History Of Corporate Social Responsibility Research Articles

The Intellectual History of Milton Friedman's Criticism of Corporate Social Responsibility

This article is the first to reconstruct the intellectual history of Milton Friedman's criticism of business and its social responsibilities. Using original archival research and printed evidence, this article makes three major arguments. First, Friedman's criticisms of business and its social responsibilities evolved over time and emerged from persistent anxieties among economic liberals about monopoly, business interests, and political authority that were explicitly read from Adam Smith. Second, the article contributes to the emerging intellectual history of corporate social responsibility (CSR) by reconstructing the development of Friedman's criticisms, their transformations, and their reception within the context of American managerial thought from the 1950s to the 1980s. Finally, contextualizing Friedman's criticisms demonstrates his concern about decision-making logics within organizations, which in turn explains his belief that CSR would contribute to collectivization and enhances the understanding of neoliberal political thought.

Bioethics-CSR Divide

Bioethics-CSR Divide

A History of Corporate Social Responsibility in Ghana

There have been several contributions and research perspectives on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), however, research suggests that there is paucity of literature on historical accounts on the concept. There is also considerable evidence that the few CSR histories that have been documented have mostly focused on US-based literature. This paper attempts to detail the history of CSR in the Ghanaian context. The paper is a culmination of archival data and academic reviews on the history of CSR as well as interviews conducted with purposely selected informants. An analysis of the historical data revealed three key phases of CSR development in Ghana: the Pre-CSR phase, the Early CSR beginnings phase and the CSR Professionalisation phase. Significantly, this paper contributes to the prevailing CSR management literature, especially on national CSR histories. A thorough review of the literature suggests that there is no documented history on CSR in Ghana. This paper therefore addresses this gap. It contributes to a more distinctive historical understanding of how CSR has evolved from its early days to its current state in Ghana. It further provides useful background context to inform future research, analysis and interpretation.

Evolving Approaches of CSR in India in the Post-Mandatory Regime – An Exploratory Study of Managerial Understanding

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has garnered worldwide attention (Jamali and Mirshak, 2007), both in the academic and corporate domains. It has predominantly gained impetus in the developing countries; with nations like India imposing legislative mandates (Subramaniam et al. 2017). India has an extensive history of CSR (Sundar, 2000) but lacks academic depth and understanding of the phenomenon (Dhanesh, 2015); particularly in the post mandatory regime. This extensive exploratory research based on the managerial perspective utilizes semi-structured interviews of 28 CSR managers responsible for implementing CSR within corporates. Thematic analysis of interview data identifies 4 unique approaches adopted by Indian companies and their resultant benefits. It is indeed one of the first researches in India done in both Public Sector Undertaking (PSUs) as well as the Private Enterprises. The study strengthens the existing knowledge base and assists corporates to build their CSR strategies and furthers understanding of companies’ objectives of social development.

Internal and external corporate social responsibility activities and firm value: Evidence from the shared growth in the supply chain

Despite the long history of corporate social responsibility (CSR) research, few studies have focused on CSR activities related to business partners in supply chains. In this regard, we investigate whether internal (or backward) CSR enhances firm value. Using an index from the Korea Commission for Corporate Partnership, which indicates whether a firm shares its profits with business partner companies, we find that firm value increases as this backward CSR increases. Further, after controlling for internal CSR, firms engaged only in external CSR have lower firm value than non-CSR firms. Interestingly, we find that firms involved in both internal and external CSR have higher value. Overall, by showing that internal CSR is a core activity that enhances firm value, our study provides policy implications for the regulatory bodies of different countries.

ІСТОРИЧНІ АПСЕКТИ СТАНОВЛЕННЯ І РОЗВИТКУ КОРПОРАТИВНОЇ СОЦІАЛЬНОЇ ВІДПОВІДАЛЬНОСТІ В УКРАЇНІ ТА СВІТІ

The article analyzes the main stages of development of corporate social responsibility in the world. Stages of formation of social responsibility in Ukraine from Kievan Rus are highlighted, where social responsibility was manifested as patronage and charity, which in our opinion is a manifestation of the national mentality of the population before the establishment of the Center for Corporate Social Responsibility. as well as to properly compile non-financial reports which contain information about social and environmental programs of companies. The relevance of the chosen topic is justified by the fact that today corporate social responsibility is considered not only from a theoretical perspective but also from a clear effective practical. The introduction of corporate social responsibility in enterprises is the basis for effective business development. In order to meet the high demands of society, the company must address important social issues in the long run with clearly defined goals, objectives and results to be achieved. The most important competitive advantage of enterprises is CSR, which will improve the reputation of enterprises, which will lead to increased financial performance. The article proposes to consider corporate social responsibility as a three - dimensional interaction of business - state - society. However, it is business that must assume the role of a leading link in the mechanism of coordination in the economy and society of individual and group interests. Every corporation must be responsible for the results of its activities, to employees, partners, shareholders, stakeholders and society as a whole. Examining the history of corporate social responsibility, we can conclude that it has slowly evolved over time and has become part of the daily vocabulary only in the last decade. Today, much attention is paid worldwide to the development of corporate social responsibility, because it is not only economic prosperity but also preparedness for crises that occur around the world. Ukrainian business is ready to implement the concepts of corporate social responsibility, which should be regulated by state legislation.

Climate change adaptation, coffee, and corporate social responsibility: challenges and opportunities

Climate change is making a profound impact on agricultural production across the globe. Coffee (especially the Arabica variety) is one of the most severely affected crops. Adaptive measures are therefore needed to ensure the industry’s survival. Although large coffee companies have a long history of environmental action, less is known about their strategies and attitudes related to climate adaptation. This paper attempts understand how global coffee companies are addressing climate change adaptation as part of corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategies and what barriers may exist to prevent future scale-up. To answer this question, I analyzed overall global adaptation needs and the specific needs of the coffee industry, which revealed serious financial, capacity-related, and principle-based challenges. To better understand how the industry may view climate adaptation, I reviewed CSR theoretical literature and the history of CSR within the coffee industry. Through this analysis, I determined the promotion of climate adaptation in the coffee industry can best be explained by the “Creating shared value” (CSV) framework. Using the CSV framework and an understanding of global adaptation challenges, I reviewed the CSR strategies of five major coffee companies as well as supporting literature and industry information. I find that all five companies have expansive CSR programs, yet none seriously undertake climate adaptation efforts and/or make them public. I suggest several reasons for this absence, including competing CSR priorities, lack of awareness, competition, lack of leadership, the controversial nature of climate change, and the overemphasis of certification. I end the paper with a call for more collaboration and research around the adaptation issue for the coffee industry.

Corporate Governance and Corporate Social Responsibility

We study compliance of Indian firms to the 2013 Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) regulation that mandates qualifying firms to spend 2 percent of the pre-tax profits on CSR. We demonstrate that the formation of CSR committees and the appointment of directors with relevant experience (CSR-Directors) increase compliance to the CSR law by 11 percent. Further, we show that CSR-Directors improves compliance by implementing a cost-effective CSR strategy by reducing the number and geographic spread of CSR projects. CSR directors are more likely to implement a cost-effective CSR strategy for companies in more competitive industries, companies with high debt, and companies with no previous history of CSR. Companies with higher CSR compliance gain in value and have increased creditworthiness.

The Past, History, and Corporate Social Responsibility

An emerging body of research recognizes the importance of the past and history for corporate social responsibility (CSR) scholarship and practice. However, the meanings that scholars and practitioners can ascribe to the past and history differ fundamentally, posing challenges to the integration of history and CSR thinking. This essay reviews diverse approaches and proposes a broad conceptualization of the relationship between the past, history, and CSR. We suggest historical CSR as an umbrella term that comprises three distinct theoretical perspectives. The “past-of-CSR” perspective is concerned with the history of CSR and business ethics as a set of concepts and practices. The “past-in-CSR” perspective involves employing empirical historical research to substantiate and elaborate CSR concepts and theories. Finally, the “past-as-CSR” perspective seeks to understand the past as a living, yet contested, facet of current organizations, influencing contemporary perceptions of corporate and managerial responsibility. We then elaborate on conceptual issues and paths that may prove useful for future research. In all, this essay and the thematic symposium it precedes strive to deepen and broaden the salience of the past and history for thinking about business ethics and business responsibilities.

Corporate Social Responsibility, Human Rights and Clothing Workers in Bangladesh and Malaysia

ABSTRACTThe brand-name fashion industry creates high levels of competition in developing countries, leading to labour exploitation and human rights abuse. The 2013 World Investment Report found that pushing prices down in global value chains has led to “significant negative social and environmental impacts”. In response, fashion corporations and retail giants introduced codes of conduct to address consumer concerns and stop any damage to brand reputation. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has had some success in preventing child labour but little if any victory in allowing workers the right to organise and bargain collectively. In fact, CSR has been blamed for undermining the role of trade unions and privatising labour rights. In this article, I trace the history of CSR from shareholders to a human rights model. I highlight tensions between national accumulation policies, company profits, shareholders and CSR on the one hand, and migrant workers and human rights on the other.

Corporate Social Responsibility: Past, Present, And Success Strategy For The Future

Recently, scholars and managers have devoted greater attention to corporate social responsibility (CSR) and its strategic implications. With more awareness surrounding the topic it would be expected for there to be a consensus on a definition, but as of yet none has been reached. The lack of a universally accepted definition has led some to define it as a term, a concept, a process, a theory, while others simply call it an activity or set of activities (Hazlett & Murray, 2007). CSR has been also captioned under many names. Terms such as corporate citizenship, global citizenship, corporate social responsiveness, strategic philanthropy, and even spiritual capitalism are sometimes used interchangeably, depending on the organization to use it. Often, these numerous monikers and interpretations lead to confusion amongst those intending to study or implement the practice into their business strategy.
 This uncertainty on how CSR should be defined has led some academics and practitioners to believe that the concept is void of any definition. Contrary to this belief, others find that there is an overabundance of definitions; many of which are “often biased toward specific interests and thus prevent the development and implementation of the concept” (Dahlsrud, 2008). Our study focuses on the importance of CSR and why it’s becoming so prevalent in any organizations. By studying the history of CSR, its many definitions, as well as its implementation methods, we attempt to suggest strategic alternatives for an effective corporate social responsibility.

Evolution of corporate reporting: From stand-alone corporate social responsibility reporting to integrated reporting

Both financial and corporate social responsibility (CSR) reporting are bound by global constraints. A common trait among the reporting systems is a growing movement toward comparability and accountability. Global pressures initially motivated the push toward stand-alone CSR reporting and now toward integrated reporting. Integrated reports (IR) include financial, economic, governance, and social information in one report. In the United States, integrated reporting is voluntary and only a small number of companies have issued IRs to date. This report provides a history of CSR reporting and then examines whether the non-financial economic, governance and social indicators identified in prior literature as being of interest to retail investors (Cohen et al. 2011) are disclosed in the pioneering U.S. IRs. Descriptive results indicate the initial IRs cover predominately indicators of economic and social performance with little focus on governance. Further analysis indicates that the IRs examined do not, as a rule, provide the information most highly desired by investors (i.e. market share, executive compensation, and product safety). This study provides a baseline for companies preparing IRs and for regulators (i.e. SEC, FASB) in the context of determining future disclosure regulations.

The History of CSR Thought and Practice: Exploring New Avenues for Future Research

This presenter symposium brings together leading scholars in the field of business ethics, corporate social responsibility (CSR) and management history interested in the history of CSR thought and practice. The symposium identifies three major strands of research as particularly important starting points to advance this emerging field of study, the history of CSR thought, historic CSR, and the history of CSR practice. Each of the four presentations of this symposium elaborates on and contributes to one of these research streams and suggests further ways ahead. In the discussion, the presenters and the discussant will facilitate and encourage a debate with other participants and listeners to develop promising avenues for future research.

Corporate Spheres of Responsibility: Architects, Cowboys, and Eco-Warriors in Myanmar’s Oil & Gas Industry

Myanmar's recently opened economy is flush with incoming investment and activity. World leaders advocate that all businesses entering the country must operate in a "socially responsible manner." However, the history of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in Myanmar is undefined, contradictory, and complex. Thus, to get a handle around what it means to be “responsible,” this paper investigates the collective way in which actors in the petroleum industry in Myanmar enact CSR from 1990 to 2014. The oil and gas (O&G) industry is the most lucrative, and arguably powerful, national sector. The practice and philosophy of CSR, which originated in this industry, is now proclaimed to be the starting point for this newly charted course of responsible business in Myanmar. Yet, activists and critics maintain that CSR is an insincere PR measure of profit maximization whereby companies can conduct business as normal. I argue that CSR in the Myanmar petroleum industry is influenced by more complex factors than profit maximization or image management. CSR initiatives are sculpted by (1) the geography of petroleum extraction, (2) corporate philosophies and company national origins, and (3) type of company operations. The petroleum industry’s CSR activities to date, in terms of geographic span and development targets, all fit into a spectrum of assumed spheres of corporate responsibility that have been forged by the corporate ‘architects’ and tempered by geographic and global forces.

Incorporating Sustainability Issues Into The Financial Accounting Curriculum

Changes in the views that society holds of capital allocation suggest that sustainability reporting needs to be incorporated into the financial accounting curriculum. This paper reviews the background and history of corporate social responsibility and sustainability reporting and discusses formation of the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB). The development of the SASB provides us with a framework to enhance the credibility and provide assurance for corporate social responsibility and sustainability reporting. A suggested outline for including sustainability reporting in a financial accounting course is presented.

The Politics of Corporate Social Responsibility in American Health Care and Home Loans

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) became an important subject among business leaders during the post–World War II era. Business leaders often used the idea of CSR to explain actions they took to prevent additional government involvement in their industry. They argued that because they were behaving in a socially responsible manner, further federal programming was unnecessary. The cases of health insurance and home mortgages demonstrate how this political approach frequently required business leaders to alter their profitmaking strategies in order to substantiate their argument before the public. Thus, the history of corporate social responsibility is critical for understanding a hidden facet of American political development.

Institutional Forces Affecting Corporate Social Responsibility Behavior of the Chinese Food Industry

Food safety problems in China, such as deadly tainted milk, have attracted growing attention from a corporate social responsibility (CSR) perspective. To examine the forces that potentially drive CSR behavior within the Chinese food industry, our study is organized as follows. First, a review is conducted on the unique history of CSR in China as well as some of the major Chinese food scandals that have taken place. The primary drivers of CSR in China that have been suggested in the literature are then summarized. Next, new institutional theory perspectives are drawn upon to analyze three forces that potentially affect the behavior of Chinese firms: (a) coercive isomorphism, (b) mimetic processes, and (c) normative pressures. Based on a questionnaire survey of 164 Chinese managers and employees, the CSR behavior of firms operating in the Chinese food industry is found to only be significantly affected by the institutional factor of normative pressures. The study concludes with its limitations as well as the implications of the findings.

Rewriting History / Reimagining (Critical) Management Studies

This symposium addresses some of the limitations of current historical research in (Critical) Management Studies, including a dearth of critically-oriented historical research, relative absence of epistemological interrogations of the modern Western discipline of ‘history’, and a failure to engage with ‘other’ cultural ways of reconstructing the ‘past’. The first presentation employs an ANTiHistory perspective with a view to underscoring the discursive character of history, and exploring various ideas for developing critical organizational history. The second presentation further builds on the notion of discursivity and draws upon Foucauldian genealogy, institutional theory and Cultural Studies in the process of rewriting the history of Corporate Social Responsibility in the United States as a product of negotiation and contestation across multiple discursive fields. Next, a revised historical understanding of the microfinance movement in the ‘Third World’ is offered with the goal of understanding the agency of the ‘other’. Finally, situating itself in Postcolonial Theory, the fourth presentation highlights the limitations of the modern Western discipline of ‘history’, identifies a range of devices for rewriting history in management studies, and examines the implications of rewriting history along the lines proposed in the symposium. Overall, the symposium seeks to strengthen critical understandings of management ‘history’ and of the wider social scientific enterprise. Rethinking History: An ANTiHistory Perspective Presenter: Albert J. Mills; Saint Mary's U. Microfinance: A Neoliberal Instrument or a Site of the 'Other's' Resistance? Presenter: Nimruji Jammulamadaka; Indian Institute of Management Calcutta

The Corporate Social Responsibility Report: The Hybridization of a “Confused” Genre (2007–2011)

Research problem: This study investigates the characteristics of corporate social responsibility (CSR), which are discursive attempts at creating positive impact and indicate to readers the process of business management in society. Research questions: (1) What is the intended purpose and function of the CSR reports taken from some of the most dominant corporations in the oil, banking, and aviation industries in the US and China, and how and to what extent do these reports meet the expectations of the international discourse community? (2) Are there any differences in the discursive construction of the CSR reports taken from the different industries? If so, what are these differences, and why might they exist? Literature review: Contrasting CSR practices in China and the US are appropriate because of their economic power, and rigorous CSR reporting practices. According to previous research, CSR practices in China are mandatory for state-owned enterprises, but voluntary in the US. Interdiscursivity, the appropriation of established generic resources across genres and practices to create new forms, provides a framework for exploring differences in reports between the countries. Critical discourse analysis (analyzing discourse as social practice) and genre analysis (analyzing discourse as genre), provide methods for exploring these differences. Methodology: Using discourse analysis, this study analyzed six samples of CSRs, three from Chinese corporations, three from American corporations. Samples were selected through rigorous online search for top companies in oil, aviation, and banking. The study involved a general content analysis of the overall CSR reports using genre and critical discourse analysis, and then more focused analysis of sections on the environment. Results and discussion: The main function of the CSR reports analyzed seems to be the promotion of the company image. Although all analyzed reports drew on the discourse of goodwill and promoted company engagement with society, CSR reports from the oil industry employed discourse of self-justification more, attributing company actions to external constraints. CSR, as a generic construct in its hybrid form, seems a “typification” of three interdiscourses-discourses of promotion, goodwill, and self-justification-sociopragmatically co-constructed within an interdiscursive space. The purity of this genre lies in its hybridization, primarily in the integration of promotional cues in reporting genre, illustrating how interdiscursivity can explore the interrelationship between discursive and professional practices. The limitation of the study was the limited choice of countries and sample size. Future research could compare reporting practices of companies with newly instituted CSR practices with companies in countries with a longer history of CSR reporting.

An exploratory study of the historical landscape of corporate social responsibility in the UK

PurposeThis paper aims to piece together chronologically the events and revolutionary acts that have been taken by groups of individuals, entrepreneurs/industrialists and corporate entities in the UK which fall under the ambit of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in order to derive the history of CSR in the country.Design/methodology/approachData from literature and prior studies were used to gather the required information in order to contribute to knowledge about the history of CSR, at least from the perspective of the UK.FindingsThe results suggest that individuals in groups, industrialists/entrepreneurs acting individually, and even corporate entities have been indirectly engaged in CSR activities in the UK for well over 200 years. Altruistic CSR in the UK has a long history.Originality/valueInformation on how CSR evolved in the UK and elsewhere is considered to be valuable by both academic researchers and business managers, as it provides a framework on which future studies can be based. In addition, it improves the understanding of how the field originally started before it reached its current state.