Title: The Scandinavian cooperative advantage? A mixed method approach to highlight the influence of contextual conditions for environmental CSR uptake

Authors: Leanne Johnstone; Elinor Svärd-Sandin; Cecilia Lindh

Addresses: School of Business, Society and Engineering, Mälardalen University, Mälardalens högskola, Box 883, 721 23 Västerås, Sweden ' School of Business, Society and Engineering, Mälardalen University, Mälardalens högskola, Box 883, 721 23 Västerås, Sweden ' School of Business, Society and Engineering, Mälardalen University, Mälardalens högskola, Box 883, 721 23 Västerås, Sweden

Abstract: Multilateral actor-to-actor (A2A) networks, exhibited and commonplace in Scandinavia, are considered key to effective environmental CSR implementation and organisational success. This research investigates the proposed Scandinavian cooperative advantage within the construction industry in order to better understand: a) if the contextual conditions of a country affect environmental CSR uptake; b) if construction companies exhibit environmental CSR-practices differently in discrete contexts; c) the role of stakeholder collaborations for explicit (soft-law) environmental CSR uptake and competitive advantage. With Sweden and Scotland as representative examples of two different contexts within and beyond Scandinavia, the results indicate that the contextual conditions of a country affect the perceptions, and likelihood, of environmental CSR uptake from both organisational and customer perspectives. However, it remains unclear as to whether stakeholder collaborations and A2A networks, traditional within Scandinavian societies, actually influence environmental CSR uptake more so than in external contexts.

Keywords: corporate social responsibility; CSR; corporate sustainability; environmental CSR; explicit soft-law; Scandinavian cooperative advantage; stakeholder theory.

DOI: 10.1504/IJESD.2017.087258

International Journal of Environment and Sustainable Development, 2017 Vol.16 No.4, pp.336 - 358

Received: 07 Sep 2016
Accepted: 21 Feb 2017
Published online: 11 Oct 2017 *

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