Corporate volunteering: A bibliometric analysis from 1990 to 2015

Abstract

This article describes a quantitative examination of corporate volunteering research in the form of a bibliometric analysis. Using author, journal, geography, epistemological, and industry data from 115 refereed and 445 non‐refereed publications published during 1990–2015, we identify corporate volunteering as a rather young research field. Although the field has progressively developed, it is still limited in magnitude, with recent signs of stagnation. The current state is characterized by moderate publication and author activity rates, with a shift toward more peer‐reviewed publications conducted in coauthorship, mostly in the disciplines of business, management, and ethics; a focus on financial services as well as the professional service sector; few high‐impact studies; and a narrow geographic spread, with North America as the market leader and a rising interest in Western European countries. Findings on the field's prevalent research orientation further indicate a strong employee‐centered focus emphasizing the underlying business case. However, in contrast to the overarching concept of corporate social responsibility research, a relatively large share of the corporate volunteering literature also addresses society‐related issues, namely, corporates' relationship with non‐profits.

Listen to the voice of the customer—First steps towards stakeholder democracy

“…Companies cannot make do with outdated command‐and‐control governance systems but have to proactively rethink and redesign how they make and justify their (CSR) management decisions (Vashchenko, ). In the area of corporate citizenship management, this becomes very obvious when we take a look at the trend toward more employee volunteering (Dreesbach‐Bundy & Scheck, ), social intrapreneurship, collective impact, and cocreation of social projects and programs. To design such new, and agile, approaches to corporate governance in general and CSR management specifically, companies should be open to an ongoing dialogue, be willing to change as a consequence of critical feedback from their stakeholders, and communicate with the various stakeholder groups on eye level.…”

Exploring Corporate Social Responsibility under the Background of Sustainable Development Goals: A Proposal to Corporate Volunteering

“…Even within small communities, volunteers can play a key, albeit often unnoticed, role in their proper functioning. That is why Dreesbach-Bundy and Scheck [77] pointed out that CV is a developing field of study, focusing the research orientation on employees and on the issues related to society.…”

A Derivation of Factors Influencing the Successful Integration of Corporate Volunteers into Public Flood Disaster Inquiry and Notification Systems

“…The corporate volunteer programs have been described as one of the fastest-growing areas of voluntary activity, with North America as the market leader and with a rising interest in Western European countries. Over 90 percent of Fortune 500 companies run employee volunteer programs, formally sponsoring and subsidizing employees' efforts to perform community service and outreach activities on company time [105]. However, this field is still in its infancy and limited in magnitude.…”

“…Most literatures are in the disciplines of business, management, and ethics. Researchers have emphasized a strong employee-centered and business focus and a narrow geographic spread [105]. This study focused on a developing country in Asia, because the public sector's resources are limited, and most firms are small-to-medium enterprises.…”