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Interest in corporate social responsibility continues to grow and firms spend an estimated 15 billion a year on these activities. Given its growing importance, extant research has investigated the many drivers that lead firms to behave in either socially responsible or socially irresponsible ways. However, recent research suggests that the very same firms that are engaging in socially responsible practices are also engaging in socially irresponsible practices. Yet, little is known about what leads firms toward exhibiting both types of behaviors simultaneously. We term such behavior as behavioral incongruence and utilize institutional theory to explore whether the same external pressures that lead firms to behave in socially responsible ways can also lead them to behave in socially irresponsible ways. We suggest that informal institutional pressures, which often lack clarity in purpose and desired ends, result in firms in …