Civil society active in corporate accountability dataset

Corporate accountability constitutes one of the most relevant current discussions regarding features of the contemporary economic order. Global civil society is thought to contribute to putting pressure on states and corporations alike to provoke structural change and to provide (temporary) relief for corporate wrongdoings. However, scholarship pertaining to the endeavours of (global) civil society in holding corporations accountable is hampered by a lack of data-driven information. This dataset represents a maiden effort to offer global and comprehensive data on civil society organizations engaged in the field of corporate accountability. It stands as the primary resource delivering quantitative data on the diverse array of actions and organizations active in the field. Comprising 42 variables categorized into seven groups, the dataset encompasses structural and organizational information (such as organizational characteristics and staff), information on normative orientations and framing (such as goals, values, and blame attribution), and comprehensive information on the activities undertaken and forms of action employed by these organizations. It also incorporates a broad range of network variables (e.g., partner organizations, participation in coalitions, etc.) and details on funding sources (such as annual budget, funders, type of funding, etc.). The classifications are grounded in prevalent practices in the application of Action Organization Analysis (AOA), Social Network Analysis (SNA), and Protest Event Analysis (PEA). It facilitates systematic and cross-national analyses. Consequently, it lends itself to various analyses, including, but not limited to, exploring the interplay between funding and activities, the relationship between location and political orientation, and the correlation between forms of action and values, descriptive statistics, and so forth. The coding process relied on information retrieved from organizations' websites and their annual reports. Both current and past activities, when mentioned, were systematically coded. Data collection took place between October 2022 and April 2023. Thus far, the dataset has been used to investigate the impact of donor dependency on civil society.