The maintenance of an organization’s socially responsible practice is explained by linking perspectives within a cross-level framework. The proposed framework incorporates research on the institutional environment (societal level), organizational identity (organizational level), and champions’ tactics (individual level). Under different institutional environmental conditions, organizational identity and champions’tactics are posited to be differentially effective in supporting a socially responsible practice. The theoretical framework presented is suggestive of directions for empirical work on the maintenance of firms’ socially responsible practices and offers suggestions to managers regarding ways of compensating for conditions that otherwisewould weaken the maintenance ofa socially responsible practice.
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