To What Extent Is Business And Society Literature Idealistic?

This paper focuses on the general concern that theories on the social responsibility of business have not much practical value. We discuss the central theses of mainstream themes in the business and society literature – corporate social responsibility, corporate social responsiveness, social issues, corporate social performance, stakeholder management, corporate citizenship, business ethics, sustainable development, and corporate sustainability – and evaluate their descriptive accuracy, normative validity and instrumental power. A great deal of the literature views corporate contribution to social and environmental issues from a moral perspective. Such moral prescription widens the expectational gap between theories and practice. If business and society literature is to have any practical value, our theorizing should make sense to businesses. It therefore needs to reflect, at least partially, the practitioners’ concerns with social responsibility. Hence research questions with practical relevance should be posed, and methods adopted from empirical inquiry, focusing on well-defined problems. Although the empirical method is advocated here, we do not plead for its enforcement on colleagues who might consider it inappropriate. Yet, we do appeal to normative theorists to ponder whether their prescriptions to business can be realistically implemented.