Achieving Social Responsibility in Investment.
This paper seeks answers to the question of how to achieve social responsibility (SR) consistently in investment activities. Drawing from institutional theory and analytical process description of SR, SR is here defined as the organisation’s activities of bearing responsibility on thematic entities...
| Tác giả chính: | |
|---|---|
| Định dạng: | Working paper |
| Ngôn ngữ: | English |
| Được phát hành: |
School of Geography and Environment (University of Oxford)
2009
|
| Tóm tắt: | This paper seeks answers to the question of how to achieve social responsibility (SR) consistently in investment activities. Drawing from institutional theory and analytical process description of SR, SR is here defined as the organisation’s activities of bearing responsibility on thematic entities arising from recognized and justified stakeholder demands and other binding expectations arising in the public domains of different environments. Bearing SR can be achieved with various organisation methods and investment styles as long as a dual test of consistency is passed. Investments are consistent if each individual action or function can be justified on basis of some responsibilities and does not work against another, and the priority order among all investment functions reflects the priority order of different responsibilities. However, the usage of SR discourses in public communication may provide a symbolic justification for activities and potentially affects the ways in which investors’ SR is considered in the public domain. We argue that the lack of consistency in public communication raises potential and provides a template for contesting even those investment activities otherwise considered legitimate. Our sample empirical analysis is focused on the SR guidelines and reports of six Finnish pension insurance companies. We analysis shows that although the companies provide a consistent representation of SR and investment activities in their public communication, there are various avenues that enable normative contestation based on inconsistency in bearing responsibility. |
|---|