Talk and Action: Probing the Ideal of Consistency Between CSR Talk and CSR Practices

The aim of this paper is to analyze the relationship between organizational talk and action, focusing in particular on the temporal dimension of this relationship, that is, the potential of organizational talk to become action over time. Emphasizing the performative and pragmatic dimensions of organizational talk and their associated activities, the paper discusses the different ways time shape the relationship between talk and action. Acknowledging that talk gives rise to different expectations over time, we put forward ideal types of organizational strategies for possible talk-action relationships. While we illustrate our theoretical points with examples from both corporate and political contexts, we draw especially on the field of corporate social responsibility (as an extreme case) where expectations of consistency between talk and actions are most explicitly pronounced.