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Corporate digital responsibility (CDR) in Germany: background and first empirical evidence from DAX 30 companies in 2020

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  • Ute Merbecks

    (Hochschule Rhein-Waal)

Abstract

Corporate digital responsibility (CDR) is a recently developing new management concept in response to the increasing challenges caused by digital transformation. In Germany, this self-governance approach influenced the political discussions and led to a more integrative and collaborative multi-policy strategy beyond pure regulatory regimes. The launch of the German CDR-code by the German action group in June 2021 is a milestone to capture ethical problems in digitalised firms by voluntary commitments from signatories. However, little empirical evidence on the current state of CDR-initiatives at German corporations is available up-to now. This article addresses the identified research gap by performing a qualitative analysis of the disclosed information on CDR in nonfinancial reports of the DAX 30 companies from 2020. After a brief introduction, a literature review on CDR-related research activities is presented in Sect. 2, and the context and background of the study are specified. Section 3 presents the results of the empirical study on disclosed CDR-related information by German DAX 30 companies. Section 4 concludes with a discussion and discovers future research avenues on CDR. Corporate responsibility in the digital economy is a field of research that is open for different disciplines and especially theoretical normative research on CDR should be accelerated.

Suggested Citation

  • Ute Merbecks, 2024. "Corporate digital responsibility (CDR) in Germany: background and first empirical evidence from DAX 30 companies in 2020," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 94(7), pages 1025-1049, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:jbecon:v:94:y:2024:i:7:d:10.1007_s11573-023-01148-6
    DOI: 10.1007/s11573-023-01148-6
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Digitalisation; Sustainability reporting; Corporate responsibility; Business ethics;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • M48 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Accounting - - - Government Policy and Regulation
    • M14 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration - - - Corporate Culture; Diversity; Social Responsibility
    • G30 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - General

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