Corporate Social Responsibility Content Research Articles

CSR Online Discourse Practices in the Romanian Energy Sector

The CSR online discourse practices adopted by the major companies of the Romanian energy sector have contributed to the development of a corporate social responsibility (CSR) genre. Its main role is to emphasize the overall strategy of companies towards sustainability and longterm growth. The authors aim to identify the range of CSR topics of the three Romanian energy companies displayed on their websites. The paper also provides a mapping of the rhetorical choices used by these companies to deliver CSR content. The study uses a procedure developed by Jane Ahlerling in her study The Face of the Firm: Articulating Identity through CSR-Related Diversity Rhetoric in 2008 and which uses rhetorical discourse analysis. The authors also discuss the link between CSR agenda of top energy companies and image of the local social context shaped by this agenda. Authors conclude that both commitment towards CSR activities of the three Romanian energy companies and their CSR-related online discourse practices are extremely heterogeneous and appear to be situated in different stages of development.

Social Norms and Disclosure Policy: Implications from a Comparison of Financial and Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting

Recently, pressure from multiple stakeholders regarding corporate social responsibility (CSR) policies and activities has resulted in firms' increased effort to measure and report information on numerous environmental and social issues. Disclosure of CSR information has generally been voluntary, and guidelines regarding the measurement and reporting of such information have been developed by stakeholder groups, evolving as a function of social norms. In spite of the apparent plurality of viewpoints contributing to the process, research results indicate that the outcomes seldom reflect the full range of stakeholder concerns, and often reflect only the preferences of dominant corporate interests (see, for example, Archel et al., 2011). Shortcomings in existing reporting and the perceived importance of this information for stakeholder decision making are factors in the call for greater regulation of CSR reporting to facilitate both the existence and comparability of CSR disclosure. While accountability to society requires input by a broad range of stakeholder groups, regulation has traditionally been implemented by a hierarchical governance structure. We examine the historical development of financial and CSR reporting for insight into how the process can include relevant stakeholders while still ensuring adequate disclosure. Based on our analysis, we believe that CSR reporting should be mandatory, but that the specific information content of CSR to be required in CSR reports should be developed by a dialogical process that includes a wide range of stakeholder groups.

Supplier assessment based on corporate social responsibility criteria in Indian automotive and textile industry sectors

Mandatory disclosure of corporate social responsibility (CSR) reporting forces supply chain members to consider CSR issues in developed countries. Researchers have viewed CSR content within different themes, such as human (social), ethical and environmental perspectives. So far, in India, very little research has been done to study the impact of human issues in employment (social), ethical issues in business operations and pollution (environmental) issues at both regional and specific sector level. This paper emphasises the perspective view of supplier selection, considering CSR issues as opposed to traditional methods using conventional selection criteria such as cost, quality, delivery and service. It employs six CSR criteria such as discrimination, abuse of human rights, child labour, long working hours, unfair competition and pollution to assess small- and medium-sized suppliers who produce and deliver products to the automotive and textile industry sectors. The results of this study indicate that to prevent discrimination against pay variation, minimise cases of abuse of human rights and incidence of child labour, suppliers must put in place proper policies and procedures regarding employment contract, identification and verification records. Furthermore, to reduce unfair competition, suppliers of both automotive and textile sectors may introduce processes for investigating reports of unethical conducts and take severe disciplinary action. The suppliers of both automotive and textile sectors believe that the competitive advantage can be achieved through environmental oriented business practices. However, they differ in their approaches in attaining this objective.

Corporate social responsibility in management education: Current status in Spanish universities

AbstractIn the context of education for sustainable development, the purpose of this paper is to report on the findings of a study in Spain into the extent to which corporate social responsibility (CSR) is taught in management schools. The study makes an exploratory and descriptive web-content analysis of the curriculum and subjects on Business and Management degrees at all universities in Spain. Our findings show that a high percentage of universities include CSR-related subjects on their curriculum. CSR content is taught as either specific CSR subjects (stand-alone CSR subjects) or as part of various subjects on the academic curriculum (embedded CSR subjects). Although at first sight our findings may seem promising, a more detailed analysis shows that few universities include stand-alone CSR subjects and that although many universities have embedded CSR subjects, the CSR content is by no means fully developed.

Corporate social responsibility in management education: Current status in Spanish universities

AbstractIn the context of education for sustainable development, the purpose of this paper is to report on the findings of a study in Spain into the extent to which corporate social responsibility (CSR) is taught in management schools. The study makes an exploratory and descriptive web-content analysis of the curriculum and subjects on Business and Management degrees at all universities in Spain. Our findings show that a high percentage of universities include CSR-related subjects on their curriculum. CSR content is taught as either specific CSR subjects (stand-alone CSR subjects) or as part of various subjects on the academic curriculum (embedded CSR subjects). Although at first sight our findings may seem promising, a more detailed analysis shows that few universities include stand-alone CSR subjects and that although many universities have embedded CSR subjects, the CSR content is by no means fully developed.

Is there any relationship between organizational charts and corporate social responsibility? The EU‐15 banking case

PurposeThe main goal of this paper is to establish whether there is some relationship between organizational charts (OC) and corporate social responsibility (CSR) in banks. The analysis is based on contents disclosed in their CSR/sustainability reports, as well as Mintzberg's taxonomy for OC.Design/methodology/approachThis paper describes, from a theoretical point‐of‐view, both issues (CSR and social responsible actions), as well as OC patterns according to Mintzberg's taxonomy. Then, an empirical review is gained of CSR/sustainability reports published by a representative sample from the banking industry in the EU‐15. Using a triangular methodology, an attempt has been made to verify whether there is some correlation between Mintzberg's OCs patterns and their CSR contents disclosed, mainly referring to internal management issues.FindingsThe paper found no solid evidence to accept or reject a possible relationship between both variables (type of OC adopted by each bank and reporting contents revealed). However, this is a promising research line for future analysis, using a bigger sample and more CSR reporting issues.Originality/valueThis paper opens a new research path in CSR/Sustainability and OCs, for a possible link between both variables, a matter that has not been previously explored.

Perceptions on corporate social responsibility: A study in capturing public confidence

AbstractThis study examines the perceptions and expectations of the stakeholders of corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure practices in Indonesia based on CSR‐related items. Using survey data on CSR disclosures in Indonesia, this study applies factor analysis to identify relationships among nine CSR characteristics. The statistical results indicate that the relationship between CSR contents, incentives, format, public confidence, and impact on investment decisions is positively and directly related. Furthermore, incentives also influence investment decisions via CSR contents, formats, and changes in public confidence. However, there is no significant relationship between expectations, importance of CSR reporting, CSR reputation, and level of public confidence in both direct and mediating models. The results also show that there is significant difference in stakeholders' perceptions of CSR disclosures among gender, age, job category, and work tenure. These findings provide better insight for reports and regulators on the appropriateness of CSR and policy implications related to impact on investment decisions. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

Corporate Social Responsibility: One Size Does Not Fit All. Collecting Evidence from Europe

This article serves as an introduction to the collection of papers in this monographic issue on “What the European tradition can teach about Corporate Social Responsibility” and presents the rationale and the main hypotheses of the project. We maintain that corporate social responsibility (CSR) is an ethical concept, that the demands for socially responsible actions have been around since before the Industrial Revolution and that companies have responded to them, especially in Europe, and that the content of CSR has evolved over time, depending on historical, cultural, political, and socio-economic drivers and particular conditions in different countries and also at different points in time. Therefore, there is not – and probably cannot be – a unique, precise definition of CSR: one global standard for CSR is unlikely.

Corporate Social Responsibility: One Size Does Not Fit All, Collecting Evidence from Europe

This article serves as an introduction to the collection of papers in this monographic issue on What the European tradition can teach about Corporate Social and presents the project's rationale and main hypotheses. We maintain that Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is an ethical concept, that demands for socially responsible actions have existed since before the Industrial Revolution and that companies have responded to them, especially in Europe, and that the content of CSR has evolved over time, depending on historical, cultural, political and socio-economic drivers and particular conditions in different countries and also at different points in time. Therefore, there is not - and probably cannot be - a single, precise definition of CSR: one global standard for CSR is unlikely.

Business Citizenship

The concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR) is being supplanted by a new term—corporate citizenship (CC). For many reasons, it’s not a bad idea to replace the CSR term. But the core content of CSR is also gradually being replaced in a significant portion of the literature by a narrower, voluntaristic concept of corporate community service. This is not a viable replacement for the broad ethics-based and problem-solving norms of social reciprocity that are represented by CSR. A more legitimate successor-term is needed so that corporate community relations and philanthropy take their rightful place among the larger set of rights, duties, stakeholder relationships, and opportunities accruing to business organizations.Therefore, we develop a working theory of business citizenship (BC), a more palatable term, and a concept designed to capture the core moral and social content of CSR. In this article we extract and synthesize several key ideas about individual citizenship that have evolved over several thousand years. We then transpose these ideas from the level of individual members of a polity to the level of organizations within society. In a companion article, we extend the business citizenship concept from its single-polity boundaries to the institutional and global levels of analysis. This approach allows a view of business citizenship that accommodates strong moral guidance, structural and institutional realities, and the flexibility necessary to respond to the structures and dynamics of particular company-stakeholder relationships.