The changing role of CSR Managers: from “issue seller” to “issue broker”
In recent years, companies across continents and sectors have increasingly focused on environmental, social, and governance-related issues by hiring managers (and teams) responsible for sustainability and corporate social responsibility (CSR). This trend is further highlighted by a report from PWC, which underlined that the companies it surveyed appointed as many Chief Sustainability Officers in 2020/2021 as in the previous 8 years combined.
03/25/2025
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A study by an international team of researchers, from IÉSEG, VU Amsterdam and EM Lyon, has analyzed how the role of CSR manager has evolved in a short period. They have shifted from being internal advocates for positive change to becoming ‘brokers’ who juggle the multiple demands of different external stakeholders with those from within the company. The study has identified three tactics CSR managers employ to be effective in this role.
Rapidly changing CSR environment
To conduct their study, the researchers carried out over 40 interviews with CSR managers working for multinationals in the Netherlands, and over 40 other respondents such as managers from functional departments and NGOs.
In the context of a changing corporate CSR and sustainability landscape – including the demands of complying with new regulations and financial reporting obligations, and societal expectations – CSR managers no longer have an inward facing role ensuring support and uptake just within the company. Instead, they increasingly have to ‘face outwards,’ collaborating with a wide range of external actors (suppliers, NGOs, policymakers, investors etc.). This shift mirrors how companies have become more accountable for the direct and indirect impacts of their activities (for example with scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions).
The team found that CSR managers adopted three core tactics to manage this new role effectively:
1. Mobilizing external stakeholders when support for a sustainability-related issue is low inside the company. CSR Managers highlighted how reaching out to NGOs or other organizations to gain support can be useful when there is a lack of awareness, or even resistance within their company. The outside voice of stakeholders can act as an ally, helping them to get key messages across to managers and other employees – and even serve as a ‘wake-up call’.
Frank DE BAKKER: one of the co-authors, stresses; “This demonstrates that external stakeholder expectations and pressure are not necessarily detrimental to the internal advocacy role of CSR managers. On the contrary, managers can collaborate, for example, with NGOs to help them confront internal resistance to an issue they identified (for example relating to a product composition, or marketing messages). By bringing NGOs into the company to present on important environmental issues, one of our study participants gained support from his top management and operational teams. Likewise, CSR managers can also look to leverage endorsements from NGOs to give extra weight and gain support for issues they are pushing within the company.”
2. Buffering external expectations. CSR Managers play a key role in managing and sometimes even tempering the expectations of NGOs or other external groups when these are not in line with strategic goals of the company.
“This can be a challenging aspect of the CSR managers role since they need to navigate between external pressure and internal perception of an issue”, explains Michiel DE ROO from VU Amsterdam/Jester Strategy, the lead author of the work. “They need to understand the long-term goals of the company and judge the importance of different types of pressure and demands coming from external stakeholders. By having this helicopter view they can ensure that only the most important issues are tabled with functional departments.”
3. Moderating between internal and external stakeholders. A number of the sustainability and CSR issues facing companies can be complex (for example issues relating to biodiversity challenges or climate objectives). CSR managers have a key role in ensuring that that these challenges or issues are translated and repackaged in a way that can understood internally and ultimately compatible with the company’s goals.
Frank DE BAKKER explains: “By doing this, they can ensure that such issues can be transformed into more sustainable practices that are in line with the company’s strategy.”
Unique position to promote sustainability
CSR managers are therefore in a unique ‘brokering’ position where they can coordinate and develop collaborations that prioritize sustainable development.
The authors conclude that it is crucial that CSR managers see external stakeholders as partners rather than simple pressure groups, and that they are able to embrace complex topics and situations, and look for strategies that can align conflicting internal and external objectives.
Professor DE BAKKER and other colleagues from the IÉSEG Center for Organizational Responsibility (ICOR) are currently working on several research projects related to corporate CSR managers, including the impact of greenwashing on these managers, and the professionalization of their role.
You can read the full article here: de Roo, M., Wickert, C., de Bakker, F., & Elfring, T. (2024). From seller to broker: When and how issue sellers engage with external stakeholders to sell issues inside organizations. forthcoming in Strategic Organization.
Frank DE BAKKER is the Academic Director of the School’s Master in Management for Sustainability – a program that has been designed for problem-solvers and purpose-driven students who want to implement solutions addressing the world’s toughest sustainability challenges. Find out more here: https://www.ieseg.fr/en/programs/specialized-masters/master-management-sustainability/
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