Corporate Social Responsibility: Where Does It Come from, and Where Does It Go? Evolution of the Conceptual Structure from 1975 to 2021

Abstract

From the first discussions on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in the 1950s to today, there is evidence of a ramification of concepts associated with CSR that produce a web of relationships that evolves in different directions. This paper analyses the conceptual structure of the CSR field, contributing to understanding its development and evolution between 1975 and 2021, opening a discussion of what these concept relationships might show in the understanding, development, and future application of CSR in business and society. For this purpose, networks of concepts were identified by using the SciMAT software on 6861 papers obtained from the WOS database in the Business and Management categories in the field of study. The results show that the field still appears to be far from understood and is very focused on the interests of companies. We offer and opportunity to rethink its purpose from a perspective that integrates other dimensions that concentrate on the society–business relationship. Based on these results, this study presents new research directions to explore both the drivers and results of the application of CSR.