Voluntarism as an organizing principle for “responsible organizations”

Purpose – The aim of this paper is to promote the concept of organizational voluntarism, borrowed from political philosophy and to stimulate feedback and debate as to its efficacy in furthering the discourse on corporate responsibility. Design/methodology/approach – The paper examines a range of current theories that address the issue of balancing organizational plurality and coherence. It identifies both shortfalls in current research and provides criteria for developing new theory in this area. The concept of organizational voluntarism is developed and these criteria used to test the robustness of the model and to explore future areas of research. Findings – The criteria used to assess the voluntarism model are: the centrality of organizational plurality, the embeddedness of social relations and power in organization working, accounting for the motivations of managers to work this way; and the need for clear organizational benefits. Four potential cognitions are proposed that define a voluntaristic mindset. Research limitations/implications – The aim is only to develop the concept of voluntarism and promote debate about its value as an organizing principle in multi stakeholder settings. Practical implications – The paper offers a research proposition that managers who pursue voluntaristic behaviour will be influenced by cognitions that reflect plurality of interests, the value of personal interest, the need to “take” authority and who value political models of working in the reconciliation of competing interests. Originality/value – The paper provides an additional perspective that can further the development of corporate responsibility by mediating the demands for corporate control and efficiency and the calls for greater inclusion.