TY - JOUR

T1 - CSR, moral licensing and organizational misconduct

T2 - a conceptual review

AU - Bouzzine, Yassin Denis

AU - Lueg, Rainer

N1 - Funding Information: The authors gratefully acknowledge the comprehensive support of Frederic Läger who contributed to this research project by providing meaningful insights and pointing at relevant research directions. Publisher Copyright: © 2022, Yassin Denis Bouzzine and Rainer Lueg.

PY - 2023/4/25

Y1 - 2023/4/25

N2 - Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to conceptualize how past corporate social responsibility (CSR) affects the occurrence of organizational misconduct by the means of moral licensing. Design/methodology/approach: To this end, the authors conduct a conceptual review and develop a framework illustrating how moral credits and moral credentials (moral licensing) may institutionalize irresponsibility and lead to subsequent misconduct. Findings: The authors propose a conceptual framework that describes the relationship between past CSR and organizational misconduct by the means of moral licensing. Based on initial literature-based findings, this paper provides confirmatory evidence for the authors’ framework and illustrates that past CSR might be used as a moral licensing tool that eventually fosters the occurrence of organizational misconduct. Research limitations/implications: The authors propose future researchers account for the moral licensing effect when examining the antecedents of misconduct and explore the potential moderators of this effect. Practical implications: The authors recommend that organizations establish management control systems that specifically address the issue of moral licensing when evaluating CSR initiatives. The authors also propose that organizations should adhere to a consistent CSR strategy that potentially fosters the selection of moral leaders who are not prone to moral licensing. Originality/value: To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is the first to connect corporate social responsibility, moral licensing and organizational misconduct from a conceptual perspective.

AB - Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to conceptualize how past corporate social responsibility (CSR) affects the occurrence of organizational misconduct by the means of moral licensing. Design/methodology/approach: To this end, the authors conduct a conceptual review and develop a framework illustrating how moral credits and moral credentials (moral licensing) may institutionalize irresponsibility and lead to subsequent misconduct. Findings: The authors propose a conceptual framework that describes the relationship between past CSR and organizational misconduct by the means of moral licensing. Based on initial literature-based findings, this paper provides confirmatory evidence for the authors’ framework and illustrates that past CSR might be used as a moral licensing tool that eventually fosters the occurrence of organizational misconduct. Research limitations/implications: The authors propose future researchers account for the moral licensing effect when examining the antecedents of misconduct and explore the potential moderators of this effect. Practical implications: The authors recommend that organizations establish management control systems that specifically address the issue of moral licensing when evaluating CSR initiatives. The authors also propose that organizations should adhere to a consistent CSR strategy that potentially fosters the selection of moral leaders who are not prone to moral licensing. Originality/value: To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is the first to connect corporate social responsibility, moral licensing and organizational misconduct from a conceptual perspective.

KW - CSR

KW - Institutional theory

KW - Management control

KW - Moral licensing

KW - Organizational misconduct

KW - Management studies

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85135393656&partnerID=8YFLogxK

UR - https://www.mendeley.com/catalogue/bacd84aa-d549-3b76-b581-ada5cca17a0e/

U2 - 10.1108/OMJ-09-2021-1355

DO - 10.1108/OMJ-09-2021-1355

M3 - Journal articles

AN - SCOPUS:85135393656

VL - 20

SP - 63

EP - 74

JO - Organization Management Journal

JF - Organization Management Journal

SN - 1541-6518

IS - 2

ER -