‘Pid Thong Lang Phra’ - The impact of culture upon Thai CSR concepts and practice: a study of relationships between NGOs and corporations
Parichart Sthapitanonda & Tom Watson
Abstract
Although multi-national corporations (MNCs) have brought Western corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices to Thailand, there are strong religious and social influences upon its conceptualization and implementation in this predominantly Buddhist nation. The Thai phrase ‘Pid Thong Lang Phra’ is a metaphor for “doing good deeds” but without publicising them (Sthapitanonda & Sinsuwarn, 2013) and emphasises a long-standing ‘top-down’ cultural attitude to philanthropy. In the extant literature on CSR in Thailand, there is minimal consideration of the role of local non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in discourse and practice and of their relationship with nationally-based corporations that are undertaking CSR activities. Using a qualitative approach of interviews with CSR practitioners in corporations and leaders of the NGOs with which they interact, the researchers identify the characteristics of that relationship and conclude that cultural impacts drawn from Buddhism and pragmatic desires to maintain control of relationship have created a ‘managed distance’ model of engagement between corporations and NGOs.
11 citations
Evidence weight
Balanced mode · F 0.40 / M 0.15 / V 0.05 / R 0.40
| F · citation impact | 0.88 × 0.4 = 0.35 |
| M · momentum | 0.69 × 0.15 = 0.10 |
| V · venue signal | 0.50 × 0.05 = 0.03 |
| R · text relevance † | 0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20 |
† Text relevance is estimated at 0.50 on the detail page — for your query’s actual relevance score, open this paper from a search result.