MOTIVATIONS FOR USE OF ORGANIZATIONAL SOCIAL PRACTICES: COMMITMENT, CALCULATION, CONFORMANCE, AND CARING.

Organizational social practices (e.g., corporate social responsibility and corporate citizenship practices), as well as their costs and the benefits companies accrue from undertaking them, have been widely described and analyzed in the business and society literature. However, the debate over the mechanisms that motivate such practices has yet to evolve. This study aims at contributing to the explanation of these mechanisms. Using the institutional framework and Scotts (2001) concept of institutional pillars, I present a theoretical framework that reconciles strategic, principled, institutional, and emotional mechanisms that motivate organizational social action. I propose that commitment, calculation, conformance, and caring mechanisms motivate organizations to adopt social practices. Analyzing social practices used by companies in their interaction with the stakeholder local community, this study examines the effects of environmental conditions and decision-maker orientation on the four motivation mechanisms.