Antecedents and Consequences of Multinational Service Ventures’ Social Responsibility Engagement with Local Allies: A Focus on Propositional Development

Despite the importance of multinational service ventures’ alliances with local firms for CSR engagement, research is little interested in this issue. Because many multinational service ventures have increasingly allied with local firms for their CSR performance, it is important to explain the role of the alliance between a multinational service venture and a local firm. Our study addressed an issue of multinational service ventures’ CSR performance through alliances with local firms. Based prominently on the resource-based theory of the firm, the competence-based theory of the firm, and the resource-adavantage theory of competition, we attempted to predict how a multinational service venture can be successful in CSR engagement based on an alliance with a local firm. Our study posited that local firms’ CSR knowledge and CSR orientation positively influence multinational service ventures’s CSR capabilities. In addition, we posited the positive moderating roles of alliance competence in the relationships between local firms’ CSR resources and multinational service ventures’ CSR capability. Moreover, our study posited that multinational service ventures’ CSR capability is a source of competitive advantage. Finally, we concluded this manuscript with a discussion of scholarly and managerial implications, limitations of the study, and directions for a further study.