Environmental Sustainability, Civil Society and Corporate Citizenship in the Russian Federation.
Lead Research Organisation:
Aston University
Department Name: Aston Business School
Abstract
Abstracts are not currently available in GtR for all funded research. This is normally because the abstract was not required at the time of proposal submission, but may be because it included sensitive information such as personal details.
Organisations
People |
ORCID iD |
| Jo Crotty (Principal Investigator) |
Publications
Crotty J
(2014)
Corporate Social Responsibility in the Russian Federation A Contextualized Approach
in Business & Society
Crotty J
(2014)
Post-Soviet Civil Society Development in the Russian Federation: The Impact of the NGO Law
in Europe-Asia Studies
Crotty J
(2013)
Environmental Responsibility in a Transition Context: Russian NGO Perception and Response
in Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy
Crotty J
(2014)
Environmental Awareness and Sustainable Development in the Russian Federation Environmental Awareness in the Russian Federation
in Sustainable Development
Crotty J
(2012)
Sustainable Development in the Russia Federation: The Limits of Greening within Industrial Firms Why do Firms Adopt Greening Practices
in Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management
Crotty J
(2014)
The Continuing Reorganization of Russia's Environmental Bureaucracy Regional Interpretation and the Response of Key Actors
in Problems of Post-Communism
Crotty J
(2014)
The Continuing Reorganization of Russia's Environmental Bureaucracy Regional Interpretation and the Response of Key Actors
in Problems of Post-Communism
Crotty J
(2010)
Making a Difference? NGOs and Civil Society Development in Russia
in Europe-Asia Studies
Jo Crotty (Author)
(1900)
Corporate citizenship in Russia : a firm perspective
Jo Crotty (Author)
(2010)
Environmental sustainability in the Russian federation - the role of the market
Jo Crotty (Author)
(2011)
Corporate social resposibility in the Russian Federation
Jo Crotty (Author)
(2010)
Corporate citizenship in Russia : a firm perspective
Jo Crotty (author)
(1900)
Corporate citizenship and environmental sustainability in the Russian Federation
Peter Rodgers (Author)
(2009)
The re-organisation of Russia's environmental bureaucracy - good news or bad?
Peter Rogers (Author)
(2008)
Corporate citizenship and environmental sustainability in the Russian Federation
| Description | • The Firm and the Local Community: A Russian Approach to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Firms were directed or 'coerced' by the state into engaging in CSR activity. Voluntary CSR was limited to that informed by the Soviet past or that which could give firms access to overseas markets. ESRC website: Contextualised CSR paper • Making Money V Saving the Environment Market forces were the only motivator towards sustainability. Consequently, greening was limited to that which could be achieved through ISO14001 accreditation. ESRC Website: Limits of Greening paper • The Changing Role of the State in Environmental Management: The state provided little incentive for environmental management whilst punishing firms for non-compliance. State structures were also in constant flux, leading to confusion. This has damaged managerial perceptions of sustainability and greening. Firms now reject all forms of greening beyond those with direct link to profitability. Without rehabilitation, greening will be limited to that which can be achieved by ISO14001. ESRC Website: Environmental Regulation Paper • The Impact of NGO Law 2006 on Environmental NGO's in Russia: By curtailing overseas and other sources of funding NGOs were forced to turn to the state to survive, sacrificing their independence. Others chose not to become state agents, but undermined their influence and legitimacy with other actors as a result. The Role of Environmental NGO's in Building a Russian Civil Society: Parochial approaches to recruitment, lack of participation from the wider population and collaboration between NGOs pre-exists the NGO law and continues undermines NGO and civil society development. Respondents agreed that civil society in Russia was immature yet failed to articulate their own responsibility for its development. • Ecological Education and Public Consciousness in the Russian Federation A lack of a broad understanding about the environment and environmental protection exists in Russia - however there appeared to be no actor willing to take on the role of educating the public. While this role remains unfilled it is unlikely that the government will be pressurised by the public at large into taking a more proactive environmental role. ESRC Website: Education Paper • The Retreating Russian State and Impacts on Environmental Management: NGO, Firm and Regulator Perspectives: There is no independent voice in Russia with sufficient power and legitimacy to hold the state or industry to account on its environmental record or policies. Russian civil society is therefore effectively 'managed' by the state. Firms are not exemplars of good environmental practice, nor do they aspire to be; regulation is focused on revenue, not environmental improvement; NGO independence has been undermined by the NGO law. A vacuum of responsibility persists. Matten and Crane's reformulated treatise on CSR as corporate citizenship is of little use in analysing firm behaviour. Matten and Crane's reformulation was revealed to be too descriptive to be operationalised within the data analysis. Previous work on CSR (Carroll, 1979 and others), alongside the work of Halme et. al., (2009) published after the start of this project on contextualised CSR in non-western contexts proved more useful. |
| Exploitation Route | The findings show that CSR is context dependant - reshaping the theory away from a western focus. The findings show what while popular as a narrative, Matten and Crane's (2005) model is difficult to operationalise for empircal purposes The findings indicate the weakness of Russian civil society and the ability of the state to manipulate it for its own end - pertinent to recent developments (2014) in the Russian Federation re the annexation of the Crimea etc |
| Sectors | Government, Democracy and Justice |
| URL | http://vimeo.com/22282828 |
| Description | Corporate Citizenship - CSR needs to be contextualised to take account of non-western societal and business contexts. The CSR literature assumes that firms undertake initiatives 'voluntarily'. However in sitations like the Russian Federation where state-business relations have fluctuated between state and business capture, the ability of the state to 'coerce' firms into CSR activity must be acknowledged. Similarly instances of voluntary activity undertaken in non-western contexts that would be legally mandated in western firms must also be acknowledged as CSR in such contexts. Environmental Sustainability - better results are achieved where regulatory frameworks are achievable and the state works in partnership with business to achieve compliance. Where regulatory frameworks are opaque, or non-compliance used to raise revenue through fines, managers are turned off the environment, and are less likely to engage in 'beyond compliance' environmental initatives. In such settings, environmental standards in export markets, and international standards like ISO14001 become the only incentives to engage in greening activity. Civil Society -Where regulatory or other limits on resource mobility exist, NGO political opportunity is also curtailed. NGOs become reliant on sources of funding from those which they should be holding to account, weakening their independence. This is exacerbated in situations where charitable donations from the general public is low. In these circumstances the ability of NGOs to build civil society capacity is limited. NGOs resort to transactional activism where they may succeed in challenging policy or government practice, but without a popular base, undermining their long term legitimacy. • Firms were directed or 'coerced' by the state into engaging in CSR activity. Voluntary CSR was limited to that informed by the Soviet past or that which could give firms access to overseas markets. • Greening was limited to that which could be achieved through ISO14001 accreditation. • The state provided little incentive for environmental management whilst punishing firms for non-compliance. State structures were also in constant flux, leading to confusion. This damaged managerial perceptions of sustainability and greening. • The 2006 NGO Law curtailed overseas funding. NGOs were forced to turn to the state to survive, sacrificing their independence. Others chose not to become state agents, but undermined their influence and legitimacy with other actors as a result. • Respondents agreed that civil society in Russia was immature yet fail to articulate their own responsibility for its development. • A lack of a broad understanding about the environment and environmental protection persists in Russia - however no actor is willing to take on this role. • There is no independent voice in Russia with sufficient power and legitimacy to hold the state or industry to account on its environmental record or policies. A vacuum of environmental responsibility persists. • Matten and Crane's reformulated treatise on CSR as corporate citizenship is of little use in analysing firm behaviour.This project revealed it to be operationalised within the data analysis. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2010 |
| Sector | Government, Democracy and Justice |
| Impact Types | Societal |
| Description | Sustainable development in the Russian Federation : state, business and society |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Primary Audience | |
| Results and Impact | Keynote speech given at the Samara State University Annual Winter School, Samara Oblast', February 2010 |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2010 |