Corporate Social Responsibility: Drivers, Triggers and Strategies

This special issue is devoted to the topic of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Due to pressing environmental, social and economic challenges facing the contemporary society, the subject of CSR has become increasingly attention-grabbing for organizations. A growing number of organizations develop their CSR strategies in response to a variety of social, environmental and economic pressures. The goal is to send a signal to different stakeholders. The fundamental problem with CSR practices is that organizations usually do not have a CSR strategy, but rather numerous disparate CSR programs and initiatives. CSR has come a long way from simple acts of charity to Strategic CSR that is now inclusive considering the awareness and concerns for greater social causes. Just as individuals acting in Social Systems are responsible for their own actions and behavior with respect to the other individuals in the system, organizations, as vital entities, must also be held accountable for the economic and non-economic consequences of their decisions, actions, and controls, which are determined by policies and strategies. The alignment between societal and organizations goals through CSR practices is not an internalized and universal reality. The reasons that often push organizations to voluntarily disseminate information about their ethical behavior and their relationship with the social and natural environments are characterized by the consequent advantages in terms of economy, image, and credibility that increase their overall value. Considering the many drivers of CSR within an organization, and the many different motivations underlying the various initiatives, it is crucial that the organizations carefully integrate CSR into their corporate strategies. In the past the question was “Why to do CSR?”. Now it is: “How to do CSR?”