Co-evolutionary dynamics and heterogeneity in corporate social responsibility: A case study on multinational corporation subsidiaries

Abstract

This study aims to understand the heterogeneity of corporate social responsibility (CSR) approaches across subsidiaries of the same multinational corporations (MNCs) and determine the co-evolutionary dynamics that enhance the global cohesiveness of MNCs' CSR strategies and performance. The study draws on co-evolutionary theory and adopts an explanatory research design based on embedded multiple case study methodology. Semi-structured interviews with top management and employees responsible for CSR or related areas were conducted, and secondary data collection was done for triangulation and validation. The findings suggest that MNCs experience heterogeneity in their CSR, particularly in the implementation approaches, philanthropic and environmental CSR dimensions, and that MNCs with significant heterogeneity at the strategic level have less cohesive strategic CSR practices. The study also found that MNCs that encourage and facilitate active collaboration between subsidiaries have more cohesive and strategic CSR, and each MNC's CSR is driven by different co-evolutionary dynamics. The study contributes to the expansion of co-evolutionary theory to the study of CSR and offers a dynamic CSR co-evolution model explaining MNC CSR heterogeneity in real-world situations, along with potential levers to achieve more globally cohesive strategic CSR.