Guest speaker: Dr Renaud Redien-Collot, Novancia Business School, Paris.
This seminar presents findings from a study exploring choices by women leaders concerning the consistency of CSR deployment. We argue that the context of high growth SMEs may encourage specific connections and disconnections between CSR communication and implementation especially if the convergence of firm’s corporate CSR choices and its societal context is challenging for its leader.
As they have been challenged in their professional trajectories, we also explore if female leaders seek out audacious/original articulations between mainstream corporate customer-oriented CSR choices and employees societal preoccupations. Following Ziek’s recommendations (2009), we examine two contrasting aspects of communication concerning women-led high growth firms. On the one hand, we have analysed external corporate discourse concerning CSR achievement on the firm’s website and on the other one, we have undertaken personal interviews with firm leaders.
Before addressing the clients of their firms, women leaders seek to persuade and engage their employees in a broader approach to CSR that goes beyond mere routine and respect of the standardised norms of security and quality. In order to do so, leaders have to identify what enriches the sectorial approach of CSR that characterises the activities of the firm. At the same time, these complementary aspects of CSR need to be relevant to employee societal preoccupations so they feel motivated to develop CSR processes.
Women leaders are persistent both in their exploitation of the existing components of CSR and in the exploration of new dimensions. Organisational and gendered motivations guide their desire to valorize CSR accomplishments of their firms:
- if communication of their corporate CSR results and outcomes is not developed, they are reluctant to superimpose mainstream and meaningless approaches of CSR that do not relate to the sector or regional activity.
- they do not want to automatically link their (female) leadership with CSR being aware of normative postmodern imperatives that assign women as better and more responsible leaders than their male counterparts.
Renaud Redien-Collot (PhD, Columbia University, 2003) was appointed as Advancia Deputy Director in 2008 and as Novancia Director of International Affairs in 2012. Since 2009, he has chaired the Women Equity for Growth. His research interests include gender, innovation, entrepreneurship education and the renewal of SMEs’ business models in the EU.
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