City Research Online

Abstract

Although a growing stream of research investigates the role of government in corporate social responsibility (CSR), little is known about how governmental CSR interventions interact in financial markets. This article addresses this gap through a longitudinal study of the socially responsible investment (SRI) market in France. Building on the ‘CSR and government’ and ‘regulative capitalism’ literature, we identify three modes of governmental CSR intervention – regulatory steering, delegated rowing, and microsteering – and show how they interact through the two mechanisms of layering (the accumulation of interventions), and catalyzing (the alignment of interventions). Our findings 1) challenge the notion that, in the neoliberal order, governments are confined to steering market actors – leading and guiding their behavior – while private actors are in charge of rowing – providing products and services; 2) show how governmental CSR interventions interact and are orchestrated; and 3) provide evidence that governments can mobilize financial markets to promote CSR.

Publication Type:	Article
Additional Information:	This article has been published in a revised form in Business Ethics Quarterly 10.1017/beq.2019.40. This version is free to view and download for private research and study only. Not for re-distribution or re-use. © copyright holder.
Publisher Keywords:	Corporate social responsibility, Financial markets, Government, Orchestration, Regulation, Socially responsible investment
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BJ Ethics H Social Sciences > HG Finance H Social Sciences > HM Sociology J Political Science > JF Political institutions (General)
Departments:	Bayes Business School > Management
SWORD Depositor:	Symplectic Administrator

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