Reaching successive levels of responsibility:

Abstract

Organizational progress toward corporate social responsibility (CSR) often involves a step-by-step process whose development is driven by the organization’s social issue capabilities. By combining CSR literature with organizational change theories, this study identifies important phases in CSR cultural integration and discusses the interplay between ideal-type theories of social change that help explain organizational developments. Depending on the unit of analysis and the point of the organization’s progress, the proposed framework suggests different approaches help clarify the rationale and processes behind a CSR orientation. Specifically, organizational progress toward CSR reflects a tri-motor theory, such that life cycle, teleological, and dialectical motors operate interdependently and according to the organization’s cultural integration phase.