Evidence from Indian agribusiness firms: Are CSR motives in developing countries different?

Raj, A, Kuznetsova, O and Kuznetsov, A (2018) Evidence from Indian agribusiness firms: Are CSR motives in developing countries different? In: EURAM 2018, 19 June 2018 - 22 June 2018, Reykjavik, Iceland.

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Abstract

We explore the corporate social responsibility (CSR) motives of four large indigenous agribusiness firms in India in pursuit of two linked objectives. One is to contribute to the long-standing debate on CSR motives in developing countries. To this end we assess the validity of the view that CSR in developing countries, compared to developed countries, is influenced substantially more by moral, cultural and religious considerations and less by self-interest and profit seeking. The other objective is to enrich the analysis of CSR in a developing country by employing micro-level rather than macro-level data. Unlike numerous other investigations of CSR that rely on questionnaires and company reports, our data are drawn from in-depth interviews and theme analysis revealing some intricate motives behind CSR behaviour. Our findings indicate that the degree to which such behaviour is affected by the state of economic development and cultural differences is smaller than is often argued.