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CSR and sustainable development: are the concepts compatible?

Author

Listed:
  • Jocelyn Husser

    (CREFF - Université Montesquieu - Bordeaux 4)

  • Jean-Marc Andre

    (ENSC - Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Cognitique - Institut Polytechnique de Bordeaux, IMS - Laboratoire de l'intégration, du matériau au système - UB - Université Sciences et Technologies - Bordeaux 1 - Institut Polytechnique de Bordeaux - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)

  • Guillaume Barbat

    (Bordeaux Management School (BEM))

  • Véronique Lespinet-Najib

    (ENSC - Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Cognitique - Institut Polytechnique de Bordeaux)

Abstract

Purpose – In France, an application decree from February 2002 enumerates a series of operational indicators that companies must offer, including a number of accounting and financial items. The information expected notably includes working time organisation, gender equality, health and safety, disability policies, subcontractor arrangements, water, raw material and energy consumption and biodiversity efforts. The present study aims to account for the diversity of the social and environmental information that companies supply by focusing on three stakeholder categories: suppliers; customers; and employees. It also seeks to highlight possible variations among different sectors of activity; influence of three pillars of sustainability (economic, social and environmental); timeframe (short-term, long-term, analytical); and type of discourse (situational or action variables). Design/methodology/approach – Based on 40 French companies as a qualitative approach, the purpose of the present communication is to offer a discussion of the structuring modes applied to the information found in sustainability reports targeting stakeholders for all the companies belonging to the CAC 40 index. Findings – Mobilizing a structural contents analysis, its findings identify differentiated communications practices among the 40 companies in question. The study also unveils the existence of shorter-term approaches to sustainability action, contrasting to more long-term and/or analytical orientations. Finally, the reports in question all emphasized sustainability's " economic " dimension, with its " social " dimension being considered secondary and its " environmental " dimension coming last. This inquiry demonstrates that, in the French context, there is a far cry from corporate social responsibility (CSR) dimension and sustainable development (SD) vision. Originality/value – The paper provides an in-depth method to analyze CSR and SD reports through its structural discourse.

Suggested Citation

  • Jocelyn Husser & Jean-Marc Andre & Guillaume Barbat & Véronique Lespinet-Najib, 2012. "CSR and sustainable development: are the concepts compatible?," Post-Print hal-01702562, HAL.
  • Handle: RePEc:hal:journl:hal-01702562
    DOI: 10.1108/14777831211262936
    as

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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Magdalena Rojek-Nowosielska & Łukasz Kuźmiński, 2021. "CSR Level Versus Employees’ Attitudes towards the Environment," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-17, August.
    2. Jahmane, Abderrahmane & Gaies, Brahim, 2020. "Corporate social responsibility, financial instability and corporate financial performance: Linear, non-linear and spillover effects – The case of the CAC 40 companies," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 34(C).
    3. Jong-Wan Bae & Sang-Joon Kim, 2022. "How Do Active Firms Implementing Corporate Environmental Responsibility Take Technological Approaches to Environmental Issues? A Resource-Allocation Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(14), pages 1-13, July.
    4. Majid Khan & James C. Lockhart & Ralph J. Bathurst, 2018. "Institutional impacts on corporate social responsibility: a comparative analysis of New Zealand and Pakistan," International Journal of Corporate Social Responsibility, Springer, vol. 3(1), pages 1-13, December.
    5. Bianca Raluca BADITOIU & Alexandru BUGLEA & Diana Corina GLIGOR-CIMPOIERU & Valentin Partenie MUNTEANU, 2020. "Csr Disclosure Of Financial European Companies Within Integrated Reports," Proceedings of the INTERNATIONAL MANAGEMENT CONFERENCE, Faculty of Management, Academy of Economic Studies, Bucharest, Romania, vol. 14(1), pages 924-938, November.
    6. Rupley, Kathleen Hertz & Brown, Darrell & Marshall, Scott, 2017. "Evolution of corporate reporting: From stand-alone corporate social responsibility reporting to integrated reporting," Research in Accounting Regulation, Elsevier, vol. 29(2), pages 172-176.

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