Choice, Freedom and Responsibility in Public Administration: The Need for CSR Reporting of Core Activities

This chapter is a presentation of the Di Bitteto et al. (eds) Public management as corporate social responisbility: the economic bottom line of government, Cham: Springer, 2015 book. The main idea of that book is developed through the use of six case studies. We use the case studies as empirical evidence in an attempt to bridge the gap between the mainstream Corporate Social Responsibility literature and the intrinsic characteristics and attributes of organizational structures that make up governments and public administration in order to obtain an all-encompassing articulation of Corporate Social Responsibility that pertain to all organizations. Such is a reformulation of CSR beyond the special programs for social and environmental concerns, a new CSR that identifies the social responsibilities in the core activities of all organizations and worries about the accountability of such responsibilities and impact. We frame then the problem of accountability in public administration and indicate an issue: the issue of CSR of public management. This chapter illuminates a different CSR perspective and sets forth a question rather overlooked in the management and social responsibility literature: is CSR pertinent to public management? The selection of case studies of excellent public management, that is discussed here, through the presentation of diverse perspectives of public management, reveals that social responsibility should be an essential component of public administration techniques.