The drivers of corporate social responsibility : a critical review

The paper criticises the dominant discourse of corporate social responsibility (CSR) by examining six sets of factors conventionally considered as promoting outcomes consistent with core principles of social responsibility: intra-organizational factors, competitive dynamics, institutional investors, end-consumers, government regulators and non-governmental organizations. Each factor is addressed conceptually, empirically, and with respect to its likely future significance in promoting outcomes consistent with CSR. Our overall conclusions are not promising on any of these dimensions.

A method for examining corporate social responsibility descriptions on SME websites

There is growing IS research concerning SME use of websites and limited but growing research on corporate social responsibility (CSR) by SMEs. However, to-date these two bodies of literature have remained largely separate. This paper links these fields by presenting an SME website content analysis method. Melville in his seminal MIS Quarterly article called for such methods which provide a nexus of IS, organisations and environment (which we extend to CSR). The method involves four steps: 1) identifying sources of SME websites; 2) determining if websites are describing CSR (based on the literature CSR by SMEs); 3) archiving website content for analysis; and 4) coding the website content using a structured framework (combining the literature on IS and CSR in an SME context). The paper also provides suggestions on how IS researchers can apply the method for quantitative and qualitative/exploratory objectives for future research.

Perceptions of corporate social responsibility amongst immigrant entrepreneurs

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the understanding of the term corporate social responsibility (CSR) by Sri Lankan immigrant entrepreneurs in Australia. It also seeks to investigate the importance the entrepreneurs place on CSR, their understanding of stakeholders, the types of CSR activities undertaken by them, and the issue of social capital.

Design/methodology/approach – Data were collected through in-depth semi-structured interviews with Sri Lankan entrepreneurs based in Victoria, Australia.

Findings – The interviewees were aware of the term CSR but, nevertheless, had different interpretations of its meaning. However, CSR was considered important and all the interviewees were, in some way, involved in CSR activities and also had a good understanding of the importance of their stakeholders. Findings also highlighted the significance attached to social capital by the entrepreneurs such as informal relationships and trustworthiness which build the intangible attributes of CSR. The present findings can be attributed to immigrant entrepreneurs behaving partly to adapt to the host country, by changing their beliefs, values, traditions and partly by being influenced by their home country culture as found in the extended part of this current study.

Research limitations/implications – This paper addresses gaps in the fields of both CSR and immigrant entrepreneurship literature. However, the small sample size is a limitation and further research is required in order to generalize the findings.

Originality/value – It is important to have an understanding of the interpretation of social responsibility amongst immigrant entrepreneurs. Despite the steadily growing number of Sri Lankan immigrant entrepreneurs and their potential impact on the Victorian and Australian socio-economic context, this area remains under-researched. This paper addresses this gap in the literature and makes an attempt to provide insight into this area that can be used as a catalyst for future research.

Share corporate social responsibility best practice and forgo competitive advantage

Cross-sector partnerships are capable of achieving solutions to large scale societal problems, which when successful, are well-publicized. Partnering organizations not only reap reputational acclaim but garner valuable organizational benefits. Membership within successful partnerships would undoubtedly be considered a competitive advantage, yet several of these successful relationships have chosen to forgo this valuable position. Instead of retaining intellectual property, partnering organizations are sharing successful processes and practices with peers and competitors. This research examined three examples of best practice cross-sector partnerships to identify relationship success factors, how they involved other organizations and why they shared successful social responsibility initiatives with others.

Corporate governance and corporate social responsibility disclosures : evidence from an emerging economy

We examine the relationship between corporate governance and the extent of corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosures in the annual reports of Bangladeshi companies. A legitimacy theory framework is adopted to understand the extent to which corporate governance characteristics, such as managerial ownership, public ownership, foreign ownership, board independence, CEO duality and presence of audit committee influence organisational response to various stakeholder groups. Our results suggest that although CSR disclosures generally have a negative association with managerial ownership, such relationship becomes significant and positive for export-oriented industries. We also find public ownership, foreign ownership, board independence and presence of audit committee to have positive significant impacts on CSR disclosures. However, we fail to find any significant impact of CEO duality. Thus, our results suggest that pressures exerted by external stakeholder groups and corporate governance mechanisms involving independent outsiders may allay some concerns relating to family influence on CSR disclosure practices. Overall, our study implies that corporate governance attributes play a vital role in ensuring organisational legitimacy through CSR disclosures. The findings of our study should be of interest to regulators and policy makers in countries which share similar corporate ownership and regulatory structures.

An integrated management systems approach to corporate social responsibility

A great deal of research has emphasized the strategic management of corporate social responsibility (CSR). However, gaps remain on how CSR can be effectively integrated with existing business processes. One key question remaining is how to design business processes so that they accommodate stakeholder requirements in an integrated manner. The purpose of this paper is to present a framework that can be used to integrate CSR into business processes. The framework highlights the concept of simultaneous ‘top-down integration’ and ‘bottom-up community-related indicators development’ approaches to CSR. These two approaches are elaborated with the help of two cases. The top-down approach focuses on building CSR into existing business initiatives through an integrated management systems (IMS) approach. This paper concludes that an IMS approach provides the infrastructure for the integration of CSR. The bottom-up approach focuses on the development of indicators linked to community initiatives. Examples of best practice for both the top-down and bottom-up approaches are provided in two case studies.