Corporate Social Innovation in Comparison with Corporate Social Responsibility: Integration, Development or Replacement?

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to provide conceptual insights as to the social dimension of businesses and how it fits into the principles of strategic management of for-profit enterprise. This issue is analyzed with reference to the three paradigms of corporate social responsibility (CSR), social innovation, and corporate social innovation (CSI). Although there have been many studies and a great deal of research on these issues, the qualitative and quantitative analyses done so far have generally analyzed the three paradigms separately, while there has been no analysis of the logical links among them. After identifying CSI as the link in the chain between CSR and social innovation, this paper poses the question of what linkage exists between the two paradigms of CSI and CSR, and in particular of whether CSI integrates, develops, or replaces CSR. In terms of method, the paper is conceptually developed on the basis of the prevailing international literature and secondary data.

Insights from corporate social innovation: a research agenda

“…However, this discussion is more significant for CSI than for CSR, as most of the literature in CSI makes efforts to highlight its differences, but not the other way around. For instance, the studies of Steiner and Risopoulos (2009), Pyszka (2013), Popoli (2016, 2017), Jali et al (2017), Maines da Silva (2017), Portales (2019) and Canöz and Çerçi (2019) exclusively focus on showing the differences between CSI and CSR.…”

“…Considering that CSI belongs to the tradition of business and management (Martinez et al , 2017), scholars and practitioners urge a deeper understanding on how to integrate this model into the business strategy (Saul, 2011; Alonso‐Martínez et al , 2019). The field of CSI has been struggling to establish the scientific bases for becoming an independent academic field (Steiner and Risopoulos, 2009; Mirvis et al , 2012; Idowu et al , 2013; Pyszka, 2013; Maines da Silva, 2017; Popoli, 2017; Dionisio and de Vargas, 2020). Although these studies present useful insights to CSI, they provide limited knowledge on the future trends and emerging themes.…”