens. The research questions we examine through this study are – firstly, how institutional pressure at the level of local community drives CSR practices of a company and secondly, to assess how community has perceived these CSR initiatives. To answer the same, the researchers studied CSR practices of Cairn India in Barmer region of Rajasthan as a single case within the theoretical framework provided by the institutional theory. This empirical study, based on interviews with employees and NGO partners of Cairn and perceptual study in the community, offers an on-the-ground glimpse of how the company is implementing CSR initiatives and associated challenges it is facing. The findings testify that managing local community expectations has certainly helped Cairn India to integrate community expectations into its CSR strategy. The study brings to light the fact Government and NGOs are important drivers of CSR at the local community level in developing countries like India.

Keywords

Corporate Social Responsibility, Institutional Theory, Local Community, CSR in India, Single Case Study

Author Bio(s)

Aruna Jha is Associate Professor at Shri Ram College of Commerce, Delhi University. She is teaching undergraduate students in the college for the past 22 years. Her broader area of interest is Corporate Governance and Auditing. She has written books for undergraduate students and for those preparing themselves to be financial auditors. Presently, she is pursuing her doctoral research in the area of CSR at the University School of Management Studies, GGS Indraprastha University, Delhi. This case study is a part of her doctoral research. Correspondence regarding this article can be addressed directly to: aruna.jha@srcc.du.ac.in.

Professor Vijita S. Aggarwal is at University School of Management Studies, GGS Indraprastha University Delhi. She has 18 years’ experience of teaching postgraduate Management students specializing in International business, Marketing and Brand Management. In recent years, she has focused on Corporate Social Responsibility and Management of Higher Education especially in the areas of stakeholder management, social impact studies, global competitiveness, student mobility and curriculum compatibility. Ms. Aggrawal has many publications in national and international journals to her credit. She has also presented her research work at various international conferences. Correspondence regarding this article can also be addressed directly to: vijitasaggrawal@gmail.com.

Publication Date

10-12-2018

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.

DOI

10.46743/2160-3715/2018.3503

Recommended APA Citation

Jha, A., & Aggrawal, V. S. (2018). Community-Level CSR Implementation through the Lens of Institutional Theory: An Empirical Study. The Qualitative Report, 23(10), 2381-2402. https://doi.org/10.46743/2160-3715/2018.3503