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Embedding Corporate Social Responsibility in Economics and Convention Theory

Nicolas Postel (2024)

In Rainer Diaz-Bone & Guillemette de Larquier (eds.), Handbook of economics and sociology of conventions. Cham: Springer, Online first

Abstract. Over and above the impact that production organizations can have on ecological and social equilibrium, corporate social responsibility (CSR) raises questions about corporate governance and democracy. It’s a central question that points to the company as a political space. This dynamic contrasts with the closure of the field brought about by the emergence of shareholder governance principles in the 1980s. It follows in the footsteps of stakeholder theory but goes beyond its strict individualist framework. In this respect, this chapter demonstrates the decisive contribution of economics and sociology of conventions (EC/SC or convention theory), which, with Hume and against Hobbes, asserts that places of production are also political places, and requires the existence of rules and institutions to regulate internal power relations. Convention theory shows that actors play by and within the rules. Their actions are both efficient and ethical. The ethical and political dimension of their actions lies precisely in the fact that they reinforce or develop collective rules. Based on this essential theoretical contribution, convention theory enables scholars to identify the “key fields” in which corporate social and environmental responsibility are played out. EC/SC sheds light on the sociopolitical stakes of CSR and enables scholars to pinpoint the role that public authorities must play in this process.

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