**5. CSR: a strategic behavior**

While moral CSR arises from intrinsic motives, personal values and moral rules, strategic CSR originates in extrinsic motives. As for CSR as a strategic behavior, the literature distinguishes two ways for firms to implement CSR: substantively or symbolically.

#### **5.1 CSR as a substantive strategy**

CSR's substantive actions imply real actions taken by the firms to meet the stakeholders' expectations and demands, which require real and actual changes in core practices, firm's objectives, decision making process and corporate culture. Substantive strategy seeks to reconcile the economic goals of the firm with requirements from various societal stakeholders. So, the substantive CSR actions involve real changes at the operational level, which generally implies activities requiring the use of the firms' resources [48]. Indeed, substantive actions may influence the firm's productivity and litigation risks [19] but they imply large costs for the firm [49].

Real CSR actions are driven by extrinsic motives such as achieving economic objectives, reducing conflicts, responding to social pressure and enhancing the

#### *CSR: A Moral Obligation or a Strategic Behavior? DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.94471*

firm's reputation. In fact, in a competitive context, proactive and substantive actions such as investment in environmental innovation, participation in collective corporate political strategies and structural changes in the firm which improve the environmental and social performance may reinforce firm's reputation and competitiveness.

Firms may deal with societal issues substantively either because the firms is proactive, and so it can anticipate social demands, or because it responds positively to the environment constraints, and therefore establishes concrete measures integrated to the firm's strategy. So firms performing mainly substantive actions follow a "mere walk" strategy.

CSR's substantive strategies induce concrete changes in the daily activities of the firm to lower its social and environmental impacts and realign its strategic objectives to the new societal commitments. This will improve the firm's societal performance despite the disruption of the internal flexibility [50].

Consequently, CSR as a substantive action differs from the moral CSR. In fact, the Moral alternative considers CSR as an end whereas CSR's substantive strategy deals with CSR as a mean to achieve some goals. Besides it differs from the symbolic actions in the implementation degree and the goal alignments [51–54].

#### **5.2 CSR as a symbolic strategy**

Unlike the substantive perspective of CSR, the symbolic CSR does not imply concrete changes at an operational level. While substantive actions involve real changes that imply tangible activities, symbolic actions are described as actions related to CSR taken by a firm to show ceremonial conformity within an impression management context. CSR is just about appearing to fulfill stakeholders' demands without the need to undertake any change in the business process.

CSR as a symbolic strategy may occur either when firms do not involve any effective changes within the firm's operational process or when undertaking limited measures within a passive strategy. In fact, such initiative deals with CSR as a means to achieve the firms' goals by managing the impression of various stakeholders to appear as socially responsible acting and caring for societal issues.

Additionally, from a symbolic point of view, researchers have dealt with CSR as an effective tool of attention deflection especially the abuse of CSR communication for impression management goals [55, 56]. In order to obtain social its legitimacy [48], to improve that stakeholders' trust [57], and enhance the firm's reputation, a manager may engage in a symbolic initiative and create of a CSR-façade. Indeed, the firms' use of impression management within symbolic CSR has been described as an instrument used to control the firm's image through social interactions.

Furthermore, firms are supposed to issue CSR reports to communicate their societal activities in response to the stakeholders' demands. However, CSR communication has been accused of being superficial, insincere and manipulative. Because of the lack of an enforced reporting framework [58], CSR reports have often been treated as an impression management means to manipulate information users.

In a narrative reporting context, impression management occurs simply when there is an attempt to influence the reader's perception of firms' performances. A study conducted by Brennan and Merkel [59] states the presence of a positive bias in Enron's annual report before its collapse in order to influence the readers rather than provide supplementary useful information.

Even though the disclosure regulations provide some rules on what to disclose, the wording remains arbitrary [60]. The impression management in a narrative report, such as sustainable report, involves communication choices i.e. thematic, reading ease and rhetorical manipulation [61]. Indeed, firms may selectively

disclose information in order to distort the users' perception towards firms' achievement.

Focusing on the thematic manipulation, tone management (optimistic/pessimistic) aims to obfuscate poor performances and bad news and emphasize positive ones. Tone management is described as the choice of tone level in a document that is incommensurate with actual quantitative information. Impression management, in particular, tone management in CSR reporting derives from CSR symbolic practices. Besides, empirical studies support the idea according to which linguistic features may reflect discretionary practices and CSR attitudes of the firm (substantive/symbolic). They highlight the importance of the linguistic features to explore the credibility of corporate disclosure and to reveal corporate reporting strategies [62]. Consequently, the CSR report quality is suspected while investors rely on being informed about societal performance. Therefore, users should consider the impression management initiative when interpreting societal information.

#### **5.3 The greenwashing**

The "greenwashing" concept is seriously considered when exploring CSR through an impression management viewpoint. Greenwashing" is described in the literature as the gap or the divergence between CSR substantive actions and symbolic actions. In sum, symbolic and substantive actions differ on the implementation degree. A firm may engage in symbolic rather than substantive action which derives from a "mere talk" strategy commonly called as greenwashing or decoupling strategy [63].

As a symbolic strategy, decoupling refers to the disconnection between structures and the firms' activities, the creation of an appearance of complying with stakeholders' expectation and the adoption of a particular management process without really doing so [55]. Indeed, decoupling implies that firms implement symbolic displays while internal practices remain unchanged. It is a little more than empty words or simply talk without real actions [64].

Greenwashing is presented as the inadequate and abusive use of CSR in order to create a green image of the firm to mitigate the stakeholders' perceptions and deviate attentions from bad performances, discretionary and unethical practices. Bowen considers greenwashing as "a specific subset of symbolic corporate environmentalism in which the changes are both "merely symbolic" and deliberately so" [65], p. 3.

As an umbrella term, greenwashing encompasses various forms of misleading namely selective disclosures and misleading narratives and discourses. As a greenwashing variety, selective disclosure is the most widely investigated form according to which positive attributes are disclosed while negative impacts are ignored. Besides, a misleading narrative and discourse is about using rhetorical strategies applied to narrative reports to shape the audience's evaluative beliefs about a firm's societal performance and avoid accusations of greenwash. In sum, greenwashing is about creating positive perceptions about a poor performance that is driven by extrinsic motives, in particular, self-serving motives rather than society-serving motives.

#### **6. CSR: a comprehensive conceptual model**

As described above, CSR has emerged as a theme of progressive relevance which highlights its evolving and dynamic feature implying a necessary revision of the CSR definitions, motivations and strategies.

*CSR: A Moral Obligation or a Strategic Behavior? DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.94471*

Within this context, it seems useful to present a conceptual model of CSR which describes the motives, attitudes, perspectives and strategies of CSR. Based on previous research conducted by Garriga and Melé [17], Graafland and Mazereeuw-Van [18] and the RDAP scale (Clarkson) [66, 67] adopted from a well-known classification on CSR and based on concepts identified by Carroll [3] and Wartick and Cochran [68]. The RDAP continuum model is often used to describe CSR strategies. The conceptual model that appears in **Figure 1**, describes four components: (1) CSR motives, (2) CSR attitudes, (3) CSR perspectives (4) CSR strategies.

CSR motives in **Figure 1** are categorized into extrinsic motives which arise from the outside of the individual (outsider pressures, financial motives, reputation, legitimacy …) and intrinsic motives (personal values, convictions, morality, insider pressures …).

According to this classification, attitudes towards CSR differs, either CSR is considered as an opportunity and a mean to achieve firm's goals or it's considered for its moral arguments as a moral duty and an end on itself. In fact, firms may implement CSR as a strategic behavior so that an instrument to achieve economic benefits or a moral obligation considering CSR a duty that should be fulfilled regardless of economic and financial benefits.

Consequently, driven by extrinsic motives, firms implement strategic CSR. In particular, firms concerned by influencing, misleading and managing stakeholders' impression are more likely to implement symbolic CSR or greenwashing. However, firms which are supposed to implement substantive CSR actions are firms that

#### **Figure 1.**

*A comprehensive CSR conceptual model.*

consider and realign its strategies to the societal demands implying, as a result, real changes in business process.

As shown in **Figure 1**, CSR strategies include reactive, defensive, accommodative and proactive strategy according to the CSR implementing level. In reactive strategy, the firm either neglects or ignores environmental and social issues. In a defensive strategy, firm do only the minimum required, just to comply with regulation to address societal issues implying a limited integration to CSR concerns. The accommodative strategy reflects the modest consideration of social or environmental issues implying cautious changes in internal processes. In fact, firm is less active compared to the proactive strategy according to which a full integration of stakeholders issues in the business process of the firm. Proactive strategy integrates societal goals as part of the core business logic to achieve sustainable development.

Consequently, firms which implement substantive CSR and moral CSR are more likely to adopt a proactive strategy to address environmental and social issues. All in all, this conceptual model highlights that the CSR strategy adopted by the firm depends on the motive underlying CSR commitment, CSR attitudes and the CSR implementing level.
