Corporate Environmental Responsibility and Global Online Cross-sector Alliance Network: A Cross-national Study

With the rise of global environmental issues and the emerging trend of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and corporation–non-governmental organization (NGO) alliances, organizations are developing collaborative alliances across sectors and nations to address environment problems. An international perspective is needed to explain the global structure of cross-sector alliance networks and the divergence or similarity of CSR communication across nations. This exploratory study draws insights from the national business systems (NBS) approach and applies social network analysis to examine the cross-sector alliance network among Global 500 Fortune corporations and 441 environmental international NGOs. Findings suggest that (1) an NBS approach to CSR can explain the network structural features of a cross-sector alliance network; (2) political context and national education level strongly predict green partnerships; and (3) regional differences are apparent in the global network, with Asian corporations lagging behind in cross-sector alliance building.