Multinational enterprises (MNEs) play a critical role in addressing Grand Challenges (GCs), such as those embodied by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). How MNEs engage in developing solutions to the SDGs, however, may depend on both their home and host institutional contexts, particularly in the case of SDG 16 on peace, justice and strong institutions and for practices such as corporate diplomacy. This study explores the impact of different institutional settings on how MNEs engage in corporate diplomacy to develop solutions to SDG 16, by exploring the issue of refugee integration. First, we examine the extant literature on corporate diplomacy, drawing from both IB as well as more normative perspectives, to suggest that a firm’s corporate diplomacy activity on SDG 16 may be influenced by its institutional context. Second, we develop propositions about the ways in which home and host country institutions impact how MNEs engage in corporate diplomacy to advance solutions to SDG 16 and support our arguments using contextualized explanations of firm engagement on the issue of refugee integration. Third, we propose future research questions and pathways to enrich the growing body of corporate diplomacy literature.
