Rodolphe Ocler

Discourse analysis and corporate social responsibility: a qualitative approach

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine how firms build and develop corporate discourse in the field of corporate social responsibility (CRS). The paper has two main objectives: to clarify notions that are used when analyzing discourse; and to provide a qualitative methodology to analyze how the discourse is used to construct a CRS strategy.Design/methodology/approach – The paper presents a qualitative methodology, deconstructing four CRS reports using a story‐telling approach.Findings – The analysis shows that firms construct their environment while marketing the report on social responsibility, in order to make of it an asset in an institutional communication system.Research limitations/implications – Further attention should be devoted to the specificity of qualitative approach and to discourse analysis (selection of the corpus, validity and triangulation, etc.).Originality/value – The paper shows how discourse can be used to provide competitive advantage. It also provides a clear framework w...

Professionalism and organization: polysemy of concepts and narratives of actors

Purpose: The notion of professionalism is polysemic in nature. In this paper we aim at analysing the development of this notion and identify its components. The paper examines the process that lead to the development of professionalism based on the interaction between the actors and the organization. These social interactions, grounded in an organizational environment, reveal the tensions that such interactions expose. Design/methodology/approach: This paper draws on qualitative methodology using semi-directive interviews and provide an example of application. Findings: In this paper we focus on how professionalism can be developed, generating acts, implementing actions, and using resources. Research limitations/implications: This paper presents one example in a specific field and should be put in perspective with others examples and fields

Towards a critical study of standardization: Corporate social responsibility, discourse and management practices

Purpose – This paper aims to highlight the links among standardization, corporate social responsibility (CSR) and critical management. It also aims at understanding the implication of the normalization process for CSR but also questions the nature of this concept. Design/methodology/approach – To determine the interest in standardization, we forecasted the trend in issuing ISO certificates based on autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) and Holt statistical models. Then a critical approach is used to understand the nature of CSR. Findings – The paper focuses on a critical approach and challenge the definition of CSR through the lenses of standardization. It shows that the notion of CSR is polysemic and highlights the limits of standardization process. Research limitations/implications – The research is only based on ISO standards, not other kind of standardization process. Social implications – The paper questions the notion of CSR and shows the different elements that this notion covers. Origin...

Using Constructivist Grounded Theory to Construct a Substantive Theory for Corporate Social Responsibility

Grounded Theory strategy (GT) has been introduced almost 50 years ago as the approach developed significantly since that time and contributed to emergence of variety of GT strategies. One of these variations is the constructive turn of Kathy Charmaz. In this paper we demonstrate (1) the potential of Constructive Grounded Theory (CGT) into scientific inquiry on CSR and (2) how the approach was implemented in order to build a substantive theory for CSR by utilising a practical example from a recently completed doctoral study by the lead author.