Calculative Routines and Dynamic Reactivity: How an SRI Index Shapes CSR Practices

We employ a dynamic perspective on routines to provide insights into questions of decoupling and symbolic management of the pressures exerted by Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) indices. Against the view that inclusion in RI indices can easily be decoupled from organisational practice, we argue that these external metrics may alter calculative routines ‘at a distance’. The scrutiny of public metrics such as SRI indices often becomes routinised within calculative routines, and may cause organisations to adjust their CSR practices in line with the index criteria. Managers engage in symbolic work that serves to express their inclusion, but which may also serve influence organisational change. Hence, our results provide a more dynamic perspective on the different elements of reactivity that external metrics such as SRI indices may promote.