Leadership and Corporate Social Responsibility

Leadership and Corporate Social Responsibility
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Introduction
There is widespread sense of duty among corporates towards the larger society and organizations are increasingly acquiring corporate social responsibility (CSR) ISO certification. The existing economic theories fail to clearly underscore the reasons why organizations pursue corporate social responsibility. Organizations embrace social responsibility yet it only influences their financial performance to a very small extent making this phenomenon one that warrants cross-examination (Christensen, Whetten, & Mackey, 2014). This study is very pertinent in unraveling the micro-foundations on which organizations base their social responsibility. The main purpose of the article lies in explaining the leadership attributes and motivations that inform organizations’ corporate social responsibility or irresponsibility. The article explores two main areas namely using leadership frameworks to examine CSR and the merging of the definitional aspects of CSR and the new approaches in leadership as a way of enhancing leadership and CSR fields.
Leadership frameworks in examining CSR
The individual characteristics of a leader are one of the frameworks used to examine CSR. It is common knowledge that top leaders in corporates significantly influence an organization’s social performance (Pless, Maak, & Waldman, 2012). Their personality disposition, education background, compensation and job experience leave an imprint on the type of CSR activities in organizations. Other demographics such as type of upbringing and life events that cement a social predisposition on the leader also inform the organizations’ CSR direction. Trait theories also allude to the notion that a leader’s personality traits such as conscientiousness, extraversion and others may positively or negatively affect organizational behavior as it relates to CSR (Strand, 2011). For instance a highly conscientious leader upholds integrity and thus easily influences the organization’s CSR activities while narcissistic leaders are strongly inclined towards encouraging performance and they rarely inspire the organization to undertake pro-social behaviors (Christensen, Whetten, & Mackey, 2014).
Processes regarding to how a leader interacts with followers is another framework used to examine CSR. Processes are informed by organizational or strategic management theories. For instance, organizational culture based on environmental policy may influence the employees in the organization to engage in socially responsible behavior that safeguards the environment. Organizations with a management structure that has a strong commitment to social responsibility often establish functional structures that respond to societal needs (Christensen, Whetten, & Mackey, 2014). To entrench such structures, management often uses transformational leadership styles and leader member exchange to influence employees and followers towards socially responsible goals and vision through interactions that build trust between leaders and followers (Du, Swaen, Lindgreen, & Sen, 2013).
Aspects of shared leadership are also a framework used in exa...