scholarly journals CSR in Management Sciences: Is It “a Road to Nowhere”?

Economies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 198
Author(s):  
Andrzej Janowski

Over the years, the idea of corporate social responsibility has attracted the interest both of practitioners and researchers. While a discourse has occurred in the context of the meaning of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), there is no extensive analysis of the latest contributions. To address this gap, three objectives have been formulated for the purpose of this paper: to analyse development trends in CSR definitions, to assess the applicability of scientific efforts in the above-mentioned area and to demonstrate future research opportunities and threats based on the state-of-the-art in CSR. An organized literature review and bibliometric methods have been proposed based on 55 articles published in the “Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management Journal”, the top ranked periodical with the highest Impact Factor, from its beginnings to January 2021. This research provides a clear overview of the recent CSR trends that are present in the literature, by pinpointing those works that refer to significant characteristics and indicate future trajectories of CSR in a managerial practical context, particularly important for the effectiveness of future CSR-oriented organizational activities. This paper summarises the existing CSR-related knowledge and constitutes the first attempt to investigate the process of the creation and development of the corporate social responsibility concept from its origins to its contemporary multidimensionality.

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 155
Author(s):  
Andrzej Janowski

The idea of corporate social responsibility (CSR) has attracted the interests of both practitioners and scientists, particularly since 1953, when H. R. Bowen published The Social Responsibilities of the Businessman. Over the years, the CSR concept evolved and became a managerial phenomenon; it was applied to different sectors with supposedly excellent effects. Unfortunately, there was discourse around the meaning of CSR. In the world of science, there is no agreement as to the semantic area of CSR. Academics face absolute, undisturbed freedom in the formulation of its elements and definitions. That abovementioned ambiguity determined the situation the recent CSR literature is vague and biased, and an extensive analysis of the latest contributions are lacking. To address this gap, there has been proposed a systematic literature review and bibliometrics of 119 articles published in 45 peer-reviewed, high-quality academic journals and 19 books, from January 1950 to July 2020. There are three objectives of this paper: to analyze the recent CSR definitions in the context of Carnegie’s principles, to identify trends in that field and evaluate the utility of the scientific efforts in the abovementioned context, and to indicate the future research paths in the context of corporate social responsibility.


2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (5) ◽  
pp. 671-688
Author(s):  
Juniati Gunawan ◽  
SeTin SeTin

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyze accounting research developments in the area of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in Indonesia for the period 2012-2016. The focus of CSR literature review is on disclosures and not to examine CSR activities or programs. Design/methodology/approach This study applied a descriptive approach to provide evidence on the major variables that have been examined in CSR research and what is the measurement used to measure CSR disclosures. The CSR research development was traced through mapping articles published in the international journal with the subject of category accounting (Schimago Journal rank quartile Q3 and Q4), and national journal (national accredited accounting journals, as well as the proceedings of National Symposium on Accounting [NSA]). A total of 5,971 articles were reviewed and resulted in 31 Indonesian CSR articles in accounting which are dominated by quantitative methods (93.5 per cent), and as many as 28 articles were analyzed. Findings The analyses result showed that (1) 75 per cent of CSR research were in the areas of financial accounting and capital markets, followed by tax accounting and corporate governance; (2) The most widely used variable associated with CSR was financial performance; which (3) More than 80 per cent of the CSR research used annual reports as the source of data with only 19.23 per cent using sustainability reports; (4) 65.38 per cent of the CSR disclosure measurement referred to used other CSR disclosure lists, other than the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). Research limitations/implications The study results are important as a basis for future studies to provide a platform for the analysis to cover the gap between CSR studies in the academic and business areas for not only Indonesia but also other countries. Comparative studies between countries will be essential for future research to provide empirical evidence on the development of CSR research in accounting fields. Practical implications The study provides comprehensive pictures in how CSR disclosures have been analyzed in academic area so that practitioners in business field are able to understand the results on which variables are associated with CSR. Further, the practitioners could enhance their CSR implementations and reports to gain the utmost benefits for their business. Originality/value This study is considered as the first CSR literature review analyzed in accounting research publications. As CSR topics have been emerging developed in many field of studies, reviewing this topic in the accounting area resulted interesting findings. These findings are useful for not only Indonesia but also other countries. Further, this study provides platform to fill many gaps for future research in the topic of CSR in accounting field.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-32
Author(s):  
Sonia Boukattaya ◽  
Zyed Achour ◽  
Zeineb Hlioui

This study aims to present a literature review of recent studies on the relationship between environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance, corporate social responsibility (CSR) and corporate financial performance (CFP) and to provide a path for future researches. Using content analysis method, a total of 88 papers published in renowned journals, over the period 2015-2021, were selected in the review. Several findings have been made: first, the majority of researches have focused on the CSR’s “social impact” hypothesis on CFP; the reverse relationship seems to have been overlooked. Second, the contested results are likely to be attributable both to differences in research contexts and CSR’ laws but also to biases relating to the operationalization of CSR concept and CFP proxies retained. Finally, several arguments are advanced arguing for an indirect link between CSR and CFP. Future research should, therefore, pay attention to the different contingent variables that are likely to affect the studied relationship.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick Velte

Purpose This paper aims to analyze the governance-related and financial determinants and consequences of corporate social responsibility assurance (CSRA). Design/methodology/approach Based on a legitimacy theoretical framework and on the business case argument, the author conducts a structured literature review and includes 66 quantitative peer-reviewed empirical (archival) studies on key CSRA proxies (CSRA adoption, choice of CSR assuror and CSRA quality). Findings In line with the business case for CSRA, the literature review indicates that internal corporate governance, country-related governance and specific financial determinants as reporting, firm size and industry (sensitivity) have a positive impact on CSRA adoption. Research limitations/implications A detailed analysis of CSRA proxies is needed in future archival research to differentiate between symbolic and substantive use of CSRA. In view of the current regulatory initiatives on CSR reporting and their decision usefulness, future research should also analyze in greater depth CSRA proxies as moderator and mediator variables. Practical implications With regard to the increased stakeholder demand on CSRA after the financial crisis of 2008–2009, firms should be aware of the value-added of CSRA to increase the decision usefulness of their CSR reports and firm reputation. Originality/value The analysis makes useful contributions to prior literature by focussing on empirical quantitative (archival) research method, structuring research on the business case for CSRA with respect to its governance and financial determinants and consequences for firms and stressing moderator analysis in archival CSRA research.


2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (8) ◽  
pp. 1293-1323 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick Velte

Purpose This paper aims to analyze whether chief executive officer (CEO) incentives and characteristics (e.g. CEO power, CEO tenure) are linked with corporate social responsibility (CSR) and vice versa. Design/methodology/approach Based on upper echelons theory, the author conducts a structured literature review and evaluates 84 empirical-quantitative studies on CEO and CSR variables. Findings While the majority of the included studies analyzed the CEO-CSR link, there are indicators for a bidirectional relationship. Moreover, prior research has focused on CEO incentives, especially compensation contracts, and on the US capital market. A major research gap relates to CEO characteristics, e.g. CEO values, education and experience. Research limitations/implications Heterogeneous CEO and CSR variables and endogeneity concerns lower the validity of recent studies. Future research is encouraged to implement dynamic regression models, increase CSR and CEO proxies and focus on international samples with country-specific effects. Practical implications As CEO activities can have a major impact on CSR activities, the author recommends firms to search for opportunities to make their CSR strategy more comprehensive by their stakeholder communication, thus providing deeper insights into their CSR performance in line with stakeholders’ interests. Originality/value The paper is the first literature review on the interaction between CEO and CSR so far. The author explains the main CEO and CSR variables that have been included in research, stresses the limitations of the studies and gives useful recommendations for future research, practice and regulators.


2019 ◽  
Vol 20 ◽  
pp. 69-80 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juan-José Nájera-Sánchez ◽  
Eva-María Mora-Valentín ◽  
Marta Ortiz-de-Urbina-Criado ◽  
Pablo Moura-Díez

This paper contributes to a better understanding of the research on environmental management using bibliometric methods to supplement the subjective evaluation of literature reviews. Focusing on the Management and Business fields, our main objective is to analyse the knowledge structure of environmental management literature and the evolution of related topics. We apply the co-word analysis method to identify different topics treated by the field across the studied periods, and to create networks and sub-networks. The results show the main topics and their evolution. We identify and explain six topics: green/environmental, resource-based-view, management, performance, corporate social responsibility and quality management. Development in this line of research shows progress in this discipline that commences with the green or environmental dimension and its effects on results and continues with issues that are more focused on quality management and corporate social responsibility. This study can be used as a reference for future research and help to increase company awareness of the importance of environmental issues in the design and implementation of strategies.


Author(s):  
Patrick Velte

AbstractThis paper addresses quantitative meta-analyses on corporate governance-related determinants and firms’ (non) financial consequences of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Legitimacy theory as our theoretical framework assumes that, through a social contract, a company must fulfil the respective society’s values and expectations and gain legitimacy. We also rely on the business case argument, assuming a positive relationship between CSR and financial outcomes of the firm. This analysis focusses on 54 quantitative meta-analyses on CSR and includes a structured literature review in order to increase our knowledge, which corporate governance variables and proxies of firm’s (non) financial outcome have been heavily included in archival research, and if there is an overall impact of these variables. Prior meta-analyses indicate that board independence, board gender diversity, and board size have a positive impact on CSR performance. Moreover, both CSR performance and environmental performance increase financial performance. This literature review makes a useful contribution to prior studies by summarizing the overall impact of corporate governance variables on CSR and their (non) financial consequences and by deducing recommendations for future research.


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