Towards theorising corporate social irresponsibility: The Déjà Vu cases of collapsed forestry ventures

Abstract

Based on case studies and secondary data, this study theorises how and why firms engage in corporate social irresponsibility (CSIR). Using the inductive process of theory building based on case studies of two forestry companies operating in China, this study explains how and why organisations with initial intentions towards corporate social responsibility (CSR) engage in CSIR based on paths taken and the behaviours across micro (individual), meso (organisational), and macro (industry) levels. Hence, there is a ‘grey zone’ between CSR and CSIR (Clark, C. E., Riera, M., & Iborra, M. (2021). Business & Society, 61, 1473–1511. 10.1177/00076503211015911). This study extends the path dependence literature on CSIR (Küberling‐Jost, J.A. (2019). Journal of Business Ethics, 169(3), 579–601) by integrating moral disengagement and the theory of planned behaviour, stakeholder agency, and institutional theory into path dependence theory based on observed behaviours across micro, meso, and macro levels.