More Than an Umbrella Construct: We Can (and Should) Do Better With CSR by Theorizing Through Context

Abstract

The importance of context in theory development is well recognized across multiple fields of study in management and organization (Bamberger, 2008; Cappelli & Sherer, 1991; Johns, 2006; Maloney et al., 2016; Rousseau & Fried, 2001; Xu & Zhang, 2022). At its most basic level, context adds scope conditions to basic hypotheses: Condition A may lead to Condition B under Context X but not in Context Y. Ignoring situational contingencies may lead to systemic bias, to overgeneralizing results based on a lack of awareness of context-based range restrictions, or to reversed causal directions and sign reversals in academic research (Hackman, 2003; Johns, 2006; Maloney et al., 2016). It also may contribute to overly-optimistic beliefs in one-size-fits-all solutions that overlook the need for careful adaption of practices to match local conditions (Ragin, 2000). In line with these long-standing calls, we argue that within the domain of business and society, and arguably of management and organization studies more broadly, we still need to pay more attention to context theorizing. As Bamberger (2008) asserted: “context counts and, where possible, should be given theoretical consideration” (p. 839, italics in original). Looking back at our term as co-editors, in this Editors’ Insights, we chose to revisit the benefits of theorizing through context for issues of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and related topics such as corporate social performance (CSP), corporate citizenship, corporate responsiveness, and civic