How can organizations be competitive but dare to care?

Abstract

The issue of social responsibility, manifested as an organization's caring efforts for its employees and the environment, has considerable importance in business practice and research. Although there is a ground-swell of interest supporting organizations that dare to care, the bounds of what it means to care, especially the organizational implications of caring, have yet to be established. In this exchange, I argue that it is certainly within the responsibility of an organization's leaders to develop socially responsible practices, but the nature of industry and the institutional environments in which organizations exist jeopardize the competitiveness of organizations that implement such practices. Further, globalization amplifies the economic risks to the organizations that dare to care. Organizational leaders thus need to proactively change the nature of their competitive environment to one more supportive of social responsibility. Organizational leaders can do so through their influence on policy makers and other organizations that shape the formal and informal norms of business practices across world regions. Copyright by the Academy of Management; all rights reserved.