Corporate social responsibility: a trend and a movement, but of what and for what?

Abstract

PurposeCorporate social responsibility (CSR) has emerged as a global trend involving corporations, states, international organizations and civil society organizations. It is far from clear what CSR stands for, what the trend really is, where it comes from, where it is heading and who the leading actors are. If one views it as a social movement, one must ask: a movement of what and for whom? The purpose of this paper is to examine the CSR trend in all its complexity and draw conclusions regarding its development and potential impact.Design/methodology/approachAnalysis of central documents and publications on CSR is combined with interviews with driving corporate actors.FindingsThis article portrays the CSR trend in three ways: as a regulatory framework that places new demands on corporations; as a mobilization of corporate actors to assist the development aid of states; and as a management trend. Each of these portraits suggests certain actors, relations, driving forces and interests as being central. An analysis shows that no one of these views seems to be more accurate than the others: rather the movement comprises a collection of diverse interests, actors, origins and trajectories. These multiple identities may partially describe the trend's success, but could equally well describe its contestation, fragility and fluidity.Originality/valueThe conceptual distinction shows the likely development and potential impact of a corporate social development. Moreover, the discussions help us reflect on the formation of management trends and how certain models come to flow rapidly and extensively around the globe, following and adding to institutional change – especially to changes in the roles, relations and boundaries between and among states, business corporations and civil society organizations.

Corporate community responsibility as an outcome of individual embeddedness

“…CSR research has to a great extent concentrated on large firms (Lepoutre and Heene 2006;Worthington, Ram, and Jones 2006) and on the global community perspective, characterized by larger firms' commitment to environmental issues, human rights (including child labour), and approach to business in less developed countries (Sahlin-Andersson 2006). In view of that, the current article also seeks to contribute by adding to the research on community-oriented responsibility (Besser and Miller 2004;Besser, Miller, and Perkins 2006;Boehm 2005;Hall 2006;Kobeissi and Damanpour 2009) and small firm CSR (Blombäck and Wigren 2009;Burton and Goldsby 2009;Murillo and Lozano 2006;Spence 2007).…”

Reconciling CSR with the Role of the Corporation in Welfare States: The Problematic Swedish Example

“…The rapid growth of the interest in CSR has been explained by the capacity of the concept to be a management idea resting on a strong business case (Frostenson and Borglund, 2006;Sahlin-Andersson, 2006;Windell, 2006). As an example, the SwedishDanish-Norwegian airliner SAS claims that managing sustainability ultimately serves the purpose of increasing shareholder value and competitiveness, as well as reducing risks.…”

“…As it seems, it has been promoted by other actors than the state, employers and trade unions -the traditional main actors of the Swedish model. To a great extent, CSR has been embraced as a management idea (Frostenson and Borglund, 2006;Sahlin-Andersson, 2006;Windell, 2006). This means that business itself has been one of the most important drivers of introducing the CSR concept, both in practice and in terms of communication (Windell, 2006).…”

Competitive Success in Responsible Regional Ecosystems: An Empirical Approach in Spain Focused on the Firms’ Relationship with Stakeholders

“…Today, SR is still considered a global trend incorporating business, corporations, states, international organizations and civil society organizations [34]. In this respect, Lougee and Wallace [35] have described the purpose of corporations today.…”