As a result of growing concerns by various stakeholder groups for the economic, social, and environmental value created by multinational enterprises (MNEs), a significant amount of research has focused on exploring MNEs’ corporate social responsibility (CSR). This article extends existing knowledge by steering through extant research on MNE’s CSR practices as embedded in MNEs’ international competitive behavior (Rodriguez-Gomez et al., 2020). The paper reviews 208 empirical studies conducted on this subject during the period 1997-2022 and offers a systematized analysis along aspects pertaining to theoretical perspectives, research design, research scope, research method, and thematic emphasis. It synthesizes existing knowledge in a state-of-the art conceptual framework incorporating the relations between the identified thematic priorities. It also responds to calls for a better understanding of how MNEs’ CSR managers see the importance of the managerial implications extracted from the reviewed studies by providing an evaluation of the key managerial implications by 114 managers of MNEs having their headquarters in China, Germany, and the US. Finally, the paper offers fruitful directions for future research based on the findings of a survey among 42 international business scholars who have been researching on CSR as part of MNEs’ corporate behavior.

Business involvement is key to achieving the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the 2030 Agenda. Although many efforts are being made by organisations such as the United Nations (UN) and the Global Compact, especially to help companies integrate the SDGs into their strategy, few studies to date have explored factors contributing to the integration of SDGs in hotel companies’ strategies. The purpose of this study is to investigate how some aspects of corporate governance drive companies' commitment to the SDGs, as well as its impact on their performance. Therefore, this paper analyses the positive influence of hotel chains' internationalisation on SDG engagement, including the moderating effect of the family involvement. The results show that family involvement positively moderates the internationalisation-SGD relationship, which it is also positive. Furthermore, the ultimate positive influence on hotel performance is confirmed in the Spanish hotel chains.

As younger generations of workers are increasingly seeking employment that fulfills their need for meaningfulness in life, and global competition for talent getting tougher, a more nuanced comprehension of the drivers of work meaningfulness becomes imperative. Despite increasing attention dedicated to the influencing role of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on employees’ meaningfulness evaluations, insights into the mechanisms underlying the relationship are limited. In this study, we advance research on CSR and meaningfulness at work from a value-congruence perspective. Drawing on sensemaking research, we attempt to elucidate the blackbox of the relationship between both environmental and employee-directed CSR and work meaningfulness by exploring the role of value-fit, thereby clarifying previously inconclusive findings. Results from our two-wave survey study among 600 employees in internationally operating organizations in Austria and Germany support the mediating role of value-fit. Findings also highlight Schwartz’ (1992) self-enhancement values as critical boundary considerations on the indirect relation between employee-oriented CSR and work meaningfulness when exploring the given relations in multinational company contexts. Our study contributes to a more nuanced understanding of the role of values and value-fit in fostering work meaningfulness through CSR. Implications and significance of our study for research and practice are discussed.

Multinational corporations (MNCs) implement corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives in different regulatory environments to attract consumers internationally. However, while CSR in gen-eral impacts consumer behavior across nations, it is surprisingly unclear why and how perceptions of social, environmental, and economic CSR dimensions engage consumers in certain countries but not in other countries. The authors address this research gap by providing novel theoretical rationales and empirically insights on the impacts of CSR dimensions on customer engagement behavior across 26 countries. They also contribute to our knowledge of how regulative institutions, reinforce or reduce dimensional effects, which is relevant for MNCs and public stakeholders. Using multilevel modeling, this study shows different surprising strengths of CSR dimensions for consumer engagement and pos-itive and negative moderating effects of regulative institutions. The findings provide direct sugges-tions for decision makers interested in multidimensional CSR effects across countries.

Global corporations have for over two decades sought to manage sustainability in their supply chains extending to the Global South with standardized means, yet with meagre impact. Our interview and document data from 17 Global South textile (Pakistani) suppliers and five key local stakeholders offers a seldom perspective. We identify how global brands outsource corporate responsibility and its costs to their suppliers, with contextually ill-fitting demands, mostly without adequate support and compensation. We introduce the term customer-enforced sustainability management and show how it perpetuates a vicious cycle, where brands ignore the local realities of the suppliers, who resort to short-term compliant solutions which are sometimes reached through mocked setups and cheating behaviors. Auditors, who are local and paid by the factories, are prone to ignore non-compliant behaviors. The cycle closes when brands close their eyes, suggesting all parties subscribe to deceitful action. While elements of this phenomenon have been previously identified, we contribute by empirically identifying local enabling factors. These are the remnants of colonialism in the supplier country’s culture, prompting ‘wanting to be enforced’ attitudes, and supported by the Saith culture with pursuit of the factory owners’profit only. Finally, we offer suggestions for contextually appropriate means for integrating sustainability.