The Effects of Institutional Isomorphism: A Study on Japanese Corporations' Corporate Social Responsibility
Open AccessPurpose: This study tests DiMaggio and Powell's (1983) influential institutional isomorphism theory, or homogenization of organizations, by examining the corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices of thirty Japanese corporations in the pulp and paper/chemical industry, the electronics industry, and the transportation machinery industry. Past studies found support for isomorphism in various organizational contexts; however, few studies have focused on CSR. This is especially true for Japan where CSR has only recently developed. Japanese corporations are ideal subjects of research to examine the following research question: Within the context of a rapidly changing business environment and social expectations, do business corporations experience an isomorphic change in terms of their CSR practices?Methods: A content analysis was conducted on each corporation's online CSR report in order to identify the specific types of CSR practices corporations in each industry engage in. This study identified five CSR themes: the Corporate Ethics Type, the Customer Satisfaction Type, the Employee Satisfaction Type, the Environmental Protection Type, and the Social Contributions Types. Then, whether the levels of focus given to each CSR type were similar across corporations was examined by running a chi-square test. Next, using the Marascuilo procedure, this study identifies corporations that differ most from other corporations in their CSR emphasis. Finally, the relationship between the relative standing of a corporation among its industry peers and the extent to which a corporation is similar to others in terms of the amount of focus given to different CSR practices is examined through regression analyses.Findings: The results for the chi-square test show that corporations are not identical in their level of focus given to the five CSR types. However, after running the Marascuilo procedure, it can be seen that corporations in each industry still have relatively high levels of similarity with only a few corporations behaving differently more than others. For the relationship between a corporation's position in its industry and the extent of a corporation's similarity to its industry peers, the general pattern across the three industries was that the middle-ranked corporations showed the highest level of homogeneity compared to the high- and low-ranked corporations. In order to stay as a legitimate organization, corporations have exhibited a homogenization in their structures and business practices (Fligstein 1991; Haunschild 1993; Haveman 1993), and firms ranked in the middle of their industry have shown to be in a position which is especially vulnerable to isomorphic change (Han 1994). This study contributes to literature in new sociological institutionalism by identifying a similar process which limits diversity and induces isomorphism of practices related to corporations' expanding social roles.
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