Public issues and public expectations: Disentangling responsibility discourse dimensions in CSR and sustainability books

Abstract

This study aims to understand how society views modern business practices and what is expected of businesses. To do this, we unearth the covert patterns and latent themes of corporate social responsibility (CSR) discourse in popular CSR and sustainability books. Building upon Habermas' discourse ethics, CSR and sustainability constructs are examined from societal perspectives, assuming that the notion of conceptualization is embedded in the societal context. We find two main themes which consistently refer to five dimensions of discourse: economic, social, environmental, philosophical, and political dimensions. Further, we found that an “expectation gap” exists between what the public expects business to accomplish, and what businesses believe they must accomplish in their responsibility agendas. We argue that the term CSR remains relatively academic and has limited exposure in public media.