Chapter 7
Discourses of Social Investment
in Guideline Documents
In Chapter 6, an in-depth analysis of the O&G experts’ interviews revealed four main
discourses of O&G social investment, which I referred to as working on, working
around, working for and working with discourses. When debating O&G social investment, some participants drew on multiple discourses, sometimes in apparently contradictory ways. I argued that O&G experts perceived the ideal way of approaching
social investment required working with discourses. Nonetheless, I also noticed—
through participants’ narratives—that working with discourses, although ideal, were
rather non-linear and complex.
In this chapter, I address research question two: how are the discourses adopted
by the O&G participants reproduced in the social investment guideline documents?
In my research interviews, participants reported that guideline documents were a
source of information that helped shape their understandings of ideal practices in
O&G social investment. In this chapter, I focus on the guideline documents social
investment experts highlighted as those they most frequently drew upon to guide
their O&G social investment implementation.
In this chapter, I analyse the guideline documents in light of working with, working
on, working around and working for discourses highlighted in the previous chapter.
Specifically, I investigate how these discourses appeared in the guidelines’ statements, descriptions, principles and recommendations. In particular, I am interested
in understanding whether participants’ complex discussions of social investment
derived from these guideline documents, or in whether and what ways the guidelines
seemed to shape experts’ narratives and O&G social investment practices.
I first contextualise the documents and provide possible justifications for
experts’ preferred guideline documents. I subsequently investigate how working with
discourses were entangled with other discourses of social investment in the guideline documents. I conclude the chapter by arguing that the participants’ complex, and
sometimes, contradictory discussion of O&G social investment was also reflected
in the guidelines that they drew on in developing social investment policies and
practices.
© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021
R. Costa Camões Rabello, Understandings of Social Investment in the Oil and Gas Sector,
Approaches to Global Sustainability, Markets, and Governance,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-33-6556-8_7
91
Discourses of Social Investment
in Guideline Documents
In Chapter 6, an in-depth analysis of the O&G experts’ interviews revealed four main
discourses of O&G social investment, which I referred to as working on, working
around, working for and working with discourses. When debating O&G social investment, some participants drew on multiple discourses, sometimes in apparently contradictory ways. I argued that O&G experts perceived the ideal way of approaching
social investment required working with discourses. Nonetheless, I also noticed—
through participants’ narratives—that working with discourses, although ideal, were
rather non-linear and complex.
In this chapter, I address research question two: how are the discourses adopted
by the O&G participants reproduced in the social investment guideline documents?
In my research interviews, participants reported that guideline documents were a
source of information that helped shape their understandings of ideal practices in
O&G social investment. In this chapter, I focus on the guideline documents social
investment experts highlighted as those they most frequently drew upon to guide
their O&G social investment implementation.
In this chapter, I analyse the guideline documents in light of working with, working
on, working around and working for discourses highlighted in the previous chapter.
Specifically, I investigate how these discourses appeared in the guidelines’ statements, descriptions, principles and recommendations. In particular, I am interested
in understanding whether participants’ complex discussions of social investment
derived from these guideline documents, or in whether and what ways the guidelines
seemed to shape experts’ narratives and O&G social investment practices.
I first contextualise the documents and provide possible justifications for
experts’ preferred guideline documents. I subsequently investigate how working with
discourses were entangled with other discourses of social investment in the guideline documents. I conclude the chapter by arguing that the participants’ complex, and
sometimes, contradictory discussion of O&G social investment was also reflected
in the guidelines that they drew on in developing social investment policies and
practices.
© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021
R. Costa Camões Rabello, Understandings of Social Investment in the Oil and Gas Sector,
Approaches to Global Sustainability, Markets, and Governance,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-33-6556-8_7
91