Social Performance Learning in Multinational Corporations: Multicultural Teams, their Social Capital and Use of Cross-Sector Alliances

Abstract

Multinational corporations (MNCs) confront complex challenges to continuously achieve higher levels of social performance across diverse country and cultural contexts. Yet many MNCs have reactive strategies toward corporate social responsibility (CSR). Such strategies do not leverage multicultural team diversity for dynamic learning. Meanwhile, cross-sector alliances between MNCs and not-for-profit entities present a rich opportunity for MNC learning. Multicultural teams often lie at the core of such initiatives in MNCs, although they have been, at best, a peripheral concern of CSR research and theory. We redress this gap in the CSR literature by integrating theory on social capital and the external team perspective and applying this to the CSR context. Our analysis has practical implications for MNCs as well, suggesting further extensions.

Citation

Salk, J.E. and Arya, B. (2005), "Social Performance Learning in Multinational Corporations: Multicultural Teams, their Social Capital and Use of Cross-Sector Alliances", Shapiro, D.L., Von Glinow, M.A. and Cheng, J.L.C. (Ed.) Managing Multinational Teams: Global Perspectives (Advances in International Management, Vol. 18), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 189-207. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0747-7929(05)18007-X