Corporate social responsibility: Stakeholders influence on MNEs’ activities

•We examine how specific stakeholders groups influence multinational enterprises’ corporate social responsibility practices.•We confirm that both primary and secondary stakeholders positively influence multinational company's corporate social responsibility (CSR).•Based on the findings this paper wishes to offer a framework for multinational enterprises to thoroughly consider the impact of stakeholders when drawing a picture for their CSR strategy.•This work also hopes to contribute to current discussions in the area of CSR by bringing a new stream of research into the international business field.

This research attempts to examine how specific stakeholder groups influence multinational enterprise (MNE) corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices in South Korea. Generally speaking, the results show that both primary (e.g., consumers, ‘internal managers and employees’ and business collaborators) and secondary stakeholders (e.g., governments, media, local community and NGOs) positively influence MNEs’ CSR. Contrary to previous research, this work also demonstrates that business collaborators have a negative and significant effect on MNEs’ CSR. Based on the findings this paper wishes to offer a framework for MNEs to thoroughly consider the impact of stakeholders when drawing a picture for their CSR strategy. Further, this work also hopes to contribute to current discussions in the area of CSR by bringing a new stream of research into the international business field. In addition, this work strives to provide useful and practical implications for MNEs wanting to operate in the South Korean market.