Improving business resilience through organizational embeddedness in CSR

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to introduce the concept of embeddedness, highlight its connection with corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategies, and argue for its importance in securing and strengthening organizational resiliency.Design/methodology/approachEmbeddedness and CSR are both well-researched topics but have been typically addressed on separate literature streams. The paper draws upon this diverse literature to introduce a conceptual framework for embeddedness in CSR.FindingsThe paper illustrates the importance of embeddedness and how it can enhance existing CSR strategies. A strongly embedded organization becomes deeply rooted on its socio-economic and natural environments, thus setting a symbiotic relationship that extends beyond any narrowly defined business purposes. Strong embeddedness has the potential to increase and further expand any CSR-related benefits while shielding the firm from economic downturns and thus increasing its resilience.Originality/valueThe paper builds upon CSR literature by incorporating the concept of embeddedness and then proposing how such an approach can strengthen an organization and increase its resilience.