MNE subsidiaries CSR through institutional lens: a review, conceptual mapping and response strategies

Purpose The corporate social responsibility (CSR) premise is complicated for an MNE subsidiary operating across a geographically dispersed heterogeneous environment and conceptual literature on MNE subsidiaries’ CSR, a function that makes-or-break legitimacy in the home and host environment, is at best scattered. This paper aims to bridge that gap by reviewing the literature on three levels and plotting all those idiosyncratic counter-institutional forces into a single framework. Design/methodology/approach After reviewing the literature on MNE subsidiaries’ CSR through institutional lens, this paper conceived a three-dimensional matrix of institutional force fields and mapped the quadrants with meta-level strategies that subsidiaries can assume. This paper further conceptualizes a linear flow model of subsidiary CSR. Findings An MNE subsidiary’s CSR premise could be plotted into a matrix structure of institutional force fields, with subsidiaries assuming strategies to balance these forces. This paper postulate that institutional complexities influence the CSR strategy of a subsidiary, subjected to firm-specific logic. This paper propose that for an MNC subsidiaries CSR, there is a systematic deviation path from Carroll’s hierarchical pyramid model to a need-based pyramidal model. Originality/value The three-dimensional force field matrix model with respective strategies that subsidiary could assume is proposed for the first time. The linear flow model of a subsidiary CSR is also new to literature.