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Corporate Social Responsibility and Corporate Change pp 135–158Cite as

ISO 26000 Gets Taken Around: Diffusion Work as Crucial Link Between Standard Creation and Adoption

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Part of the book series: Ethical Economy ((SEEP,volume 57))

Abstract

Transnational CSR standards are neither imposed nor do they automatically find their way to potential adopters. Instead, they get “taken around” by diffusion actors at the organizational field level. The contribution conceptualizes diffusion as part of institutionalization processes and mobilizes the concept of diffusion work to study people’s activities aimed at the dissemination of transnational CSR standards. Based on a case study on the early diffusion of ISO 26000—Social Responsibility Guidance Standard in Germany, it shows the interplay of various types of actors committed to diffuse, and for some, to hinder the diffusion of the standard. By categorizing diffusion work on two axes (direct–indirect and explicit–implicit), the chapter sheds light on the diffusion dynamics surrounding a newly released standard. The findings reveal that the standard setter must rely on external actors to diffuse its standard that the national context matters and that some characteristics of ISO 26000 influence diffusion forms and trajectories.

This chapter is a shortened version of a chapter of my Ph.D. Thesis (Stamm, 2018), in which we also analyzed the early diffusion of ISO 26000 in Canada. We thank Arnaud Sales for his valuable feedback on the draft version of this chapter. We also thank all our interviewees for their time. This research is part of a larger project entitled Role and impact of private authorities in the ethical regulation of corporations activities financed by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) and conducted under the direction of Arnaud Sales (Université de Montréal) and Thomas Beschorner (Universität St.Gallen). I am particularly indebted to SSHRC for its Doctoral fellowship and to the Canadian Centre for German and European Studies in Montreal for its financial assistance.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Sophie Clivio at ISO 26000 launch (2010): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dE7L3HCaAWM, consulted on July 20, 2017.

  2. 2.

    The relational model of diffusion focuses on direct personal contact between the diffuser and the adopter as the main channel of diffusion, whereas other models take other channels into account, notably mass media.

  3. 3.

    Industry, consumer, government, labor, NGO, and Support, Service, Research, and Other (SSRO).

  4. 4.

    On the final vote on ISO 26000, 66 national member bodies voted in favor, 5 voted against, and 6 abstained.

  5. 5.

    The other four are the USA, Japan, UK, and France.

  6. 6.

    ISO News, January 2013: ISO 26000—International forum revisits the road travelled.

  7. 7.

    ISO News, October 2010: Launch of ISO 26000 Guidance Standard on SR.

  8. 8.

    ISO News, November 2012.

  9. 9.

    A report and case studies from the project were published in 2016 (ISO 2016).

  10. 10.

    GRI (2011): GRI and ISO 26000: How to use the GRI guidelines in conjunction with ISO 26000. UNGC (2010): UN Global Compact and International Standard ISO 26000 Guidance on Social Responsibility: An Introduction to linkages between UN Global Compact Principles and ISO 26000 core subjects.

  11. 11.

    As late as 2009, the DIN presidium recommended the German mirror committee to vote against the draft of ISO 26000 (DGB, 2010, p. 5).

  12. 12.

    Later, these publications were followed by another one on the implementation of ISO 26000 (DIN, 2014).

  13. 13.

    A report on behalf of the BMAS, selected the 15 most relevant CSR instruments for German actors. ISO 26000 is listed among two instruments in the category Guidance for Management Systems (the other being Accountability).

  14. 14.

    The price of a copy of DIN/ISO 26000 is 139€ in 2017.

  15. 15.

    BMUB (2014): Gesellschaftliche Verantwortung von Unternehmen. Eine Orientierungshilfe für Kernthemen und Handlungsfelder des Leitfadens DIN ISO 26000.

  16. 16.

    Responsible Care is mentioned in ISO 26000 as example in the Annex A—examples of voluntary initiatives and tools for social responsibility.

  17. 17.

    Bitkom (2010): Leitfaden Gesellschaftliche Verantwortung: Handlungsempfehlungen zur ISO 26000.

  18. 18.

    MIV (2010): Nachhaltigkeit in der milchwirtschaftlichen Praxis—Anwendung der ISO 26000. http://www.milchindustrie.de/themen/umwelt-nachhaltigkeit/leitfaden-zur-nachhaltigkeit/.

  19. 19.

    ZVEI (2010): ZVEI’s Code of Conduct for Corporate Social Responsibility.

  20. 20.

    The pivotal role of consultants in the “construction of a market” for CSR has been shown by Brès and Gond (2014).

  21. 21.

    An example is the International Conference on CSR, organized biannually at the Humboldt University in Berlin. The conferences in 2010 and 2012 had a panel session on CSR were German actors from different stakeholder categories participated.

  22. 22.

    The legislative proposal became a directive of the European Parliament in 2014 (Directive 2014/95/EU).

  23. 23.

    German Council for Sustainable Development (2011): The German Sustainability Code.

  24. 24.

    Stellungnahme zur Nichtzertifizierbarkeit der Norm ISO 26000: Guidance on Social Responsibility (2010).

  25. 25.

    ISO has 162 national members (119 full members), around 100 had participated in the elaboration of ISO 26000. A total of 74 members responded to the survey.

  26. 26.

    In the first survey from 2011, 31% reported a very low or low interest in ISO 26000 compared to other standards, 33% reported a normal interest, and 36% reported a high or very high interest.

  27. 27.

    For the year 2012, we found no reference to ISO 26000 in the Sustainability Reports of the largest German corporations (DAX 30).

  28. 28.

    The certifier was DQS, an auditing company in which DIN has a large stake.

  29. 29.

    For example, Faber Castell, a German manufacturer of office supplies mentions in its Sustainability Report (2011) that it has carried out a “a target/actual comparison of the ISO 26000 standard to the existing Faber-Castell management structures.”

  30. 30.

    ISO 26000, Open Forum, 14.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Université de Montréal, Montreal, Canada

    Christoph B. Stamm

  2. Université de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland

    Christoph B. Stamm

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Correspondence to Christoph B. Stamm .

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  1. Department of Sociology, Université de Montréal, Montreal, QC, Canada

    Arnaud Sales

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Stamm, C.B. (2019). ISO 26000 Gets Taken Around: Diffusion Work as Crucial Link Between Standard Creation and Adoption. In: Sales, A. (eds) Corporate Social Responsibility and Corporate Change. Ethical Economy, vol 57. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-15407-3_7

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