Journal of Management Studies 2026
State De‐Orchestration of Corporate Social Responsibility: The Backlash against CSR in Brazil under the Bolsonaro Government
Abstract
Governments have become increasingly active players in corporate social responsibility (CSR), with many countries adopting more stringent regulations for firms to pursue goals not limited to profit‐making. However, more recently, some jurisdictions have seen a backlash against CSR, which implies that the state's role in CSR is reversing from facilitating, encouraging, and mandating to prohibiting or undermining CSR. We study one such case of backlash against CSR in Bolsonaro's Brazil. We introduce the concept of state de‐orchestration to capture the reversal of the government's role in CSR in Brazil. We contribute to processual perspectives on state‐business interactions, the government and CSR literature, and the orchestration literature, by identifying the mechanisms by which the state loosens the constraints on and support for firms to pursue public good objectives. We also contribute to the government and CSR literature by demonstrating and theorising the impact de‐orchestration has on corporate discretion. We argue that corporate discretion needs to be conceived as both the liberty to adopt or not adopt CSR practices and the ability to do so. We further show that for some firms, domestic de‐orchestration may impair the exercise of corporate discretion, particularly among those exposed to pressures stemming from transnational CSR norms.
- DOI
- 10.1111/joms.70147
- Language
- en
- Sources
- crossref openalex