Political Animals: Traditions of Corporate Citizenship in the US, UK and Germany

• In Event: Does Civil Society Replicate Political Inequality?

Abstract

Traditions of understanding the nature, rights and obligations of citizenship are generally viewed as applying to individuals, but can they also be used to explain the beliefs and behaviour of corporations? Indeed while the ‘corporate citizenship’ rubric is used widely, what that term means - and entails - varies widely, especially between Europe and the United States. Contrasting traditions of understanding the nature and obligations of citizenship itself may provide some clues to these differing ideas and practices. They may also shape populist pressures on corporations that claim to operate as good ‘corporate citizens.’ In addition, traditions of citizenship can help illuminate and explain the considerable variation in corporate citizenship ideals and practices across corporations with roots in the US, UK and Germany.

The paper offers a comparative theoretical framework for understanding the practice of corporate citizenship supported by extensive empirical evidence from major corporations in three western countries. The paper begins with a discussion of the role of traditions and the nature of contrasting political traditions of citizenship. It explores the distinct characteristics and implications of the civic republican tradition, the liberal tradition and the social democratic ‘social rights’ tradition for understanding how ‘corporate citizenship’ is conceived and practiced. Footprints of these traditions can then be identified in the ways in which corporations in different regions represent their corporate ideals and practices.

Empirical support for the proposed framework and comparative analysis is provided by a content analysis of the language and conceptual frameworks employed by 150 large firms in the United States, United Kingdom and Germany. It examines the CEO/management statements in the CSR reports of the 50 largest firms in each country at three points in time (1995-99), (2007-8) and (2012-13) for information on firm motivation, CSR priorities and norms and stakeholders, and employs a supplemental thematic analysis of key words indicative of particular citizenship traditions.

The content analysis of the CEO/management letters identifies striking differences in the motivations, focus and overall understanding of corporate citizenship across the US, UK and Germany. The particular content and shape of these differences is made coherent when understood as reflecting different traditions of citizenship.

Authors

• Karen Wright, University of Glasgow

• Alvise Favotto