The assistant professor of international business examines impacts of formal and informal environments on firms’ corporate social responsibility.
Carri Reisdorf Tolmie, assistant professor of international business in the Martha and Spencer Love School of Business, focuses on direct pressures to firm corporate social responsibility (CSR) in the article “Formal and informal institutional pressures on corporate social responsibility: A cross‐country analysis,” which was published in Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management.
Tolmie and co-authors Kevin Lehnert of Grand Valley State University, and Hongxin Zhao of Saint Louis University, propose that the firm’s consideration of multiple stakeholder expectations moderates the complex formal and informal institutional relationships.
The authors write, “Firms have to account not only for domestic pressures when considering implementation of CSR strategies, but must also consider constraints placed on them from international authorities and cultural norms. Institution theory supports the notion that informal pressures, namely, societal values of self‐transcendence, have a positive relationship with CSR behavior. This suggests that informal pressures, in the form of values of acceptance and appreciation for people and planet, have a direct relationship with CSR action.”
Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management focuses on social and environmental responsibilities in the context of sustainable development. The refereed journal has an impact factor of 5.513 (InCites Journal Citation Reports) and is ranked in the first quartile by Scimago Journal and Country Rank (SJR).
Tolmie joined Elon in 2013. Her research focuses on corporate social responsibility, environmental sustainability and ethics, in particular how these concepts are influenced by culture, consumer perceptions and identification. She earned her doctorate in international business and marketing from Saint Louis University.