Corporate social responsibility in controversial industries: A literature review and research agenda

Abstract

This study reviews the extant literature about corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities of companies operating in controversial industries. We analyze 88 articles guided by the overall question of how such companies integrate CSR into their business practices, which topics are addressed, and what the effects of these engagements are on various stakeholders. We use Maon et al.'s (2009) integrative framework to structure our analysis and develop a research agenda. Our review suggests that controversial companies' motivations are not altruistic, but largely market‐based and reactive. No studies indicated that firm mission or values underpinned the motivation for undertaking CSR programs. We also found that the perspective of employees was underrepresented. Moreover, a large number of the articles (44.3%) in our dataset dealt with communication‐related topics, neglecting many other areas of the CSR process.