‘We are all responsible now’: Governmentality and responsibilized subjects in corporate social responsibility

Abstract

The corporate social responsibility promise is a fascinating one: companies are able and willing to regulate themselves, and self-regulation is manifested in collaborative efforts that promote individual well-being. Yet, this macro-level promise has a silenced flip side in organizational contexts. We argue that corporate social responsibility has diffused the idea of employee responsibilization into organizational environments, so it entails a dual role for employees: employees become both the objects and the subjects of corporate social responsibility. The primary aim of this article is thus to develop a theoretical understanding that acknowledges the role of individual members of the organization in communicating and defining corporate social responsibility while taking into consideration the well-being perspective. We draw on critical management studies as a form of counter-conduct towards mainstream theorizing and seek an alternative to Freirean critical dialogue as a tool to promote empowerment alongside ethics in corporate social responsibility.