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The Peter A. Allard School of Law
Social responsibility; sphere of influence; leverage; ISO 26000; John Ruggie; business and human rights
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Four Varieties Of Social Responsibility: Making Sense Of The 'Sphere Of Influence' And 'Leverage' Debate Via The Case Of Iso 26000, Stepan Wood
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One of the key controversies in social responsibility discourse is whether an organization’s responsibility should be based on its capacity to influence other parties or only on its actual contribution to social and environmental outcomes. On one side of the debate are those who argue that the limits of an organization’s responsibility should be defined in terms of its “sphere of influence” (SOI): the greater the influence, the greater the responsibility to act. On the other side are those who reject the SOI approach as ambiguous, misleading, normatively undesirable and prone to strategic manipulation. Foremost among the critics is the …
The Meaning Of 'Sphere Of Influence' In Iso 26000, Stepan Wood
The Meaning Of 'Sphere Of Influence' In Iso 26000, Stepan Wood
All Faculty Publications
The relationship between a company’s influence and its social responsibilities is the subject of persistent controversy, manifested for example in the debate over the use of the concept of “sphere of influence” (SOI) to define the scope of a company’s social responsibility. Early drafts of the ISO 26000 guide on social responsibility employed SOI in this way, stating among other things that influence can give rise to responsibility and that generally, the greater the ability to influence, the greater the responsibility. The UN Special Representative on business and human rights, John Ruggie, rejected this use of SOI as ambiguous, misleading, …