UC Santa Barbara

This study explores the network and relational dynamics among NGOs, governmental organizations (GOs) and corporations associated with Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) practices in South Korea, a state-led market economy. The study integrates and advances institutional theory, utilizing a network perspective to further understand the mechanisms through which NGOs develop pressures on corporations to practice CSR. The study explores the ways in which the South Korean institutional context is related to NGOs’ network dynamics for driving CSR practices. The findings suggest that (1) the network positions that benefit NGOs’ CSR networks are different depending on the type of sector in which networks are formed (cross-sector vs. within-sector); (2) the efficacy of network positions and the nature of relationships (collaborative or adversarial) vary by the type of CSR practiced by the NGOs and corporations – convergent CSR, which represents those practices that are embraced by both the global community and the South Korean state, and divergent CSR, which represents those practices that are framed by local economic, political and social conditions; and (3) NGO and corporate leaders’ perspectives regarding network dynamics are not consistent with one another.

The study uses a mixed methods approach. Network analyses were based upon archival data collected from the annual NGO reports and CSR reports produced from 2014 to 2019. Three different centralities – degree centrality, eigenvector centrality and betweenness centrality – were used to understand how NGOs’ network dynamics within and across sectors are related to the frequency with which they practice certain type of CSR (convergent and divergent CSR). The relationships among CSR networks and practices were analyzed using established commercial metrics measuring Environment, Social and Governance dimensions of CSR (ESG). Network results were also compared and contrasted with the findings from 28 interviews of South Korean NGO and corporate leaders who discussed their motives and perspectives on their network activity.

The analyses found that eigenvector centrality, representing ties to influential or central others in the network, emerged as the most important position of the NGOs in their networks with GOs that helped develop strong networks with corporations. In their within-sector NGO network, however, degree centrality, representing the density of their ties, emerged as the most important centrality that benefited the NGOs’ networks with GOs and corporations. The degree to which the NGOs and corporations engaged in convergent CSR was significantly related to collaborative network dynamics. On the other hand, the degree to which they engaged in divergent CSR was significantly related to adversarial network dynamics. The ESG outcomes suggest that it is only convergent CSR and collaborative network dynamics, rather than divergent CSR and adversarial network dynamics, which are significantly related to the companies’ ESG scores. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed to inform the network dynamics for CSR institutional pressures, the significance of national institutions and state-led economic systems in CSR networks, and the significance of sector type and nature of relationships in CSR institutionalization.