IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v15y2023i13p10722-d1189142.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Definition of Corporate Social Responsibility as a Management Philosophy Oriented towards the Management of Externalities: Proposal and Argumentation

Author

Listed:
  • Oscar Licandro

    (Cathedra of Organizational Social Responsibility, Universidad CLAEH (Centro Latinoamericano de Economía Humana), Montevideo 11100, Uruguay)

  • José Luis Vázquez-Burguete

    (Business Management and Economics Department, Universidad de León, 24071 León, Spain)

  • Luis Ortigueira

    (Department of Administration, Faculty of Business, Universidad del Pacífico, Jesús María, Lima 15072, Peru)

  • Patricia Correa

    (Department of Administration and Finance, Universidad Católica del Uruguay, Montevideo 11600, Uruguay)

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the theoretical discussion on the best way to define Corporate Social Responsibility. The methodology used is a bibliographic review through a search for articles in different catalogues (Redalyc, Ebsco, JStor, SAGE, Science Direct, and Springer), focusing on articles that addressed the study of definitions of this concept. The different ways of defining it are identified and analysed in order to find a definition can encompass all the others. The paper also proposes that locating this concept at the level of management philosophy (and not simply as a desirable or expected behaviour) facilitates the construction of agreements around a consensual definition, unlike under the predominant behavioural approach of its conceptualisation as corporate behaviour. The paper concludes by proposing to define Corporate Social Responsibility as a management philosophy based on the responsible management of the company’s operational externalities on stakeholders, society, and the environment. It is concluded that this definition contributes to the theoretical discussion, strengthens empirical research, and improves the application of Corporate Social Responsibility in the corporate world.

Suggested Citation

  • Oscar Licandro & José Luis Vázquez-Burguete & Luis Ortigueira & Patricia Correa, 2023. "Definition of Corporate Social Responsibility as a Management Philosophy Oriented towards the Management of Externalities: Proposal and Argumentation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(13), pages 1-18, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:13:p:10722-:d:1189142
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/13/10722/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/13/10722/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Hyun Ah Kim & Nam Chul Jung, 2022. "Related Party Transactions and Corporate Social Responsibility: Evidence from Korea," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(12), pages 1-19, June.
    2. Maqsood Hayat & Asif Iqbal & Mohsin Ahmad & Zeeshan Ahmad, 2022. "Students' perception about corporate social responsibility: evidence from Pakistan," International Journal of Business Governance and Ethics, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 16(2), pages 195-217.
    3. Marisa R. Ferreira & Oscar Licandro & Arminda do Paço, 2020. "How postgraduate students understand the corporate social responsibility concept - a comparative approach among Uruguay, Brazil and Portugal," Responsibility and Sustainability, IAPNM LATAM, vol. 5(1), pages 12-25, January-N.
    4. Benedict Sheehy, 2015. "Defining CSR: Problems and Solutions," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 131(3), pages 625-648, October.
    5. Eilbirt, Henry & Parket, I. Robert, 1973. "The practice of business : The current status of corporate social responsibility," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 16(4), pages 5-14, August.
    6. Herremans, Irene M. & Akathaporn, Parporn & McInnes, Morris, 1993. "An investigation of corporate social responsibility reputation and economic performance," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 18(7-8), pages 587-604.
    7. Adaeze Okoye, 2009. "Theorising Corporate Social Responsibility as an Essentially Contested Concept: Is a Definition Necessary?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 89(4), pages 613-627, November.
    8. Mei Peng Low, 2016. "Corporate Social Responsibility and the Evolution of Internal Corporate Social Responsibility in 21st Century," Asian Journal of Social Sciences and Management Studies, Asian Online Journal Publishing Group, vol. 3(1), pages 56-74.
    9. Liming Zhao & Miles M. Yang & Zhenyuan Wang & Grant Michelson, 2023. "Trends in the Dynamic Evolution of Corporate Social Responsibility and Leadership: A Literature Review and Bibliometric Analysis," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 182(1), pages 135-157, January.
    10. Cowen, Scott S. & Ferreri, Linda B. & Parker, Lee D., 1987. "The impact of corporate characteristics on social responsibility disclosure: A typology and frequency-based analysis," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 12(2), pages 111-122, March.
    11. M. Isabel Sánchez-Hernández & Jose Luis Vázquez-Burguete & Maria P. García-Miguélez & Ana Lanero-Carrizo, 2021. "Internal Corporate Social Responsibility for Sustainability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(14), pages 1-14, July.
    12. Alexander Dahlsrud, 2008. "How corporate social responsibility is defined: an analysis of 37 definitions," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 15(1), pages 1-13, January.
    13. Holmes, Sandra L., 1976. "Executive perceptions of corporate social responsibility," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 19(3), pages 34-40, June.
    14. Davis, Keith, 1967. "Understanding the social responsibility puzzle," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 10(4), pages 45-50.
    15. Van Ha Nguyen & Frank W. Agbola & Bobae Choi, 2022. "Does Corporate Social Responsibility Enhance Financial Performance? Evidence from Australia," Australian Accounting Review, CPA Australia, vol. 32(1), pages 5-18, March.
    16. Hackett, J. T., 1969. "Corporate citizenship : The resolution of a dilemma," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 12(5), pages 69-74, October.
    17. Yong Hu & Qian Liu, 2023. "Local Digital Economy and Corporate Social Responsibility," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(11), pages 1-20, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Emmanuel Jeffrey Dzage & György Norbert Szabados, 2024. "The Relationship of Corporate Social Responsibility with Business Performance—A Bibliometric Literature Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(7), pages 1-25, March.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Oscar Licandro & Luis Camilo Ortigueira Sánchez & Oscar Huapaya-Huertas, 2023. "Consistency between Definition and Reasons for Applying Corporate Social Responsibility: The Perspective of Social Responsibility Managers," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(20), pages 1-16, October.
    2. Lucia Gatti & Babitha Vishwanath & Peter Seele & Bertil Cottier, 2019. "Are We Moving Beyond Voluntary CSR? Exploring Theoretical and Managerial Implications of Mandatory CSR Resulting from the New Indian Companies Act," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 160(4), pages 961-972, December.
    3. Poddi, Laura & Vergalli, Sergio, 2009. "Does Corporate Social Responsibility Affect the Performance of Firms?," Institutions and Markets Papers 52531, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM).
    4. Ricardo P. F. Ferrarez & Claudia G. B. do Valle & Jeferson C. Alvarenga & Fabricio da C. Dias & Diego A. Vasco & André L. A. Guedes & Christine K. Chinelli & Assed N. Haddad & Carlos A. P. Soares, 2023. "Key Practices for Incorporating Sustainability in Project Management from the Perspective of Brazilian Professionals," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(11), pages 1-21, May.
    5. Andrzej Janowski, 2020. "Philanthropy and the Contribution of Andrew Carnegie to Corporate Social Responsibility," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(1), pages 1-26, December.
    6. Kansal, Monika & Joshi, Mahesh & Batra, Gurdip Singh, 2014. "Determinants of corporate social responsibility disclosures: Evidence from India," Advances in accounting, Elsevier, vol. 30(1), pages 217-229.
    7. Hana Hlochova, 2019. "The Origins of CSR In Theory and Practice: Chapter from CSR History In The CEE Region," International Journal of Business Research and Management (IJBRM), Computer Science Journals (CSC Journals), vol. 10(4), pages 84-101, December.
    8. Lei Wang & Heikki Juslin, 2011. "The effects of value on the perception of corporate social responsibility implementation: A study of Chinese youth," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 18(4), pages 246-262, July.
    9. Neu, D. & Warsame, H. & Pedwell, K., 1998. "Managing public impressions: environmental disclosures in annual reports," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 23(3), pages 265-282, April.
    10. Comincioli, Nicola & Poddi, Laura & Vergalli, Sergio, 2012. "Corporate Social Responsibility and Firms’ Performance: A Stratigraphical Analysis," Economy and Society 139488, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM).
    11. Khan, Majid & Lockhart, James & Bathurst, Ralph, 2021. "The institutional analysis of CSR: Learnings from an emerging country," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 46(C).
    12. Percy Marquina & Vincent Charles, 2021. "A Bayesian resampling approach to estimate the difference in effect sizes in consumer social responses to CSR initiatives versus corporate abilities," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 28(6), pages 1680-1699, November.
    13. Theodore Metaxas & Maria Tsavdaridou, 2017. "Environmental Policy and CSR in Petroleum Refining Companies in Greece: Content and Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Analysis," Journal of Environmental Assessment Policy and Management (JEAPM), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 19(03), pages 1-29, September.
    14. Orhan Akisik & Graham Gal, 2014. "Financial performance and reviews of corporate social responsibility reports," Mathematical Methods of Operations Research, Springer;Gesellschaft für Operations Research (GOR);Nederlands Genootschap voor Besliskunde (NGB), vol. 25(3), pages 259-288, December.
    15. Charlotte Leire & Oksana Mont, 2010. "The implementation of socially responsible purchasing," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 17(1), pages 27-39, January.
    16. Paolo Cominetti & Laura Poddi & Sergio Vergalli, 2013. "The Push Factors for Corporate Social Responsibility: A Probit Analysis," Journal of Knowledge Management, Economics and Information Technology, ScientificPapers.org, vol. 3(2), pages 1-2, April.
    17. Anne Elizabeth Fordham & Guy M. Robinson, 2018. "Mapping meanings of corporate social responsibility – an Australian case study," International Journal of Corporate Social Responsibility, Springer, vol. 3(1), pages 1-20, December.
    18. Shawn Pope & Arild Wæraas, 2016. "CSR-Washing is Rare: A Conceptual Framework, Literature Review, and Critique," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 137(1), pages 173-193, August.
    19. Umit Alniacik & Esra Alniacik & Nurullah Genc, 2011. "How corporate social responsibility information influences stakeholders' intentions," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 18(4), pages 234-245, July.
    20. Eric Guthey & Mette Morsing, 2014. "CSR and the Mediated Emergence of Strategic Ambiguity," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 120(4), pages 555-569, April.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:13:p:10722-:d:1189142. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.