Implications of National Culture on Expectations Towards Corporate Social Responsibility: A Case Study of BEUMER Group
Student thesis: Master Thesis and HD Thesis
- Michael Pedersen
4. term, International Business Communication (English), Master (Master Programme)
This thesis aims to investigate the correlation between national culture and the expectations for Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in global organisations. Literature on CSR, its origins and how it is used today is reviewed. Along with this, a review of literature pertaining to CSR and its linkage to employer branding, as well as being a tool to increase employee attractiveness is conducted. Finally, a review of literature pertaining to how national culture affects the use of CSR in organisations is conducted, in order to establish a link between cultural values and its effect on CSR. Several interviews are conducted in order to establish a sample size with some validity and reliability. In total, six interviews, split between two BEUMER Group regional offices in Denmark and America are conducted using a semi-structured world life interview, in order to uncover aspects of national culture and their respective attitude towards CSR, in order to link national culture and expectations for CSR. These interviews are inductively coded using thematic analysis in order to uncover patterns of values, which can be ascribed to national culture. To link emerging codes to cultural values, Gullestrup’s theory of Semi-Static Cultural Analysis is used, in order to link manifested symbols to the core cultural layer of the subjects. The findings reveal some cultural differences between Danish and American national culture, with Americans being more individualistic in order to achieve security, whereas Danish culture shows a collective value set. The resulting approach to CSR from both regional offices shows a disparity between them, as Americans overall value environmental and philanthropic responsibilities and Danes overall value environmental and ethical responsibilities. Furthermore, it becomes evident that there is a discrepancy between presented literature signifying the importance of CSR as a tool for employee attractiveness and the subjects’ emerging codes pertaining to CSR as a part of their job considerations. It is discussed how come this discrepancy exists and it is concluded that a gap in knowledge of what CSR entails exist with professionals not working specifically with CSR. On top of this, it is concluded based linking values to CSR that national culture does in fact impact the expectations of CSR, and because of this, organisations like BEUMER Group must consider their approach to CSR as one consisting both of global, but also local initiatives. CSR is a complex area which requires an organisation to map the expectations of not only the employees of the organisation, but also somehow gage the expectations of prospective employees, in order to maximise CSR as a tool for employer branding.
Language | English |
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Publication date | 2023 |
Number of pages | 65 |
External collaborator | Beumer Group no name vbn@aub.aau.dk Other |