The Limitations of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR): A Philosophy at Odds with Its Surroundings

Quantitative Research on Corporate Social Responsibility: A Quest for Relevance and Rigor in a Quickly Evolving, Turbulent World

“…The field lacks both theoretical foundation and coherence despite the application of multiple theoretical perspectives, including stakeholder theory, agency theory, upper echelons theory, economic theories of information and incentives at the macro level and social exchange theory, identity theory, attribution theory, and justice theory at the micro-level. Many such theories, originated in other fields and based on the primacy of shareholder interests, either do not fit well within the CSR context or could not adequately account for the complexity of the intersection between economic, social, environmental, and governance interests that characterize the CSR field (Hilliard, 2019 ; Wang et al, 2020 ). Moreover, the field of CSR has been mainly practice-driven and empirically focused on the business case examining the relationship between CSR and corporate financial performance.…”