Collective ideals and practices in sustainable development: Managing corporate identity

Abstract

When implementing corporate identity initiatives, CSR values are often formally distributed throughout the organization. This is done to coordinate the actions of organizational members to meet demands of social responsibility among stakeholders. However, inconsistencies between ideals and practices can often be observed. Based on an ethnographic study of the implementation of equal opportunity policies in a Danish organization, this article argues that identity making is a socially negotiated process. Consequently, policy interpretations may be guided by different incentives in the different local settings. We suggest that policies should be developed in close interaction with the different organizational members in order to facilitate CSR identity making at a local level. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.