Abstract
The purpose of this thesis is to examine multinational corporations’ (MNC’s) commitment to corporate social responsibility (CSR) within the field of human rights and labor rights. My hypothesis is that the level of an MNC’s commitment is highly dependent upon the national origin of that MNC. I argue that what I call the national distinctiveness of an MNC is a key variable determining the extent of commitment to CSR. After developing metrics for evaluating MNCs’ commitment to CSR, such as the number of CSR declarations and agreements they have adopted, I conduct three case studies and compare Statoil with Conoco-Phillips and Gazprom. I find that Statoil, coming from Norway, a country with strong social responsibility, has the strongest commitment to CSR. My findings suggest that a company based in a country with a strong commitment to social responsibility in the international community expresses a similarly strong commitment to CSR in the business community.