Forward looking or looking unaffordable? Utilising academic perspectives on corporate social responsibility to assess the factors influencing its adoption by business

Abstract

The paper demonstrates its 'CSR at a tipping point' thesis by juxtaposing views of corporate social responsibility (CSR) as essential for business and societal sustainability against those that see CSR as unaffordable or irrelevant in the current economic climate. Drawing from Kohlberg's seminal theory of moral development, CSR is conceptualised as the development of organisation moral reasoning, and the proposition is illustrated by demonstrating inter-disciplinary similarities in levels of ethical concern within different approaches to the practice of marketing, human resource management (HRM) and performance management. Levels of concern for CSR are related to environmental and firm-specific drivers and constraints that influence the CSR dynamic. Environmental influences on organisational CSR stances emanate from a range of stakeholder constituencies, while the importance accorded to CSR is also influenced by firm-specific factors such as the organisation's stage of development, strategy and leadership. The paper's identification of inter-disciplinary similarities in the varying levels of concern for CSR and its delineation of CSR drivers and constraints contribute to CSR theory, and these frameworks also represent analytical tools that managers can use to assess or to change an organisation's CSR stance. The multi-level perspective on CSR adopted by the paper links an organisation's overall or 'macro' CSR stance to the 'meso' levels of CSR represented by practice within its specialist functions. It proposes that the 'CSR at a tipping point' proposition is assessed by utilising the conceptual model in the paper within a case-study research design to determine whether specific organisations -identified as 'CSRpositive' ones by their relatively high level of concern for stakeholder welfare -are changing the importance they accord to CSR as a result of the new business context, and the extent to which practice in their marketing, HRM and performance management functions are shapers or consequences of this.

Occupational health and safety disclosures in sustainability reports: An overview of trends among corporate leaders

“…By linking more transparent reporting around the OHS agenda with brand image and organizational reputation (Hunter & Van Wassenhove, 2011), managers may leverage the differentiation strategy of the firm and shape new or boost existing marketing advantages while increasing customer loyalty (Neumann et al, 2014;Randall, 2005). Hence, OHS reporting may encapsulate an untapped reservoir of added value for the firm and attending the issue in a manner similar to promoting 'green' products or environmentally benign behaviour can contribute to the sustainability (reporting) agenda, primarily in terms of employee-management and consumer-company dialogue and fruitful engagement (Bolis, Brunoro, & Sznelwar, 2014;Mason & Simmons, 2011;Zink & Fischer, 2013). Nevertheless, recent evidence suggests that consumers do not receive adequate information on the working conditions of firms (Dixon et al, 2017), a problem which should be alarming to top management executives in terms of underlying inefficiencies and the potential scepticism or mistrust around OHS performance that mere 'aspirational talks' may spawn (Behm & Schneller, 2011;Boiral, 2013;Christensen, Morsing, & Thyssen, 2013).…”

Corporate social responsibility and organizational attractiveness: implications for talent management

“…Over the past decade, corporate social responsibility (CSR) has been at the center of many studies in management (Mason and Simmons, 2011). So much so that CSR is no longer seen as a strategic advantage but as a real strategic necessity (Falkenberg and Brunsael, 2011).…”

Corporate Social Responsibility and Human Resource Management: Towards Sustainable Business Organizations

“…The second period (2010-2014) describes an uneven growth in CSR and HRM publications, although in five years the number of publications has increased from 6 to 22 per year. In this second stage we find the first manuscripts that relate CSR to HRM and the organization's business performance [27,[54][55][56][57][58][59]. The third period (2015-2019) presents the highest growth of the studied sample.…”