Mind: The Gap -- To Advance CSR Research, Think About Stakeholder Cognition
Barnett, Michael L. Mind: the gap -- To advance CSR research, think about stakeholder cognition. Annals in Social Responsibility. (DOI: 10.1108/ASR-08-2016-0009), Forthcoming
28 Pages Posted: 23 Aug 2016 Last revised: 9 Mar 2018
Date Written: September 1, 2015
Abstract
When will firms be good? When it pays to be good. When does it pay to be good? When stakeholders decide that it does. To advance business and society scholarship, we therefore need to better understand how, and how well, stakeholders make their decisions about rewarding firms for their acts of social responsibility and punishing them for their lack thereof. Herein I explicate the cognitive process stakeholders undertake in attending to firm’s actions and identify limits on their ability to fulfill their central role in conditioning firms to be more socially responsible. Further, I outline areas for future research that can help fill gaps in our understanding of how stakeholders notice, make sense, and respond to corporate social practices.
Keywords: corporate social responsibility, business case, stakeholders, society, cognition
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