A Stakeholder Approach: Ethical Business Practices and Corporate Social Responsibility a road that leads to sustainability !
Abstract
The current media statements gives us an idea that the business operation are surrounded by increasing incidents of unethical practices due to the thrust for profits without realizing the negative impact. The greater profits are given more priority neglecting the moral responsibilities towards the society, the interested parties and the environment. In recent times, we are seeing that the Corporate Social responsibility is fading in some businesses, at the same time acquiring ground in the other as they aim to make their business profitable while acting in a mature and responsible way towards the society where they are operating in. A well-ordered assessment of the present-day literature hints to the existence of a strong interrelation between ethical practices, corporate social responsibility (CSR) and better financial health. It is high time for the Multinational companies and other large firms to implement a suitable stand that is ethical in moral stance and cater to the needs of sustainable development by ensuring that all the stakeholder of the organization and the environment following the approach of triple bottom line. Corporate culture pertaining to the social, economic and environmental spheres of sustainability needs a vigilant transformation by including measures that cater the demands to keep up a sustainable planet. As a consequence of explaining how and why the assimilation of ethics in business strategy and CSR initiatives increases sustainability, the following article, taking the inputs from chosen studies, tries to contribute in a minute way to make better the possibility of the amalgamation of corporate sustainability and corporate social responsibility in their world-wide operations advancing to a more sustainable planet.
References
Ballard, C. and Banks, G. (2003), “Resource wars: The anthropology of mining”, Annual Review of Anthropology, Vol. 32, No. 1, pp. 287-313.
Barney, J.B. and Griffin, R.W. (1992), The Management of Organizations: Strategy, Structure, Behaviour, Houghton Mifflin, Boston.
Barone, M.J., Miyazaki, A.D. and Taylor, K.A. (2000), “The influence of cause-related marketing on consumer choice: Does one good turn deserve another?”, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Vol. 28 No. 2, pp. 248-262.
Bartlett, G. and Ghoshal, S. (1989), Managing Across Borders, Century, London.
Baumgartner, R.J. (2014), “Managing corporate sustainability and CSR: A conceptual framework combining values, strategies and instruments contributing to sustainable development”, Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, Vol. 21 No. 5, pp. 258-271.
Boadi, E.A., He, Z., Bosompem, J., Say, J. and Boadi, E.K. (2019), “Let the talk count: Attributes of stakeholder engagement, trust, perceive environmental protection and CSR”, SAGE Open, Vol. 9 No. 1, pp. 1-15.
Boyer, R.H.W., Peterson, N.D., Arora, P. and Caldwell, K. (2016), “Five approaches to social sustainability and an integrated way forward”, Sustainability, Vol. 8, No. 9, p. 878.
Brammer, S. and Millington, A. (2003), “The effect of stakeholder preferences, organizational structure and industry type on corporate community involvement”, Journal of Business Ethics, Vol. 45 No. 3, pp. 213-226.
Brulhart, F., Gherra, S. and Quelin, B.V. (2019), “Do stakeholder orientation and environmental proactivity impact firm profitability?”, Journal of Business Ethics, Vol. 158 No. 1, pp. 25-46.
Brundtland, G.H. (1987), Our Common Future: Report of the 1987 World Commission on Environment and Development, Oslo, United Nations.
Camilleri, M.A. (2017), Corporate sustainability, social responsibility and environmental management: An introduction to theory and practice with case studies, Springer, Heidelberg, Germany.
Carroll, A.B. (1979), “A three-dimensional conceptual model of corporate performance”, Academy of Management Review, Vol. 4 No. 4, pp. 467-505.
Carroll, A.B. and Shabana, K.M. (2010), “The business case for corporate social responsibility: A review of concepts, research and practice”, International Journal of Management Reviews, Vol. 12 No. 1, pp. 85-105.
Carroll, A. (1989), Business and Society: Ethics and Stakeholder Management, South Western, Cincinnati, Ohio.
Chandler, D. (2015), Corporate Social Responsibility: A Strategic Perspective. Business Expert Press, LLC, New York.
Chong, M. (2009), “Employee participation in CSR and corporate identity: Insights from a disaster- response program in the Asia-Pacific”, Corporate Reputation Review, Vol. 12 No. 2, pp. 106-119.
Costa, R. and Menichini, T. (2013), “A multidimensional approach for CSR assessment: The importance of the stakeholder perception”, Expert Systems with Applications, Vol. 40 No. 1, pp. 150-161.
Crowther, D. and Seifi, S. (2018), Redefining Corporate Social Responsibility, Emerald Publishing Limited, United Kingdom.
Daft, R. (2001), Organization Theory and Design, South Western, Cincinnati, Ohio.
de Jong, M.D.T. and van der Meer, M. (2015), “How does it fit? Exploring the congruence between organizations and their corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities”, Journal of Business Ethics, Vol. 143 No. 1, pp. 71-83.
Droppert, H. and Bennett, S. (2015), “Corporate social responsibility in global health: An exploratory study of multinational pharmaceutical firms”, Globalization and Health, Vol. 11 No. 15, pp. 1-8.
Drucker, P.F. (1984), “The new meaning of corporate social responsibility”, California Management Review, Vol. 26, No. 2, pp. 53-63.
Dyllick T. and Hockerts, K. (2002), “Beyond the business case for corporate sustainability”, Business Strategy and the Environment, Vol. 11 No. 2, pp. 130-141.
Du, S., Bhattacharya, C.B. and Sen, S. (2010), “Maximizing business returns to corporate social responsibility (CSR): The role of CSR communication”, International Journal of Management Reviews, Vol. 12 No. 1, pp. 8-19.
https://earth.org/greenwashing-companies-corporations/
Elalfy, A., Palaschuk, N., El-Bassiouny, D., Wilson, J. and Weber, O. (2020), “Scoping the evolution of corporate social responsibility (CSR) research in the sustainable development goals (SDGs) Era”, Sustainability, Vol. 12, No. 14, p. 5544.
Elkington, J. (2020), Greens Swans: Regenerative Capitalism, Fast Company Press, New York. Frederick, W.C. (2006), Corporation, be Good! The Story of Corporate Social Responsibility, Dog Ear Publishing, Indianapolis, IN, USA.
https://www.ethicalconsumer.org/retailers/five-unethical-companies
Freeman, E.R. (1984), Strategic Management: A Stakeholder Approach, Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ.
Friedman, M. (1970), “The Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase its Profits”, The New York Times Magazine, New York.
Green Paper (2001), “Promoting a European Framework for Corporate Social Responsibility Brussels, 18 July 2001 Commission of the European Communities”, available at: https://www.ec.europa. eu›doc_01_9›DOC_01_9_EN.
Guerriero, C., Haines, A. and Pagano, M. (2020), “Health and sustainability in post-pandemic economic policies”, Nature Sustainability, Vol, 3, pp. 494-496.
Hahn, T., Pinkse, J., Preuss, L. and Figge, F. (2015), “Tensions in corporate sustainability: Towards an integrative framework”, Journal of Business Ethics, Vol. 127 No. 2, pp. 297-316.
Halme, M. and Laurila, J. (2009), “Philanthropy, integration or innovation? Exploring the financial and societal outcomes of different types of corporate responsibility”, Journal of Business Ethics, Vol. 84 No. 3, pp. 325-339.
Hengst, I.A., Jarzabkowski, P., Hoegl, M. and Muethel, M. (2020), “Toward a process theory of making sustainability strategies legitimate in action”, Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 63 No. 1, pp. 246- 271.
Hess, D., Rogovsky, N. and Dunfee, T.W. (2002), “The next wave of corporate community involvement: Corporate social initiatives”, California Management Review, Vol. 44 No. 2, pp. 110-125.
Husted, B.W. and de Jesus Salazar, J. (2006), “Taking Friedman seriously: Maximizing profits and social performance”, Journal of Management Studies, Vol. 43 No. 1, pp. 75-91.
Idemudia, U. (2010), “Rethinking the role of corporate social responsibility in the Nigerian oil conflict: The limits of CSR”, Journal of International Development, Vol. 22 No. 7, pp. 833-845.
https://impactful.ninja/most-unethical-clothing-companies/
Investopedia (2021), “Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)”, available at: https://www.investopedia.com/ terms/c/corp-social-responsibility.asp.
Jones, T. (1995), “Instrumental stakeholder theory: A synthesis of ethics and economics”, Academy of Management Review, Vol. 20, No. 2, pp. 404-437.
Kaler, J. (2003), “Differentiating stakeholder theories”, Journal of Business Ethics, Vol. 46 No. 1, pp. 71-83.
Kapelus, P. (2002), “Mining, corporate social responsibility and the “community”: The case of Rio Tinto, Richards Bay Minerals and the Mbonambi”, Journal of Business Ethics, Vol. 39 No. 3, pp. 275-296.
Kochhar, S.K. (2014), “Putting community first: Mainstreaming CSR for community-building in India and China”, Asian Journal of Communication, Vol. 24 No. 5, pp. 421-440.
Korhonen, J. (2002), “The dominant economics paradigm and corporate social responsibility”, Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, Vol. 9 No. 1, pp. 66-79.
Kucharska, W. and Kowalczyk, R. (2019), “How to achieve sustainability? Employee’s point of view on company’s culture and CSR practice”, Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, Vol. 26 No. 2, pp. 453-467.
Kurucz, E., Colbert, B. and Wheeler, D. (2008), “The business case for corporate social responsibility”, in: Crane, A., McWilliams, A., Matten, D., Moon, J. and Siegel, D. (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Corporate Social Responsibility, Ch. 4., Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. 83-112.
Lacey, R. and Kennett-Hensel, P.A. (2010), “Longitudinal effects of corporate social responsibility on customer relationships”, Journal of Business Ethics, Vol. 97 No. 4, pp. 581-597.
Lindgreen, A., Swaen, V. and Johnston, W.J. (2009), “Corporate social responsibility: An empirical investigation of U.S. organizations”, Journal of Business Ethics, Vol. 85 No. 2, pp. 303-323.
Lozano, R. (2015), “A holistic perspective on corporate sustainability drivers”, Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, Vol. 22 No. 1, pp. 32-44.
Margolis, J.D. and Walsh, J.P. (2003), “Misery loves companies: Rethinking social initiatives by business”, Administrative Science Quarterly, Vol. 48 No. 2, pp. 268-305.
Mahmud, A., Ding, D., Kiani, A. and Hasan, M. (2020), “Corporate social responsibility programs and community perceptions of societal progress in Bangladesh: A multimethod approach”, SAGE Open, Vol. 10 No. 2, pp. 1-17.
Martínez-Ferrero, J. and Frías-Aceituno, J.V. (2013), “Relationship between sustainable development and financial performance: International empirical research”, Business Strategy and the Environment, Vol. 24, No. 1, pp. 20-39.
Matten, D. and Moon, J. (2008), “Implicit” and “explicit” CSR: A conceptual framework for a comparative understanding of corporate social responsibility”, Academy of Management Review, Vol. 33, No. 2, pp. 404-424.
McLennan, S. and Banks, G. (2019), “Reversing the lens: Why corporate social responsibility is not community development”, Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, Vol. 26, No. 1, pp. 117-126
McWilliams, A., Siegel, D.S. and Wright, P.M. (2006), “Corporate social responsibility: Strategic implications”, Journal of Management Studies, Vol. 43 No. 1, pp. 1-18.
Miller, D. (2006), CSR: Far More than Philanthropy, Globe Scan, Toronto. Nicolaides, A. (2017), “Promoting ethical corporate social responsibility in the events industry”, African Journal of Hospitality, Tourism and Leisure, Vol. 6 No. 1, pp. 1-21.
Nicolaides, A. (2018), “Corporate social responsibility as an ethical imperative”, Athens Journal of Law, Vol. 4 No. 4, pp. 285-300.
Nicolaides, A. (2020), “Contemplating Christian ethics and spirituality for sound leadership in organisations”, Pharos Journal of Theology, Vol. 101, pp. 1-16.
Nicolaides, A. and Singh, C. (2014), “A conceptual framework for a sustainable and CSR driven enterprise”, African Journal of Hospitality, Tourism and Leisure, Vol. 3 No. 1, pp. 1-15.
Orlitzky, M. (2013), “Corporate social responsibility, noise, and stock market volatility”, Academy of Management Perspectives, Vol. 27, No. 3, pp. 238-254.
Porter, M.E. and Kramer, M.R. (2011), “Creating shared value: How to reinvent capitalism and unleash a wave of innovation and growth”, Harvard Business Review, Vol. 89 No. 1, pp. 66-72.
Robitaille, M. and Kerrigan, S. (2020), “COVID-19 Puts Social Purpose and Sustainability on the Boardroom Agenda”, available at: https://www2.deloitte.com/global/en/blog/responsible-business- blog/2020/ covid-19-puts-social-purpose-and-sustainability-on-the-boardroom-agenda.html (accessed 07 January 2021).
Rugman, A. and D’Cruz, J. (2000), Multinationals as Flagship Firms, Oxford University, Oxford.
Randle, M., Kemperman, A. and Dolnicar, S. (2019), “Making cause related corporate social responsibility (CSR) count in holiday accommodation choice”, Tourism Management, Vol. 75, pp. 66- 77.
Schwartz, P. and Gibb, B. (1999), When Good Companies Do Bad Things: Responsibility and Risk in an Age of Globalization, John Wiley and Sons, New York.
Sharma, S., Sharma, J. and Devi, A. (2009), “Corporate social responsibility: The key role of human resources management”, Human Resource Management: Issues, Challenges and Opportunities, Business Intelligence Journal, Vol. 2 No. 1, pp. 205-213.
Shaukat, A., Qiu, Y. and Trojanowski, G. (2016), “Board attributes, corporate social responsibility strategy, and corporate environmental and social performance”, Journal of Business Ethics, Vol. 135, No. 3, pp. 569-585.
Skouloudis, A., Avlonitis, G.J., Malesios, C. and Evangelinos, K. (2015), “Priorities and perceptions of corporate social responsibility: Insights from the perspective of Greek business professionals”, Management Decision, Vol. 53 No. 2, pp. 375-401.
Smith, W.K. and Lewis, M.W. (2011), “Toward a theory of paradox: A dynamic equilibrium model of organizing”, Academy of Management Review, Vol. 36 No. 2, pp. 381-403.
Strand, R., Freeman, R.E. and Hockerts, K. (2015), “Corporate social responsibility and sustainability in Scandinavia: An overview”, Journal of Business Ethics, Vol. 127 No. 1, pp. 1-15.
Taliento, M., Favino, C. and Netti, A. (2019), “Impact of environmental, social, and governance information on economic performance: Evidence of a corporate “sustainability advantage” from Europe”, Sustainability, Vol. 11, No. 6, p. 1738.
Tuazon, D., Corder, G. and McLellan, B. (2013), “Sustainable development: A review of theoretical contributions”, International Journal of Sustainable Future for Human Security, Vol. 1, No. 1, pp. 40-48.
UN Global Compact (2005), “Facilitating United Nations Reform through Partnerships” available at: http:// www.unglobalcompact.org.
UNO (2021), “Transforming Our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs”, available at: https://www.sdgs.un.org/2030agenda.
Van de Ven, B. (2008), “An ethical framework for the marketing of corporate social responsibility”, Journal of Business Ethics, Vol. 82, pp. 339-352.
Van de Ven, B. and Jeurissen, R. (2005), “Competing responsibility”, Business Ethics Quarterly, Vol. 15 No. 2, pp. 299-317.
Van der Byl, C.A. and Slawinski, N. (2015), “Embracing tensions in corporate sustainability”, Organization and Environment, Vol. 28 No. 1, pp. 54-79.
Waddock, S.A. and Graves, S.B. (1997), “The corporate social performance-financial performance link”, Strategic Management Journal, Vol. 18 No. 4, pp. 303-319.
Wang, H. and Choi, J. (2013), “A new look at the corporate social-financial performance relationship the moderating roles of temporal and inter-domain consistency in corporate social performance”, Journal of Management, Vol. 39 No. 2, pp. 416-441.
Wheeler, C., Colbert, B. and Freeman, R.E. (2003), “Focusing on value: Reconciling corporate social responsibility, sustainability and a stakeholder approach in a network world”, Journal of General Management, Vol. 28 No. 3, pp. 1-28.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
You are free to:
- Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format for any purpose, even commercially.
- Adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially.
- The licensor cannot revoke these freedoms as long as you follow the license terms.
Under the following terms:
- Attribution — You must give appropriate credit , provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made . You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.
- No additional restrictions — You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits.
Notices:
You do not have to comply with the license for elements of the material in the public domain or where your use is permitted by an applicable exception or limitation .
No warranties are given. The license may not give you all of the permissions necessary for your intended use. For example, other rights such as publicity, privacy, or moral rights may limit how you use the material.
