The European regulation of corporate social responsibility: The role of beneficiaries' intermediaries

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Monciardini, David; Conaldi, Guido
• 署名单位: University of Exeter; University of Greenwich
• 刊物名称: REGULATION & GOVERNANCE
• ISSN/ISSBN: 1748-5983
• DOI: 10.1111/rego.12248
• 发表日期: 2019
• 页码: 240-259
• 关键词: private regulation; BUSINESS; CITIZENSHIP; governance; legitimacy; rise

摘要

Intended beneficiaries have an undeniable relevance to regulation. However, current research has focused mainly on the two-party relationship between rulemaking and rule-taking. We attempt to fill this gap by exploring the formal and informal roles that beneficiaries' intermediaries played in co-creating European Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) rules and associated practices between 2000 and 2017. By linking recent conceptualizations of regulatory intermediaries with the literature on critical political CSR, we offer a more dynamic and contextualized understanding of the roles of beneficiaries' intermediaries. Specifically, we identify six micro-dynamics through which they influenced the regulatory process. Notably, our findings highlight how the convergence of interests between three groups of beneficiaries' intermediaries - the Non-governmental organization-Investor-Union nexus - had a key role in reshaping CSR rules. We conclude that, in the European context, stronger and better-coordinated beneficiaries' intermediaries are crucial in order to achieve more effective corporate conduct regulation.