Abstract
Reviewed by: Andy Hodder, University of Birmingham, UK
This book is a welcome addition to the literature in the area of union involvement in corporate social responsibility. Corporate social responsibility has been subject to extensive academic research, mainly in the arena of business strategy and business ethics, but to date, little has systematically examined union involvement in this initiative. Indeed, as noted in the introduction, the drive towards corporate social responsibility ‘has come more or less entirely from management, and there is thus a danger of unions being left out of the debate’ (p. 10). It has long been suggested that unions have a broader than economic purpose related to wider societal, moral issues. At their most rudimentary level, trade unions have always been concerned with morals and ethics, whether that be in relation to effective democratic workplace voice or to prevent the exploitation of a vulnerable workforce. Academic attention in this area to date has largely focused on issues of industrial action, internal union corruption and the behaviours and actions of union activists/leaders, all of which have been subject to considerable debate in both business ethics and industrial relations. However, prior to this collection, the literature examining union involvement in corporate social responsibility was rather disparate.
The editors have put together a valuable book which explores the extent to which unions are involved in corporate social responsibility initiatives across 11 European countries: Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Lithuania, Poland, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom. The book aims to go beyond simple examination of national differences, and instead it is noted that the aim of the editors ‘has been to undertake a “mapping exercise”, profiling national differences through the lens of comparative institutionalism and sketching contemporary trade union perspectives and positions’ (p. 202).
Early in the opening chapter, the editors state their intent not to further develop theory in the area of union involvement in corporate social responsibility. Whilst the role of unions and societal issues has been examined from a theoretical perspective in a number of different ways before, this debate has largely focused on whether or not unions should move beyond the traditional remit of job regulation to have a wider influence and purpose within society, acting as a ‘sword of justice’ (Flanders, 1970: 15). However, this is not to say that theoretical implications are not considered by the contributors, but the collection, and indeed, the research area is missing a robust theoretical analysis of trade unions and the corporate social responsibility agenda.
The book itself is the end product of a considered and detailed project, with fieldwork taking place between 2011 and 2013, producing almost 100 hours of interview data. Given the scope of the research undertaken, it would have been useful to see more detail regarding the research methodology than that provided. Whilst this is addressed in part in the introduction (pp. 9–10) and the individual chapters, more information could have been provided, for example, about the selection of unions in each of the countries. Despite this, the editors should be commended for bringing together such a vast array of data into such a coherent book. This is of course assisted by the imposition of the same structure on each of the contributing chapters.
Aside from the introductory and concluding chapters, each of the case study chapters follows the same format. After a brief introduction, consideration is given to the national business system and industrial relations system of each country to provide the necessary context in a comparative study. The evolution of corporate social responsibility at a national level is then considered, before the methods provide the details of the unions examined in each country. Union involvement in corporate social responsibility is then split between three areas: understanding, engagement and policy. Each chapter then ends with a discussion and conclusion. The book highlights considerable divergence across the 11 countries examined in the collection, and the editors note that there is also ‘considerable variety and nuance within national patters’ (p. 208). Indeed, despite a universal level of scepticism towards corporate social responsibility, there were also a number of instances where union attitudes were much more positive, with unions viewing it is ‘an opportunity to expand their relevance’ (p. 214).
Overall, this is an impressive collection which achieves its aims of ‘mapping’ current thinking of European trade unions towards corporate social responsibility. I would recommend this book to both academics and trade unionists who are interested in expanding their knowledge in this increasingly important area.