Corporations have increasingly been called on to assume responsibilities for paying fairer shares of tax, while, at the same time, governments have been repeatedly urged to develop more effective corporate tax systems to tackle tax avoidance. Therefore, institutional attributions of tax responsibility for companies seem to have features of both explicit and implicit corporate social responsibility (CSR). However, given that we lack a clear understanding of which form or forms of CSR in relation to tax are expected of companies and how exactly this might be changing, we examine the evolution in institutional expectations of explicit and implicit CSR for corporate taxation. Drawing on a longitudinal content analysis of 992 news media articles from the United Kingdom between 2000 and 2021, we find that institutional expectations of corporate tax responsibility have followed a process of continuous and non-linear hybridization characterized by a pendulum-like trajectory of explicitization followed by implicitization. We discuss the implications of these findings for the theory and practice of corporate tax responsibility and the framework of explicit/implicit CSR.
AertsW.CormierD. (2009). Media legitimacy and corporate environmental communication. Accounting, Organizations and Society, 34(1), 1–27.
3.
AnesaM.GillespieN.SpeeA. P.SadiqK. (2019). The legitimation of corporate tax minimization. Accounting, Organizations and Society, 75, 17–39.
4.
Avi-YonahR. S. (2006). The three goals of taxation. Tax Law Review, 60(1), 1–28.
5.
Avi-YonahR. S. (2008). Corporate social responsibility and strategic tax behavior. In SchönW. (Ed.), Tax and corporate governance (pp. 183–198). Springer.
6.
BednarM. K. (2012). Watchdog or Lapdog? A behavioral view of the media as a corporate governance mechanism. Academy of Management Journal, 55(1), 131–150.
7.
BirdR.Davis-NozemackK. (2018). Tax avoidance as a sustainability problem. Journal of Business Ethics, 151, 1009–1025.
8.
BirksJ.DowneyJ. (2015). “Pay your tax!” How tax avoidance became a prominent issue in the public sphere in the UK. In SavignyH.ThorsenE.JacksonJ.SavignyH.AlexanderJ. (Eds.) Media, margins and civic agency (pp. 166–181). Palgrave MacMillan.
9.
BitektineA. (2011). Toward a theory of social judgments of organizations: The case of legitimacy, reputation, and status. The Academy of Management Review, 36(1), 151–179.
10.
BlindheimB.-T. (2015). Institutional models of corporate social responsibility: A proposed refinement of the explicit-implicit framework. Business & Society, 54(1), 52–88.
11.
BrancoM. C.RodriguesL. L. (2008). Factors influencing social responsibility disclosure by Portuguese companies. Journal of Business Ethics, 83(4), 685–701.
12.
BuhrH.GrafströmM. (2007). The making of meaning in the media: The case of corporate social responsibility in the Financial Times, 1988–2003. In den HondF.de BakkerF. G. A.NeergaardP. (Eds.), Managing corporate social responsibility in action: Talking, doing and measuring (pp. 15–31). Ashgate Publishing.
13.
CantrellJ. E.KyriazisE.NobleG. (2015). Developing CSR giving as a dynamic capability for salient stakeholder management. Journal of Business Ethics, 130(2), 403–421.
14.
CarrollC. E.McCombsM. (2003). Agenda-setting effects of business news on the public’s images and opinions about major corporations. Corporate Reputation Review, 6(1), 36–46.
15.
CarsonS. G.HagenØ.SethiS. P. (2015). From implicit to explicit CSR in a Scandinavian context: The cases of HÅG and Hydro. Journal of Business Ethics, 127(1), 17–31.
16.
ChristensenJ.MurphyR. (2004). The social irresponsibility of corporate tax avoidance: Taking CSR to the bottom line. Development, 47(3), 37–44.
17.
ChristiansC. G.GlasserT. L.McQuailD.NordenstrengK.WhiteR. A. (2009). Normative theories of the media: Journalism in democratic societies. University of Illinois Press.
18.
ColB.PatelS. (2019). Going to haven? Corporate social responsibility and tax avoidance. Journal of Business Ethics, 154(4), 1033–1050.
19.
CornelissenJ. P. (2017). Developing propositions, a process model, or a typology? Addressing the challenges of writing theory without a boilerplate. Academy of Management Review, 42, 1–9.
20.
CraneA.MattenD. (2021). COVID-19 and the future of CSR research. Journal of Management Studies, 58(1), 280–284.
21.
DahlsrudA. (2008). How corporate social responsibility is defined: An analysis of 37 definitions. Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, 15, 1–13.
22.
DaudigeosT.ValiorgueB. (2011). Conditions for value creation in the marketplace through the management of CSR issues: A negative external effects framework. Business & Society, 50(1), 28–49.
23.
De ColleS.BennettA. M. (2014). State-induced, strategic, or toxic? An ethical analysis of tax avoidance practices. Business & Professional Ethics Journal, 33(1), 53–82.
24.
DeephouseD. L.HeugensP. P. M. A. R. (2009). Linking social issues to organizational impact: The role of infomediaries and the infomediary process. Journal of Business Ethics, 86(4), 541–553.
25.
De la Cuesta-GonzálezM.PardoE. (2019). Corporate tax disclosure on a CSR basis: A new reporting framework in the post-BEPS era. Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, 32(7), 2167–2192.
26.
DietschP. (2011). Asking the fox to guard the henhouse: The tax planning industry and corporate social responsibility. Ethical Perspectives, 18(3), 341–354.
27.
DowlingG. R. (2014). The curious case of corporate tax avoidance: Is it socially irresponsible?Journal of Business Ethics, 124(1), 173–184.
28.
El GhoulS.GuedhamiO.NashR.PatelA. (2019). New evidence on the role of the media in corporate social responsibility. Journal of Business Ethics, 154(4), 1051–1079.
29.
EloS.KyngäsH. (2008). The qualitative content analysis process. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 62(1), 107–115.
FarrarJ.MasseyD. W.OseckiE.ThorneL. (2020). Tax fairness: Conceptual foundations and empirical measurement. Journal of Business Ethics, 162, 487–503.
32.
FisherJ. M. (2014). Fairer shores: Tax havens, tax avoidance, and corporate social responsibility. Boston University Law Review, 94, 337–365.
33.
FreedmanJ. (2006). The tax avoidance culture: Who is responsible? Governmental influences and corporate social responsibility. Current Legal Problems, 59(1), 359–390.
34.
FrigM.FougèreM.LiljanderV.PolsaP. (2018). Business infomediary representations of corporate responsibility. Journal of Business Ethics, 151(2), 337–351.
35.
GattiL.VishwanathB.SeeleP.CottierB. (2019). Are we moving beyond voluntary CSR? Exploring theoretical and managerial implications of mandatory CSR resulting from the New Indian Companies Act. Journal of Business Ethics, 160, 961–972.
36.
GowL.MiddlemissS. (2012). Equal pay legislation and its impact on the gender pay gap. International Journal of Discrimination and the Law, 11(4), 164–186.
37.
GrafströmM.WindellK. (2011). The role of infomediaries: CSR in the business press during 2000–2009. Journal of Business Ethics, 103(2), 221–237.
38.
GribnauH. (2015). Corporate social responsibility and tax planning: Not by rules alone. Social & Legal Studies, 24(2), 225–250.
39.
GunninghamN. (2012). Regulatory reform and reflexive regulation: Beyond command and control. In BrousseauE.DedeurwaerdereT.SiebenhunerB. (Eds.), Reflexive governance for global public goods (pp. 85–104). MIT Press.
40.
GutheyE.MorsingM. (2014). CSR and the mediated emergence of strategic ambiguity. Journal of Business Ethics, 120(4), 555–569.
41.
GuthrieJ.CuganesanS.WardL. (2008). Industry specific social and environmental reporting: The Australian food and beverage industry. Accounting Forum, 32(1), 1–15.
42.
HabischA.PatelliL.PedriniM.SchwartzC. (2011). Different talks with different folks: A comparative survey of stakeholder dialog in Germany, Italy, and the U.S. Journal of Business Ethics, 100(3), 381–404.
43.
HardeckI.HertlR. (2014). Consumer reactions to corporate tax strategies: Effects on corporate reputation and purchasing behavior. Journal of Business Ethics, 123(2), 309–326.
44.
HardeckI.KirnT. (2016). Taboo or technical issue? An empirical assessment of taxation in sustainability reports. Journal of Cleaner Production, 133, 1337–1351.
45.
HillenbrandC.MoneyK. G.BrooksC.TovstigaN. (2019). Corporate tax: What do stakeholders expect?Journal of Business Ethics, 158(2), 403–426.
46.
HissS. (2009). From implicit to explicit corporate social responsibility: Institutional change as a fight for myths. Business Ethics Quarterly, 19(3), 433–451.
47.
HöllererM. A. (2013). From taken-for-granted to explicit commitment: The rise of CSR in a corporatist country. Journal of Management Studies, 50(4), 573–606.
JamaliD.NevilleB. (2011). Convergence versus divergence of CSR in developing countries: An embedded multi-layered institutional lens. Journal of Business Ethics, 102(4), 599–621.
50.
JenkinsR.NewellP. (2013). CSR, tax and development. Third World Quarterly, 34(3), 378–396.
51.
KanagaretnamK.LeeJ.LimC. Y.LoboG. J. (2018). Cross-country evidence on the role of independent media in constraining corporate tax aggressiveness. Journal of Business Ethics, 150(3), 879–902.
52.
KimC. H.AmaeshiK.HarrisS.SuhC.-J. (2013). CSR and the national institutional context: The case of South Korea. Journal of Business Research, 66(12), 2581–2591.
KrippendorffK. (2004). Content analysis: An introduction to its methodology (2nd ed.). Sage.
55.
KumarK.BoessoG.BatraR.YaoJ. (2019). Explicit and implicit corporate social responsibility: Differences in the approach to stakeholder engagement activities of U.S. and Japanese companies. Business Strategy and the Environment, 28(6), 1121–1130.
56.
LanisR.RichardsonG. (2012). Corporate social responsibility and tax aggressiveness: An empirical analysis. Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, 31(1), 86–108.
57.
LanisR.RichardsonG. (2013). Corporate social responsibility and tax aggressiveness: A test of legitimacy theory. Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, 26(1), 75–100.
58.
LeeS. Y.CarrollC. E. (2011). The emergence, variation, and evolution of corporate social responsibility in the public sphere, 1980–2004: The exposure of firms to public debate. Journal of Business Ethics, 104(1), 115–131.
59.
LeeS. Y.RiffeD. (2017). Who sets the corporate social responsibility agenda in the news media? Unveiling the agenda-building process of corporations and a monitoring group. Public Relations Review, 43(2), 293–305.
60.
LeeT. H.RiffeD. (2019). Business news framing of corporate social responsibility in the United States and the United Kingdom: Insights from the implicit and explicit CSR framework. Business & Society, 58(4), 683–711.
61.
LokJ. (2010). Institutional logics as identity projects. Academy of Management Journal, 53(6), 1305–1335.
62.
MachanT. R. (2012). Taxation: The ethics of its avoidance or dodging. In McGeeR. W. (Ed.), The ethics of tax evasion: Perspectives in theory and practice (pp. 73–82). Springer.
63.
MattenD.MoonJ. (2008). “Implicit” and “explicit” CSR: A conceptual framework for a comparative understanding of corporate social responsibility. Academy of Management Review, 33(2), 404–424.
64.
MattenD.MoonJ. (2020). Reflections on the 2018 Decade Award: The meaning and dynamics of corporate social responsibility. Academy of Management Review, 45(1), 7–28.
65.
McCombsM. (2005). A look at agenda-setting: Past, present and future. Journalism Studies, 6(4), 543–557.
66.
MilneM. J.AdlerR. W. (1999). Exploring the reliability of social and environmental disclosures content analysis. Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, 12(2), 237–256.
67.
MisangyiV.GreckhamerT.FurnariS.FissP. C.CrillyD.AguileraR. (2017). Embracing causal complexity: The emergence of a neo-configurational perspective. Journal of Management, 43(1), 255–282.
68.
MoonJ.VallentinS. (2019). Tax avoidance and corporate irresponsibility—CSR as problem or solution? In ElgaardK. K. E.FeldthusenR. K.HillingA.KukkonenM. (Eds.), Fair taxation and corporate social responsibility (pp. 19–51). Ex Tuto.
69.
MullerA.KolkA. (2015). Responsible tax as corporate social responsibility: The case of multinational enterprises and effective tax in India. Business & Society, 54(4), 435–463.
PanayiC. H. (2015). Is aggressive tax planning socially irresponsible?Intertax, 43(10), 544–558.
75.
PardoE.de la Cuesta-GonzálezM. (2020). Corporate tax responsibility: Do investors care? In Díaz DíazB.CapaldiN.IdowuS. O.SchmidpeterR. (Eds.), Responsible business in a changing world (pp. 17–31). Springer.
76.
PollachI. (2014). Corporate environmental reporting and news coverage of environmental issues: An agenda-setting perspective. Business Strategy and the Environment, 23, 349–360.
77.
PollockT. G.RindovaV. P. (2003). Media legitimation effects in the market for initial public offerings. The Academy of Management Journal, 46(5), 631–642.
78.
ReevesA.McKeeM.StucklerD. (2016). “It’s the Sun Wot Won It”: Evidence of media influence on political attitudes and voting from a UK quasi-natural experiment. Social Science Research, 56, 44–57.
79.
RiffeD.LacyS.FicoF. (2005). Analyzing media messages: Using quantitative content analysis in research (2nd ed.). Lawrence Erlbaum.
80.
RogersonM.CraneA.SoundararajanV.GrosvoldJ.ChoC. (2020). Organisational responses to mandatory modern slavery disclosure legislation: A failure of experimentalist governance?Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal, 33(7), 1505–1534.
81.
RouletT. J.ClementeM. (2018). Let’s open the media’s black box: The media as a set of heterogeneous actors and not only as a homogenous ensemble. Academy of Management Review, 43(2), 327–329.
82.
ScarpaF.SignoriS. (2020). Ethics of corporate taxation: A systematic literature review. In RendtorffJ. D. (Ed.), Handbook of business legitimacy (pp. 459–485). Springer.
83.
SchreierM. (2013). Qualitative content analysis. In FlickU. (Ed.), The SAGE handbook of qualitative data analysis (pp. 170–183). Sage.
84.
SikkaP. (2010). Smoke and mirrors: Corporate social responsibility and tax avoidance. Accounting Forum, 34(3–4), 153–168.
85.
SuchmanM. C. (1995). Managing legitimacy: Strategic and institutional approaches. Academy of Management Review, 20, 571–610.
VergneJ.-P. (2010). Toward a new measure of organizational legitimacy: Method, validation, and illustration. Organizational Research Methods, 14(3), 484–502.
88.
VoglerD.EiseneggerM. (2021). CSR communication, corporate reputation, and the role of the news media as an agenda-setter in the digital age. Business & Society, 60(8), 1957–1986.
89.
YoungS.MaraisM. (2012). A multi-level perspective of CSR reporting: The implications of national institutions and industry risk characteristics. Corporate Governance: An International Review, 20(5), 432–450.
90.
ZyglidopoulosS. C.GeorgiadisA. P.CarrollC. E.SiegelD. S. (2012). Does media attention drive corporate social responsibility?Journal of Business Research, 65(11), 1622–1627.
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
