CSR and Leadership Approaches and Practices: A Comparative Inquiry of Owners and Professional Executives

DOIhttp://doi.org/10.1111/emre.12318
AuthorMine Karatas‐Ozkan,Ali Ergur,Sibel Yamak,Ahu Tatli
Published date01 December 2019
Date01 December 2019
CSR and Leadership Approaches and
Practices: A Comparative Inquiry of Owners
and Professional Executives
SIBEL YAMAK,
1
ALI ERGUR,
2
MINE KARATAS-OZKAN
3
and AHU TATLI
4
1
University of Wolverhampton Business School Wolverhampton, UK
2
Department of Sociology, Galatasaray University, Istanbul, Turkey
3
Southampton Business School, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK
4
School of Business and Management, Queen Mary, University of London, London,UK
This study generatescomparative insights into CSR approaches of owners and non-kin professional executives in
an emerging country context, Turkey. Drawing on 61 interviews, we found that ownership status of the executive is
crucial in shaping their CSR perceptions and practices. Owner-executives are empowered in pursuing CSR
approaches based on their personal preferences and values; they have mostly societal aims. Professionals display
tendency for company-related CSR practice; they exhibit greater knowledge of CSR, and their CSR initiatives are
the results of strategic choices to enhance their power within the corporation. Our paper contributes to the debate
on the drivers for CSR by accounting for both societal and individual influences on the CSR agency of these two
key groups of executives. First, we develop a typology of CSR approaches of owners and professionals. Second,
we provide insights from an emergingcountry context. Third, we presentempirically grounded practiceimplications
for CSR.
Keywords: CSR; owner-executive; professional executive; Turkey; qualitative
Introduction
One of the most influential family business groups,
Sabanci group, organizes Akbank Jazz Days as part of
their corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities.
Given the traditional cultural outlook of Turkey, only
3.8% of the Turkish population listens to jazz music
(Hurriyet, 2011). Akbank Jazz Days is an illustrative
example of arguably controversial nature of CSR
decisions. The puzzle of how and as a result of what
influences CSR decisions intrigued us in exploring the
topic and we focused on one particular aspect of the
problem, which is the interplay between the owner vs.
non-owner status of the company executive and their
CSR perceptions/practices.
We present a comparative investigation of CSR
perceptions and practices of owners and non-kin
professional executives, reporting on a qualitative study
undertaken in Turkey. Public debates on socially
responsible corporate practices have become
commonplace in the aftermath of the global financial
meltdown, and yet CSR frameworks, which are used to
elaborate the expectations f rom corporations, are
characterized by a wide range of conceptual definitions.
Thus, it is crucial to start with conceptual clarity. CSR is
ideologically framed; in this paper we conceptualize
CSR as one form of business-society interactions that
reflects particular ideological framing (Djelic and
Etchanchu, 2017). How the nature, extent and impact of
CSR has changed throughtime and space and co-evolved
with shifts in dominant ideologies is important.
Transformation of the intentions of leaders that motivate
the exercise of CSR is significant. In-depth studies that
examine motivations and practices of different groups of
business elites are required to shed further light into our
understanding of CSR.
The key questionswe set out to answer in this paper are:
how do owners (family member executives) and non-kin
professional executives in Turkey perceive and practice
CSR? In answering this question, we pay particular
attention to the nuanced convergences and divergences
Correspondence: Sibel Yamak, University of Wolverhampton Business
School, City Campus Molineux, MN Building, Wolverhampton, WV1
1AD, UK. E-mailsibelyamak@gmail.com
DOI: 10.1111/emre.12318
©2018 European Academy of Management
European Management Review, Vol. 16, 1097, ( 2019)
1114
in CSR approaches and practices The Turkish business
context is dominated by family business holdings, which
grant a privileged position to owning family. Usually
one or two families possess the majority of the shares
and they are also present in the control of the company.
However, as companies expand and are passed down
through generations of owners, a community of
professional executives also emerges. Therefore, it is
importantto investigate and compare the CSR perceptions
and practices of owners and professional executives in
order to understand CSR in the context of an emerging
economy. Through a comparative approach, we are able
to shed light on the factors that shape CSR practice. A
comparison of these two groups of upper echelons, who
are distinct in terms of their legitimacy claims and their
access to executivepower and resources, providesinsights
into key drivers for adoption of various CSR practices.
In delineating the ideological and power-laden nature
of CSR practice, our papercompares the CSR approaches
and practices of owners and non-kin professional
executives, who are arguably the two main groups of
business leaders. A growing body of literature examines
approaches and practices of owners (owner-executives)
in the area of social responsibility, and highlights the
significance of owners in developing and implementing
CSR, particularly in the context of SMEs (Jenkins,
2006; Murillo and Lozano, 2006; Perrini, 2006; Russo
and Tencati, 2008; Del Baldo, 2010; Fassin et al., 2011,
2015; Besser, 2012; Lähdesmäki, 2012; Baumann-Pauly
et al., 2013). However, there is a dearth of comparative
studies examiningperceptual differences between owners
and professional executives. One particular study by
Tafel-Viia and Alas (2009) analyzed such differences as
sources of conflict in the context of Estonian SMEs. The
authors argue that the focus of emphasis differs between
owners and professional executives, mainly due to their
different roles in an organization. Owners tendto develop
and use CSR as a strategic toolin order to relate to certain
interest groups and stakeholders, such as the state,
politicians, media and public opinion, whereas
professional managers focus on other stakeholder groups,
such as suppliers, customers and employees.
Nevertheless, the research on owners often focuses on
the SME context. Our study makes a unique contribution
by comparing lea dership percept ions and practice s of
owners and non-kin professional executives in relation
to CSR practice in 61 of the largest Turkish companies.
As noted, CSR needs to be understood on a particular
and contextual form of business-society interactions that
reflects and reveals certain institutional and cultural
conditions, particular relations of power and a given
ideological grounding (Djelic and Etchanchu, 2017).
Turkey constitutes an intriguing context to answer our
researchquestion for a number of reasons.Unsurprisingly,
CSR is less studied in non-Western contexts, a gap which
is even more acute whenit comes to CSR perceptions and
practices of owner and professional executives in large
companies. The very concept of CSR plays, in actual
circumstancesof Turkey, a well-placed tool formeasuring
the nature of perceptual mixtures that business-people
develop to find a tactical path (De Certeau, 2002), which
could serve themas actors to effectively exist in the highly
competitive circumstances of the global market.
Furthermore, Turkey has neither been colonized as most
developing countries nor has it experienced a Western-
type of modernization. Yet it is characterized with an
astonishing capability to adopt modern institutions
through original synthesis, mostly channeling traditional
values in modern forms. For example, as our study
uncovers, the unique historical experience of Turkey in
modernization is o bserved in the polysemic unde rstanding
of corporate social responsibility by owners, but mostly
on philanthropic-basis. Consequently, the analysis of the
perception and practices of CSR in Turkey has the
potential for revealing, not only the existing variety of
approachesto the concept, but especially the internallogic
of a complex social change.
Situated at the intersection of Europe and Middle East
and connected to the ancient Silk Road across Central
Asia through Turkic culture after the fall of Soviet Union
(Morgan et al., 2015), Turkey constitutes an i nteresting
setting to studyCSR practices. This is a meltingpot where
west and east as well as modern and traditional meet. In
fact, while the policy shifts towards liberalization in
1980s relocated Turkey more into the mainstream of the
world economy, the rise of Islamic parties in 2000s has
created a business elite less unitary and more divided by
the issues of religion, secularism and free markets
(Morgan et al., 2015). This intermingling of modern and
traditional as well as frequent macro changes may have
different repercussions on CSR understanding of the
owners versus professionals in large business groups in
Turkey. While the owners inherit the highest position in
the power scale, the recent fast economic growth
contributed to the size and status of the manager category
in Turkish business system (Yamak and Ertuna, 2017).
The latter with degrees in management and engineering
from western-tradition higher education institutions are
more exposed to western business practices (Yamak,
1998). In a longitudinal study, Yamak (2007) found that
the concept of CSR was largely imported from the USA
in Turkish academic circles, with no investigation of the
previous CSR practices and concepts in this particular
context. This strand of CSR literature misses previous
sector or society level solidarity institutions and zakat
mechanism.Therefore, the Turkish managementliterature
on CSR appeared to be detached from the country specific
context and history up to the early 2000s. Recent studies
attempt to fill this gap and indicate that philanthropy
originating from culture and traditions coexists with
S. Yamak et al.
©2018 European Academy of Management
1098

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