Chapter 6
Social Investment Discourses
in Participants’ Interviews
In this chapter, I aim to address research question one—which discourses do O&G
social investment personnel draw on to talk about social investment?—through
unpacking the main discourses social investment experts drew on to talk about O&G
social investment. I acknowledge that for some in the O&G field, the discourses
that I discuss in this research may seem too specific or idiosyncratic in relation to
broader discourses of social responsibility in the O&G sector. Others may perceive
the identified discourses as a critique of the industry’s approach. My aim is to examine
the myriad discourses operating in the interviewees’ narratives when they discussed
O&G social investment.
Notably, discourses of social investment may be internalised and unacknowledged
by many in the industry. As a result, my analysis of discourses of social investment
may be read by some as a critique of the O&G industry (as discussed in Chapter 5).
I am currently outside the industry and therefore not personally constrained by institutional discourses or expectations of key stakeholders in the O&G sector.
1 At the
same time, many of my participants considered me an ‘insider’ when they shared
their experiences and understandings of social investment. Therefore, as an insideroutsider researcher, in this chapter, I work to maintain a reflexive approach to detach
myself in order to provide careful but less partial analysis.
In my research, O&G and government participants drew on four dominant
discourses when they talked about O&G social investment. I describe these discourses
as working on, working around, working for and working with discourses of social
investment. In their use of working on discourses of social investment participants described company-centred and top-down understandings of social investment.
Working around discourses emerged in participants’ accounts of social investments
developed to serve O&G operational interests. Working for discourses were evident
1 Other factors that lead me to carry out in-depth and critical analyses of my research data derive
from the critical theories that inform this study, for more see Chapter 4.
© 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_6
71
Social Investment Discourses
in Participants’ Interviews
In this chapter, I aim to address research question one—which discourses do O&G
social investment personnel draw on to talk about social investment?—through
unpacking the main discourses social investment experts drew on to talk about O&G
social investment. I acknowledge that for some in the O&G field, the discourses
that I discuss in this research may seem too specific or idiosyncratic in relation to
broader discourses of social responsibility in the O&G sector. Others may perceive
the identified discourses as a critique of the industry’s approach. My aim is to examine
the myriad discourses operating in the interviewees’ narratives when they discussed
O&G social investment.
Notably, discourses of social investment may be internalised and unacknowledged
by many in the industry. As a result, my analysis of discourses of social investment
may be read by some as a critique of the O&G industry (as discussed in Chapter 5).
I am currently outside the industry and therefore not personally constrained by institutional discourses or expectations of key stakeholders in the O&G sector.
1 At the
same time, many of my participants considered me an ‘insider’ when they shared
their experiences and understandings of social investment. Therefore, as an insideroutsider researcher, in this chapter, I work to maintain a reflexive approach to detach
myself in order to provide careful but less partial analysis.
In my research, O&G and government participants drew on four dominant
discourses when they talked about O&G social investment. I describe these discourses
as working on, working around, working for and working with discourses of social
investment. In their use of working on discourses of social investment participants described company-centred and top-down understandings of social investment.
Working around discourses emerged in participants’ accounts of social investments
developed to serve O&G operational interests. Working for discourses were evident
1 Other factors that lead me to carry out in-depth and critical analyses of my research data derive
from the critical theories that inform this study, for more see Chapter 4.
© 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_6
71