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.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 59-80 |
Number of pages | 22 |
Journal | Organization Studies |
Volume | 43 |
Issue number | 1 |
Early online date | 28-Sept-2020 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 1-Jan-2022 |
Keywords
- corporate social responsibility
- grumbling
- politics
- ratings
- reactivity
- resistance
- statactivism
- RANKINGS
- POWER
- SUSTAINABILITY
- COMMENSURATION
- ORGANIZATIONS
- CONSTRUCTION
- INVESTMENT
- DYNAMICS
- NUMBERS