The Janus Dialectic of Corporate Social Irresponsibility and Corporate Social Responsibility – The Role of Micro-Moments

Abstract

Purpose – This chapter examines the central and potent role of ‘micro-moments’ in relation to the development and construction of corporately responsible cultures and environments.

Methodology/approach – The chapter engages a participant observational method set within an interpretivist methodology. The data generated take the form of vignettes which are used to explore the issues.

Findings – The discussion and argument demonstrate that while much worthwhile attention has been paid to the macro aspects and dimensions of corporate social responsibility, less scrutiny has been focused on the myriad micro-moments that operate to ultimately create macro-settings. The chapter illustrates the nature of micro-moments and shows their interactive nature combined with their consequences and implications for building corporately social irresponsible or corporately social responsible environments.

Research limitations/implications – The chapter underlines the vital role of micro-moments for corporate social responsibility. The data consist of a number of vignettes which illustrate a particular circumscribed setting. As is commonly the case with inductive research, further work, mindful of on-going reliability and validity measures, will be required to assess the generalisability of the findings across other sectors and organisations.

Practical implications – The chapter affords people working in organisations the opportunity to reflect on their actions in the micro-moment and scale them towards corporately social responsible outcomes.

Social implications – Improvement of micro-moment interactions should work to improve corporate social responsibility across a range of organisational settings.

Originality/value – The chapter constructs a novel argument in relation to micro-moments and demonstrates through original vignette data the impact and interplay of micro-moments for corporate social responsibility/irresponsibility.

Citation

Stokes, P. (2012), "The Janus Dialectic of Corporate Social Irresponsibility and Corporate Social Responsibility – The Role of Micro-Moments", Tench, R., Sun, W. and Jones, B. (Ed.) Corporate Social Irresponsibility: A Challenging Concept (Critical Studies on Corporate Responsibility, Governance and Sustainability, Vol. 4), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 83-108. https://doi.org/10.1108/S2043-9059(2012)0000004013