RESPONSE - Insead

A Model of Social Consciousness and Socially Responsible Behavior Modelling Socially Responsible Behaviour
7 A Model of Social Consciousness and Socially Responsible
Behavior
7.1 Modelling Socially Responsible Behaviour
7.1.1 Objectives of experimental study
Having established the causes and impacts of cognitive alignment (Objectives 1­3), attention turns to
the identification of strategies for the enhancement of cognitive alignment (closing of cognitive gaps).
In particular, what we intended to study in this part of the project is the relative effectiveness of
different types of training interventions aimed at improving managers’ capacity to understand and
synthesise the expectations of stakeholders in their working routines. This section of the study
addresses this objective, as stated in Objective 4 of the proposal:
“Test the degree to which training techniques of different types can develop
managers’ social consciousness in order to produce socially responsible behaviour
and decision making.”
The underlying assumption of this study is that common organisational practices aimed at ‘injecting
CSR’ within the corporation, such as the development of codes of ethics, of socially driven mission
statements and measurement systems are, at best, capable of raising awareness and, at worst, met
with scepticism and indifference. In either case, the expectation is that these initiatives, although well
targeted and implemented, might result in little measurable change in managerial behaviour unless
supported by specific interventions at the individual level.
How can more socially conscious behaviour be developed through training to encourage changes in
individuals’ values and psychological traits? To answer this question it is necessary to understand the
factors that explain people’s sensitivity to the social impacts of their decisions and actions.
RESPONSE conducted an experimental study to test the outcomes of alternative training approaches
designed to cultivate Socially Responsible Behaviour (SRB). These interventions were instrumentally
focused to elicit significant change in psychological attitudes and moral values in managers. The
experiments follow established research design procedures in medical science and leverage a range
of approaches from purely cognitive to deeply introspective practices, including novel techniques such
as self­reflection and meditation (see Methodology, Chapter 8).
This part of the RESPONSE study thus extends the investigation of cognitive alignment to the level of
individual values and psychological traits (see the RESPONSE Model in figure 2 in Ch. 2). As
described above in part 1, the alignment of both motivation and cognition is necessary in order to
build trust in the relationship between business and society. The success of cooperative processes
between business corporations and their societal counterparts requires behavioural and internal
change at the level of both the organisation and the individual.
7.1.2 Definition of Socially Responsible Behaviour
Schneider et al (2005) 14 define socially responsible behaviour (SRB) as:
“…discretionary decisions and actions taken by individuals in organisations to enhance
societal well­being” (pp.10)
From this definition, a simple model is proposed to link behavioural output (‘doing’) with the
psychological attributes required (‘being’) in order to sustain that behaviour, namely social
consciousness. The model therefore allows us to test the impact of training techniques on the
development of social consciousness and its consequent influence on SRB.
14 Schneider, Oppengaard, Zollo, Huy (2005) “Socially responsible behavior: developing virtue in
organisations” (INSEAD working paper).
RESPONSE: understanding and responding to societal demands on corporate responsibility
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