Organizational Learning and

CSR Norms in the Mining Sector

Hevina S. Dashwood
Brock University
hdashwood@brocku.ca
Introduction
Part of larger research project: influences
on the CSR polices of mining companies
Question: how important have emerging
global CSR norms been?
Relevance: growing role of the private
sector in the provision of public goods
Organization
1. Context
2. Assumptions and Methodology
3. Research Findings
4. Central argument
5. Explanation
6. Conclusions
Context
Devolution of state authority
Importance of private sector CSR
initiatives
New global public domain (Ruggie)
Crisis of Legitimacy
Mid-1990s:
Bad reputation: widely publicized
environmental disasters
NGO targeting
Tightening of environmental regulations
Loss of access to minerals, markets and
capital
Research Puzzle
Mining companies in advanced
industrialized economies: all facing these
common constraints
But, variation in their response
How to explain this?
Assumptions
Firms are responsive to normative shifts
within the larger society
Norms: inter-subjective understanding of
appropriate behaviour
International relations literature:
dismissive of normative influence on firms
Institutionalist approaches: firms situated
in larger society
Methodology
Case study: Noranda (now Xstrata) and
Placer Dome (now Barrick)
Strong commitment to CSR
Early leaders in promoting CSR norms
globally
Findings
1. Early 2000s: adoption of sustainable
development/sustainability policies-
global normative dynamics
2. Senior management: perceived
experience of mining to be most
important
3. Some mining companies taking on a
leadership role: not just public relations
Central Argument
Role of global CSR norms importantbut
cannot assign to much weight to their role
Need to look at aspects internal to the
companies themselves
Three Questions
1. How do mining executives perceive and
interpret the influences around them?
2. What is the role of cognitive learning in
explaining how managers responded to
the crisis of legitimacy?
3. How do past experiences influence how
companies develop their CSR policies?
Explanation
Three elements:
1. Strategic adaptation
2. Cognitive learning process
3. Norms socialization
Strategic adaptation
Interest-based response to environmental
and social challenges
Vulnerable to local community opposition
Need for a social license to operate
Cognitive Learning Process
unlearning
Role of policy entrepreneurs
single loop learning
double loop learning
Learning a dynamic, on-going process:
requires external interaction and
engagement
Norms socialization
Where do the ideas come from?
How do companies internalize emerging
norms?
Strategic adaptation can lead to conviction
Prescriptive status
Institutionalization
Conclusions
Companies responsive to larger normative
shifts in society
Global initiatives that foster learning of
critical importance
Engagement with external actors valuable
Compliance-based versus values-based
approaches: the latter is better