City Research Online

Abstract

Organizational ratings exude anxiety and allure, but relatively little is known about how managers balance resisting and mobilizing ratings. We explore this duality with a qualitative study on managerial responses to corporate social responsibility (CSR) ratings. Based on interviews focused on CSR ratings with managers of 60 companies, we induce four responses to ratings: grumbling, contestation, cherry-picking and microstatactivism. We further show how managers combine resistance and mobilization in two ambivalent engagement modes. Our analysis contributes to the literature by developing a more nuanced theory of corporate responses to organizational ratings, which demonstrates the importance of ambivalence in managing institutional pressure.

Publication Type:	Article
Additional Information:	The final and definitive version of this manuscript has been accepted for publication in: Gond, J-P. (2020). The politics of reactivity: Ambivalence in corporate responses to corporate social responsibility ratings. Organization Studies; all rights reserved, Sage.
Publisher Keywords:	Corporate social responsibility, Grumbling, Politics, Ratings, Reactivity, Resistance, Statactivism
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor H Social Sciences > HN Social history and conditions. Social problems. Social reform
Departments:	Bayes Business School > Management
SWORD Depositor:	Symplectic Administrator

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