The notion that transparency forces organizations to eschew decoupling and embrace substantive adoption represents an important assumption in the corporate social responsibility (CSR) literature. Conversely, research on learning and social control has considered opacity—understood as a lack of transparency—to be conducive to substantive CSR adoption. These opposing viewpoints highlight a fundamental tension: Is transparency good or bad for substantive adoption? This paper resolves this tension by asking an alternative question: When is transparency good or bad, and why? We advance a dynamic perspective that conceives transparency and opacity as transitory phenomena, and we specify the boundary conditions for which either enduring or transitory forms of transparency and opacity further the substantive adoption of CSR. Our analyses reveal that, for circumstances under which the motivation of ceremonial adoption is hypocritical (rather than opportunistic) and where both substantive adoption and practice abandonment are difficult, the former can be maximized by first allowing organizations to adopt a CSR practice ceremonially under opacity (“bait”), and then prompting ceremonial adopters to become substantive adopters through a shift to transparency (“switch”). Specifying this bait-and-switch mechanism and its underlying contingencies reveals a hitherto unexplored, and potentially effective, pathway toward the institutionalization of CSR.

中文翻译：

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企业社会责任的诱饵模型

透明度迫使组织避免脱钩并接受实质性采用的概念代表了企业社会责任 (CSR) 文献中的一个重要假设。相反，关于学习和社会控制的研究认为不透明——被理解为缺乏透明度——有利于实质性的企业社会责任采用。这些对立的观点凸显了一个根本性的矛盾：透明度对于实质性采用是好是坏？本文通过提出一个替代问题来解决这种紧张关系：透明度何时是好是坏，为什么？我们提出了一个动态的观点，将透明度和不透明性视为暂时现象，并且我们指定了边界条件，持久性或暂时性的透明和不透明性形式进一步促进了企业社会责任的实质性采用。我们的分析表明，对于仪式采用的动机是虚伪的（而不是机会主义的）并且在实质性采用和实践放弃都困难的情况下，前者可以通过首先允许组织在不透明的情况下仪式采用企业社会责任实践（“诱饵”）来最大化，然后通过向透明度的转变（“转换”）促使仪式采用者成为实质性采用者。详细说明这种诱饵和转换机制及其潜在的突发事件，揭示了一条迄今为止尚未探索的、可能有效的、通往 CSR 制度化的途径。前者可以通过首先允许组织在不透明的情况下仪式性地采用企业社会责任实践（“诱饵”），然后通过向透明度的转变（“转换”）促使仪式性采用者成为实质性采用者来最大化。详细说明这种诱饵和转换机制及其潜在的突发事件，揭示了一条迄今为止尚未探索的、可能有效的、通往 CSR 制度化的途径。前者可以通过首先允许组织在不透明（“诱饵”）下仪式性地采用企业社会责任实践，然后通过向透明度转变（“转换”）促使仪式性采用者成为实质性采用者来最大化。详细说明这种诱饵和转换机制及其潜在的突发事件，揭示了一条迄今为止尚未探索的、可能有效的、通往 CSR 制度化的途径。