Adoption of Corporate Social Resposibility by Japanese Companies

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a topical issue in many countries. What are the drivers for the global spread of explicit CSR- practices that are demonstrated to the outside- even in countries where companies had addressed CSR implicitly? What catalyzes organizations to adopt CSR and how does their adoption influence other companies‘ likelihood to adopt CSR? This book approaches the recent world-wide adoption of CSR practices as part of the global spread of management concepts. The trend to adopt CSR is examined among Japanese companies, because they have rapidly adopted CSR practices in the last two decades. Existing empirical research on CSR in Japan that has focused mainly on anecdotal evidence on a small number of outstanding companies is extended by employing both qualitative and quantitative empirical research methods. Analyzing drivers for the adoption of CSR practices, organizational characteristics of adopting companies, and how increasing adoption influences the likelihood to adopt provides insights into how Japanese institutions and stakeholders facilitated rapid CSR adoption and the process of CSR diffusion.

Table of Contents

• Table of Contents5
• List of Figures9
• List of Tables10
• List of Acronyms12
• Note on Conventions14

1. INTRODUCTION15
   1. Background15
   2. Research Objective and Research Question16
   3. Research Design18
   4. Basic Assumptions and Hypotheses18
   5. Limitations of the Study19
   6. Outline of Chapters21
2. CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY22
   1. The Foundations of Corporate Social Responsibility22
   2. Companies and Their Corporate Social Responsibility25
   3. Corporate Social Responsibility and Related Concepts28
   4. Corporate Social Responsibility Dimensions32
   5. Drivers for the Adoption of Corporate Social Responsibility
   6. Corporate Social Responsibility Practices54
   7. Summary of Corporate Social Responsibility Perspectives60
3. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK63
   1. Institutions63
   2. Stakeholders69
   3. Diffusion75
   4. Propositions: Institutions, Stakeholders, and Diffusion of CSR85
4. CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY IN JAPAN88
   1. Traditional Business Responsibilities in Japan88
   2. Development of Explicit CSR in Japan89
   3. Drivers for CSR Adoption95
   4. Adoption of CSR Practices by Japanese Companies107
   5. Discussion112
5. EMPIRICAL PART 1: QUALITATIVE ANALYSIS OF CSR ADOPTION BY JAPANESE COMPANIES114
   1. The Qualitative Research Method114
   2. Case Studies of CSR Adoption by Japanese Companies122
   3. Conclusions From the Case Studies145
   4. Hypothesis Development147
6. EMPIRICAL PART II: QuANTITATIVE ANALYSIS OF CSR ADOPTION BY JAPANESE COMPANIES154
   1. Data and Operationalization154
   2. Descriptive Statistics164
   3. Multivariate Analysis174
   4. Discussion184
   5. Conclusions From the Quantitative Analysis189
7. FINDINGS, CONCLUSIONS, AND IMPLICATIONS191

• APPENDICES197
• Appendix 1: List ofJapanese Terms197
• Appendix 2: Interview Guidelines198
• Appendix 3: Data on CSR Development in Japan203
• Appendix 4: Supplementary Statistics206
• REFERENCES217
• CONDUCTED INTERVIEWS239
• Footnotes243