UNETHICAL ISSUE OF CORPORATE SOCIAL IRRESPONSIBILITY OF ENERGY COMPANIES IN EMERGING MARKETS

Abstract

There are media hype and allegations on the unethical conduct of energy companies flagging CRS in emerging markets. The purpose of this study is to affirm or refute the allegations of the unethical issue of CSR among energy companies in emerging markets. The exploratory nature of the study makes a qualitative research method (an interpretivist research paradigm) preferable. Specifically, pieces of information were sourced from scholarly articles, energy reports, and web resources on the CSR of energy companies in five emerging markets. At the end of the rigorous critical review of the literature (CLR), it was found that energy companies in the seven emerging markets have CSR policies, programs and projects designed to support host communities. Second, these energy companies heavily contribute to environmental degradation and pollution in their countries through gas glaring and other carbon emission footprints. Third, the energy companies flagged CSI as CSR to cover their unethical conduct, negative environmental impacts and carbon omission footprints. In practical terms, the insight on CSI is consistent with previous empirical studies that stated that energy companies flagged social actions to cover environmental pollution and carbon omission footprints in emerging markets. Key words: CSR, Unethical Issue, Corporate Social Irresponsibility (CSI) of energy companies, emerging markets