Motivations for CSR in the Norwegian maritime cluster: stakeholder perspectives and policy implications

Abstract

The goal of the paper is to explore the motives forfirms’engagement inCSR and tofind out what underlines the CSR stakeholder choice. Weintegrated both qualitative and quantitative approaches and addressedthe research questions by using the Norwegian maritime cluster as theresearch setting. Thefindings show that the concept of CSR differs amongindustry players even within the same industry. CSR may have differentinterpretations based on industry,firm, or even individual perception.Consensus over the meaning of CSR continues to be problematic whilethe lack of clarity is complicated by the multiplicity of stakeholders’interests and expectations. We found that within the maritime industry,important CSR initiatives are targeted at stakeholders such as the envir-onment, sponsorship, charities, and safety. Intrinsic motivation was foundto be highly related to CSR targeted at the community, shareholders, andemployees while extrinsic motivation appears to be limited to concernsfor the environment and suppliers. However, the weak associationbetween motivation and CSR targeted at the environment could beexplained by other factors (e.g. legislation)