Corporate Social Responsibility Theories: Mapping the Territory

Abstract

ABSTRACT. The Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) field presents not only a landscape of theories but also a proliferation of approaches, which are controversial, complex and unclear. This article tries to clarify the situation, ''mapping the territory'' by classifying the main CSR theories and related approaches in four groups: (1) instrumental theories, in which the corporation is seen as only an instrument for wealth creation, and its social activities are only a means to achieve economic results; (2) political theories, which concern themselves with the power of corporations in society and a responsible use of this power in the political arena; (3) integrative theories, in which the corporation is focused on the satisfaction of social demands; and (4) ethical theories, based on ethical responsibilities of corporations to society. In practice, each CSR theory presents four dimensions related to profits, political performance, social demands and ethical values. The findings suggest the necessity to develop a new theory on the business and society relationship, which should integrate these four dimensions.

Corporate social responsibility, profits and welfare with managerial firms

“…According to a well-known classification (Garriga and Melè 2004), the most relevant corporate social responsibility (henceforth, CSR) theories and related approaches are focused on one of the following aspects of social reality: economics, politics, social integration and ethics. Needless to say, the realm of economics is that concerning our approach, according to which corporation is an instrument 1 for wealth creation whose sole social responsibility is the maximisation of shareholder value (for instance measured by the share price) which in turn, in the standard industrial organisation literature, leads to a short-term profits orientation.…”

“…1 In fact Garriga and Melè (2004) denote as ''instrumental theories'' those belonging to this economic approach, whose the most well-known representative is the Nobel prize Friedman (1970) stating that ''the only one responsibility of business towards society is the maximisation of profits to the shareholders within the legal framework and the ethical custom of the country''. 2 As known in this standard literature-and also in the present model-firm's costs are not at all dependent of the level of engagement in social activities by the same firms.…”

Les questions de gouvernance dans les entreprises socialement responsables

“…Dans le cadre des théories intégratives montrant que l'existence, la pérennité et la croissance de l'entreprise dépendent de la société (Garriga et Melé, 2004), la théo-rie néo-institutionnelle stipule que les entreprises tendent à affirmer leur légitimité en adoptant des comportements estimés attendus et souhaités (Suchman, 1995). La légiti-mité est donc une perception généralisée de l'action d'une organisation qui est conforme à un système de normes, de valeurs, de croyances et d'idées socialement construites (Suchman, 1995).…”

Responsabilidade Social Corporativa e Empreendedorismo: Evidências e fragilidades

“…Do lado da academia, a vasta literatura proporciona uma diversidade de 37 definições de RSC (Dahlsrud, 2007, Taneja;Taneja;Gupta, 2011), carecendo de uma concordância normativa universal (Okoye, 2009;Carroll;Shabana, 2010). Os defensores das teorias instrumentais, políticas, integrativas e éticas deixaram as suas marcas na construção deste campo de conhecimento (Garriga;Melé, 2004).…”