Collide or Collaborate: The Interplay of Competing Logics and Institutional Work in Cross-Sector Social Partnerships

Journal of Business Ethics · 2021 · Volume 169 · Issue 4

Abstract

An increasing body of institutional research has examined organizations’ response to conflicting institutional logics, but few studies have looked into how cross-sector organizational actors experiencing institutional complexity strategize their response mechanisms to create value in the context of corporate social responsibility (CSR). We conduct a comparative case study of nine social partnerships between multinational companies (MNCs) and nonprofits in China. We identify apartnership logicamong the value-creating partnerships where partners guided by an either/and mindset take joint ownership of the social or sustainability issue/cause and integrate it into their core set of activities and goals. By contrast, the less successful partnerships guided by an either/or mindset pursue asubstitution logicin which the issue and project are kept separate and marginalized from core activities and goals. We contribute to an understanding of the value creation of cross-sector social partnerships by revealing the institutional embeddedness of such partnerships and deriving a process model of collaborative value creation through institutional works in social partnerships.

Keywords

Cross-sector social partnership, Institutional work, Institutional logic, MNC, Nonprofit, CSR

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