...Corporate Social Responsibility and Accounting - A Literature Review Master thesis in Financial Accounting Fall semester 2012 Supervisor: Kristina Jonäll Author: Ulla-Christel Götherström Abstract Master Thesis in Financial Accounting, School of Business, Economics and Law, University of Gothenburg, fall semester 2012 Author: Ulla-Christel Götherström Supervisor: Kristina Jonäll Title: Corporate Social Responsibility and Accounting - A literature review. Background and problem: Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is an area which has gained much attention the last 10-15 years. To satisfy various stakeholders, corporate social responsibility has increased its importance and often constitutes a substantial part of the firms´ financial reports, in spite of the fact that there are no legal requirements. However, to perform strategic CSR-reporting has become more or less compulsory for firms. The research question is: What research has been performed in the area of corporate social responsibility and accounting? Aim: The aim is to provide a structured overview of the literature in the area of corporate social responsibility and accounting regarding the years 2002-2012. The overview will provide a basis for future research and constitute a framework for focused research question. Delimitation: The focus of this study is on research published in scientific journals from 2002 until 2012. Method: A literature review was performed including peer-reviewed papers published...
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...How strongly do you believe that companies use CSR as a tool of marketing. ? Our survey showed that around 40 percent agreed while 37 percent strongly agreed and around 20% acted neutral on using CSR as a tool of marketing. Coupling that, with what was mentioned in the literature review "some firms had succeeded in using CSR strategies for trigging their sales and developing a good brand image"(Canli, Schwarz and Yoon. 2006: 378). Moreover, consumers have different attitudes towards CSR activities. Not only that but also an organizations CSR can affect a consumer’s purchase decision. Corporate Social Responsibility may have a positive effect on consumer's attitude that the consumers can pay more money for the products they buy for the companies that practices CSR activities (Paskert 2008: 68-70; Mayard 2007: 70). However business leaders need to put in mind that still in some cases CSR strategies which is in conflict with the company's mission will lead to the feared not the desired. Meaning that the CSR campaign might fail while bringing negative publicity for the firm's image (Vanhamme and Grobben 2009: 274). ` How strongly do you believe that companies CSR activities should be advertised about? Our survey showed a slight rejection against advertising for the CSR, Conversely, around 26% agreed and 33 % strongly agreed that companies should adversities for their CSR activities. However according to the literature review, it is quite the opposite as it mentioned that...
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...Corporate Social Responsibility: A Review and Research Agenda Herman Aguinis and Ante Glavas Journal of Management 2012 38: 932 originally published online 1 March 2012 DOI: 10.1177/0149206311436079 The online version of this article can be found at: http://jom.sagepub.com/content/38/4/932 Published by: http://www.sagepublications.com On behalf of: Southern Management Association Additional services and information for Journal of Management can be found at: Email Alerts: http://jom.sagepub.com/cgi/alerts Subscriptions: http://jom.sagepub.com/subscriptions Reprints: http://www.sagepub.com/journalsReprints.nav Permissions: http://www.sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav >> Version of Record - May 29, 2012 OnlineFirst Version of Record - Mar 1, 2012 What is This? Downloaded from jom.sagepub.com at Sunway Education Group on April 23, 2014 Journal of Management Vol. 38 No. 4, July 2012 932-968 DOI: 10.1177/0149206311436079 © The Author(s) 2012 Reprints and permission: http://www. sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav What We Know and Don’t Know About Corporate Social Responsibility: A Review and Research Agenda Herman Aguinis Indiana University Ante Glavas University of Notre Dame The authors review the corporate social responsibility (CSR) literature based on 588 journal articles and 102 books and book chapters. They offer a multilevel and multidisciplinary theoretical framework that synthesizes and integrates the literature at the institutional, organizational...
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...Disclosures About CSR Practices: A Literature Review Kavitha W * and Anita P ** Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is now prominent and evident more than ever due to the emphasis laid on businesses regarding environmental, social and ethical issues. The level of CSR activities of the firms is made known to public only through the disclosures. This paper reviews the literature on CSR disclosures and the effect of these disclosures. There are various factors which determine the extent of disclosures like the size of the firm, industry, high visibility, etc. Introduction Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is now prominent and evident more than ever due to the emphasis laid on businesses regarding environmental, social and ethical issues. This is because over the recent years, there have been social, political and economic pressures on corporate management to pay attention on social and environmental consequences of corporate activities. These pressures motivated the corporate management to actively participate in a wide range of social welfare activities. CSR now-a-days covers almost all issues like the use of child labor; inequality of employment; environmental impact; involvement in local community; products’ safety; company cultures; brand image and reputation. Apart from this, companies are now disclosing these activities in their annual reports, and one of the parameters to judge the performance of a company is CSR reporting. Corporate Social...
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...critical importance. The motivations for these contracts are continuously being revisited to understand how CSR programs can nurture and contribute to the growth of firms. While CSR issues are attracting a great deal of attention in the developed world, there is a need for more research into CSR in the developing world. This paper considers the CSR practices of a small sample of multinational corporations (MNCs) and local firms in Bangladesh to better understand this situation. Introduction Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has generated significant debate in academic and corporate circles in recent times. This debate acknowledges the importance of CSR in the first-world, but raises questions regarding the extent to which corporations operating in developing countries have CSR obligations (Jamali and Mirshak, 2007). Conventional wisdom suggests that CSR is more relevant to corporations operating in the developed countries due to elevated community expectations of socially responsible behaviour. In contrast there is also a belief that societal expectations in the developing countries mainly centre on economic growth; therefore relegating CSR to be of lesser importance to the society and the firms (Khan, 1985). Against this back drop, this paper discusses the situation prevailing in the developing world to broaden our understanding of the perceptions and practices of CSR. Bangladesh is used as a test case for this purpose because this country is believed to posses the typical...
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...2000). It lists twenty such initiatives in various areas of furthering corporate social responsibility, not including its own report. Similarly, the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD, 1999) seeks to develop a clear understanding of corporate social responsibility, including a matrix of corporate social responsibility indicators. But what is meant by Corporate Social Responsibility (‘CSR’)? Responsibility for what and to whom and who is calling for firms to be socially responsible? This article examines the broad development of the ideas behind CSR within the literature and some of the current attempts to define the social responsibilities of business. It starts by examining the debate about the nature of corporate social responsibility and current attempts to define CSR. It then looks at some theories to explain how and why business might undertake CSR –stakeholder theory, social contracts theory and legitimacy theory. The article concludes by describing ways of assessing corporate social performance – from industry and also from the academic literature. The need for companies to undertake activity that might be...
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...com/cgi/content/refs/38/3/268 Downloaded from http://bas.sagepub.com at Biblioteca di Ateneo - Trento on April 28, 2010 Carroll / CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY BUSINESS & SOCIETY / September 1999 Corporate Social Responsibility Evolution of a Definitional Construct ARCHIE B. CARROLL University of Georgia There is an impressive history associated with the evolution of the concept and definition of corporate social responsibility (CSR). In this article, the author traces the evolution of the CSR construct beginning in the 1950s, which marks the modern era of CSR. Definitions expanded during the 1960s and proliferated during the 1970s. In the 1980s, there were fewer new definitions, more empirical research, and alternative themes began to mature. These alternative themes included corporate social performance (CSP), stakeholder theory, and business ethics theory. In the 1990s, CSR continues to serve as a core construct but yields to or is transformed into alternative thematic frameworks. The concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR) has a long and varied history. It is possible to trace evidences of the business...
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...Companies use Corporate Advertising to increase awareness of Corporate Social Responsibility Therefore Increasing Profitability Erika Jean-Pierre Saint Leo University Abstract This review of literature will explore seven peer reviewed articles that report on results from research conducted on how companies use corporate advertising to increase awareness of corporate social responsibility thus increasing profitability. More specifically focusing on the advantages of corporate social responsibility and the positive benefits in profitability. This review of literature will incorporate various companies and industries from coffee, grocery, amusement parks, cars, oil production, alcohol, and casinos. It will analyze how corporate communication of corporate social responsibility enhances market share and drive increased profits. Companies use Corporate Advertising to increase awareness of Corporate Social Responsibility Therefore Increasing Profitability Numerous studies have been conducted on corporate advertising to increase awareness of corporate social responsibility and increased profitability for business. Companies use corporate advertising to strengthen their identities and create a favorable mental picture in consumer’s mindset. On average, companies spend millions of dollars each year in their marketing budgets toward corporate advertising. With corporate advertising, companies are not necessarily looking to sell a product or service, but rather the...
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...Social Responsibility (CSR) is now longer phenomenon to the worldwide organisations and corporation in developed countries on the world, it is considered as the large organisation’s globalising strategies or their responsibility and dedication into the society. However, this essay will focus on the other side of CSR developing world- Malaysia and also the Malaysian managers and executives toward to corporate social responsibility. Based on the report “Executive and management attitudes towards corporate social responsibility in Malaysia” (Rashid and Ibrahim, 2002), criticism and discussion about the writer’s analysis and point of views on the researching statistic will be the main stream of this essay. Also, this essay shall analyse statistic and judgements that are provided in the report. Corporate Social Responsibility of Malaysia discussion by Rashid and Ibrahim (2002) is a considerable material to be study but there are still a few points in the report should be criticised: literature review and methodology. Aims and Author Conduction To begin, there are three main aims listed in the report: examination the attitudes in Malaysian executives and managers towards to social responsibility, social activities involvement status, and the factors that determined the corporate social responsibility. Based on these aims and statistics, author conducted to the main arguments that the Malaysian management have positive attitudes towards CSR, the awareness of CSR has been improve lightly...
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...Supplement Cameron Sabadoz Received: 3 December 2010 / Accepted: 5 May 2011 / Published online: 24 May 2011 Ó Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2011 Abstract This article revolves around the debate surrounding the lack of a coherent definition for corporate social responsibility (CSR). I make use of Jacques Derrida’s theorizing on contested meaning to argue that CSR’s ambiguity is actually necessary in light of its functional role as a ‘‘supplement’’ to corporate profit-seeking. As a discourse that refuses to conclusively resolve the tension between profit-seeking and prosociality, CSR expresses an important critical perspective which demands that firms act responsibly, while retaining the overall corporate frame of shareholder supremacy. CSR does this by ambivalently affirming both profit-seeking and prosociality, a necessary contradiction. Attempts to reduce CSR’s ambiguity can thus only succeed by undermining its viability as a normative discourse that captures how certain elements of society understand how firms should act. The analysis suggests that greater scholarly attention is needed with regard to the material discursive environments within which discourses such as CSR are deployed. A discursive approach to research could thus benefit future practitioners, who have to act according to fluid standards of responsibility that cannot be authoritatively defined, but which can be better understood than they are at present. ´ Keywords Corporate social responsibility...
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...INTRODUCTION Since the 1980s, the concept of ‘sustainability’ became a phenomenon that was widely embraced by many government agencies and corporations worldwide. The importance of sustainability has grown especially in the context of rising global competition and economic downturn with research indicating that 93 percent out of 800 global CEOs acknowledging the important role of sustainability in their companies’ success [Refer to Figure 1 and Appendix A]. (Gibson & Hassan 2005; Lacy & Hayward 2011) Figure 1 – Importance of Sustainability Issues to Business’s Future Success (Source: Lacy & Hayward 2011, pp. 350) Sustainability is a broad concept which can be defined as the long term ability of managing and maximizing practices to achieve positive outcomes while minimizing the negative impacts on future generations and their ability to achieve future needs. (Hitchcock & Willard 2009; White 2009; Crowther & Capaldi 2008; Henriques & Richardson 2004; Aras & Crowther 2008) The 1987’s Bruntland Report (Our Common Future), by the World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED), identified economic, social and environmental aspects as dimensions present in the concept of sustainability. (Crowther & Capaldi 2008; UN Documents 2011; Filho 2000) [Refer to Figure 2] This TBL reporting standard has been established to expand transparency of corporate reporting. (Mueller, Klandt, McDonald & Finke-Schuermann 2007) Figure 2 – The Elements...
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...CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY INITIATIVES C.B. Bhattacharya Daniel Korschun Sankar Sen Forthcoming: Journal of Business Ethics Abstract Corporate social responsibility (CSR) continues to gain attention atop the corporate agenda and is by now an important component of the dialogue between companies and their stakeholders. Nevertheless, there is still little guidance as to how companies can implement CSR activity in order to maximize returns to CSR investment. Theorists have identified many company favoring outcomes of CSR, yet there is a dearth of research on the psychological mechanisms that drive stakeholder responses to CSR activity. Borrowing from the literatures on means-end chains and relationship marketing, we propose a conceptual model that explains how CSR provides individual stakeholders with numerous benefits (functional, psychosocial, and values) and how the type and extent to which a stakeholder derives these benefits from CSR initiatives influences the quality of the relationship between the stakeholder and the company. The paper discusses the implications of these insights and highlights a number of areas for future research. 1 STRENGTHENING STAKEHOLDER-COMPANY RELATIONSHIPS THROUGH MUTUALLY BENEFICIAL CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY INITIATIVES Corporate social responsibility (CSR), or “a commitment to improve community wellbeing through discretionary business practices and contributions of corporate resources,” (Kotler and Lee 2004, p.3) is by now an...
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...interscience.wiley.com) DOI: 10.1002/csr.132 How Corporate Social Responsibility is Defined: an Analysis of 37 Definitions Alexander Dahlsrud* Department of Industrial Economics and Technology Management, Faculty of Social Science and Technology Management, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway ABSTRACT Despite numerous efforts to bring about a clear and unbiased definition of CSR, there is still some confusion as to how CSR should be defined. In this paper five dimensions of CSR are developed through a content analysis of existing CSR definitions. Frequency counts are used to analyse how often these dimensions are invoked. The analysis shows that the existing definitions are to a large degree congruent. Thus it is concluded that the confusion is not so much about how CSR is defined, as about how CSR is socially constructed in a specific context. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. Received 24 April 2006; revised 31 August 2006; accepted 18 September 2006 Keywords: analysis; corporate social responsibility; definitions; discourse; social construction Introduction HE CORPORATE WORLD IS FACING THE NOTION OF CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY (CSR) wherever it turns these days. On a wide range of issues corporations are encouraged to behave socially responsibly (Welford and Frost, 2006; Engle, 2006). However, in both the corporate and the academic world there is uncertainty as to how CSR should be defined. Some go as far...
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...Summary 2 CSR Background 2.1 Definition of CSR 2.2 Evolution of CSR 2.3 Emergence of CSR 3 Literature Review 3.1 Carroll's CSR Pyramid 3.2 Purpose of the firm and how that shapes views on CSR 3.3 Arguments for and against CSR 3.3.1 Arguments Against 3.3.2 Arguments For 3.3.3 Summary of the key debates 4 Methodology 5 CSR at Apple Inc. 5.1 Apple's profile 5.2 Reasons to engage in CSR 5.3 CSR policies at Apple Inc. 5.4 Type of CSR approach taken by Apple Inc. 5.5 Key dilemmas within CSR challenges 5.5.1. Labour and human rights 5.5.2. Workers’ health and safety 5.6 CSR tactics at Apple Inc. 6 Conclusion 7 References Word Count: 2837 1 Executive Summary Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has been highly regarded by most corporations. However, the exact reason why corporations implement CSR initiatives is often very vague and confusing to others. This paper will explore in depth how international corporations are motivated to incorporate CSR into the business strategies and how they deal with it. Based on academic references, the report firstly outlined the CSR background as well as some theory and key debates about CSR. Then, the methodology was summarized. After that, the case study of Apple Inc. was used to demonstrate the reasons for implementing CSR initiatives in depth. Following that, the types of dilemmas the company faced, the CSR approach and tactics it used were analyzed. Finally, a conclusion was drawn at the end of the paper. 2 CSR Background ...
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...About CSR Practices: A Literature Review Kavitha W * and Anita P ** Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is now prominent and evident more than ever due to the emphasis laid on businesses regarding environmental, social and ethical issues. The level of CSR activities of the firms is made known to public only through the disclosures. This paper reviews the literature on CSR disclosures and the effect of these disclosures. There are various factors which determine the extent of disclosures like the size of the firm, industry, high visibility, etc. Introduction Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is now prominent and evident more than ever due to the emphasis laid on businesses regarding environmental, social and ethical issues. This is because over the recent years, there have been social, political and economic pressures on corporate management to pay attention on social and environmental consequences of corporate activities. These pressures motivated the corporate management to actively participate in a wide range of social welfare activities. CSR now-a-days covers almost all issues like the use of child labor; inequality of employment; environmental impact; involvement in local community; products’ safety; company cultures; brand image and reputation. Apart from this, companies are now disclosing these activities in their annual reports, and one of the parameters to judge the performance of a company is CSR reporting. Corporate Social Responsibility CSR is defined...
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