The Role of Private Philanthropy in Sustainability Standards Harmonization: A Case Study

Abstract

Voluntary sustainability standards are often inconsistent and fragmented in terms of governance, complementarity, global applicability, and traction. Calls to harmonize this space have been intensifying. The objective of this study was to better understand the role that private philanthropy has played in helping to pave the way for globally consistent and comparable sustainability-related standards in the corporate sector, through the analysis of a case study. Twenty-four interviews with 31 stakeholders were carried out between October 2021 and January 2022, using a semi-structured questionnaire. The interview responses and qualitative data were analyzed using Atlas Ti software and open coding procedures. All interviewees spoke positively about the philanthropic intervention in question, and five main themes emerged: (1) strategic relevance and effective targeting of the intervention; (2) trust-building tactics: expertise, neutrality, and facilitation; (3) flexible and strategic interventions; (4) cultivating the standards harmonization philanthropic network; (5) strategic directions for philanthropy, moving forward. Three specific tactical approaches were identified that could help to orient future philanthropic action: (a) the steering of philanthropic support (both funding and non-financial support) toward ventures where such interventions can be advantageous, relative to formalized governmental interventions; (b) the facilitation of partnerships and trust, amid delicate interpersonal and organizational politics among standard-setters and donors alike; (c) the flexibility and specificity of grant requirements, coupled with a long-term vision.

Exploring the Impact of Corporate Philanthropy on Brand Authenticity in the Luxury Industry: Scale Development and Empirical Studies

“…Recently, Refs. [4][5][6][7] called for research on corporate philanthropy because, according to them [2,8,9]: (1) there is no consensus in the literature on how to understand the meaning of this concept; (2) the associated measures are, therefore, difficult to use; and…”

“…In so doing, we considered the context of the tourism luxury industry to analyse the effect of PCP on brand authenticity and cause involvement. These elements are all the more pertinent in light of the recent results found by [8], p. 21, who proposed a new definition of "luxury" as "being able to make significant improvements in the lives of distant others by providing them with economic, cultural, and/or social capital and, simultaneously, transforming the self of the giver". From this perspective, through their purchases, consumers of luxury brands not only benefit from a social status marker via the purchased item but also contribute to the causes supported by the product or service brand [10,11].…”