Working for the local community: Substantively broader/geographically narrower CSR accounting

Abstract

Academics and practitioners have long debated the justifications for corporate social responsibility (CSR) and its areas of impact. Many of these discussions highlight CSR's social, environmental or corporate governance aspects but neglect another focus that is even more important to populations that are on the receiving end of a company's actions – the macro-economic effects of CSR on a specific population in a particular locality. This paper discusses substantive and geographic characteristics of CSR and contributes to the sparse research on sub-national level impacts (Albareda, Lozano, Tencati, Midttun, & Perrini, 2008; Fox, Ward, & Howard, 2002; Happaerts, 2012).