Global Country Social Responsibility: What Is It? An Abstract

Abstract

Corporate social responsibility (CSR), which refers to business practices and corporate resource contributions that help improve societal well-being (Kotler & Lee, 2005), and its impact on a country’s bottom line have attracted increased scholarly interest over the years as corporations recognize the communities in which they operate as significant stakeholders. CSR initiatives thus tend to help corporations boost their reputation and be viewed positively by consumers, investors, and prospective employees (Korschun, Bhattacharya, & Swain, 2014; Sen, Bhattacharya, & Korschun, 2006). Specifically, when firms engage in CSR activities, they communicate to key stakeholders their organizational values, which can reap multiple benefits when they are congruent with key stakeholders’ values (Bhattacharya & Sen, 2003; Galbreath, 2010; Sen et al., 2006). However, given the numerous pressing social issues our world is facing today, it is imminent for the entire countries, not just corporations, to address important societal issues such as health and well-being, peace and security, and environmental sustainability. Recognizing this need, we extend the CSR concept to the country level and introduce the concept of global country social responsibility (GCSR), defined as a country’s practices that contribute to the well-being of its key constituents or stakeholders, including immigrants, emigrants, native citizens, non-native citizens, as well as domestic and foreign businesses.