CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND THE MANDATORY INDIAN LEGAL REGIME: UNDERSTANDING WILLINGNESS OF CORPORATIONS

Abstract

The theoretical construct of Corporate Social Responsibility has been developed by authors in the 20th century whereas philanthropic activities have been associated with corporations since its birth. Archie B. Carroll developed 4 dimensions of corporate social responsibility: economic, legal, ethical and philanthropic. This has further garnered the scope of understanding CSR from different perspective. The study aims to harmonize the development of corporate social responsibility focusing on a model based approach depicting a paradigm shift from shareholder to stakeholder theory of doing business. The research also ferrets out the moral and legal dimensions of CSR in India. A study has been made to understand the CSR fund utilization by twenty companies from 2014 to 2018 listed in the Bombay Stock Exchange. This study helps in understanding the willingness of corporations to spend towards CSR activities and subsequently measures have also been suggested for better engagement of corporations to be more socially responsible. KEYWORDS: Corporate social responsibility, Fund, Listed companies, Stakeholder, Willingness