Moralising the Market by Moralising the Firm

The lack of consensus in stating what Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) exactly means has led some people to argue that the concept is too vague to offer guidance, while others suggest forgetting about theorising and instead focusing entirely on the development of practical applications such as...

Full description

Saved in:  
Bibliographic Details
Authors: Knippenberg, Luuk (Author) ; de Jong, Edwin B. P. (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Check availability: HBZ Gateway
Journals Online & Print:
Drawer...
Fernleihe:Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste
Published: Springer Science + Business Media B. V 2010
In: Journal of business ethics
Year: 2010, Volume: 96, Issue: 1, Pages: 17-31
Further subjects:B Corporate social responsibility
B Morality
B evolutionary economics
B Markets
B firms
Online Access: Presumably Free Access
Volltext (JSTOR)
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Description
Summary:The lack of consensus in stating what Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) exactly means has led some people to argue that the concept is too vague to offer guidance, while others suggest forgetting about theorising and instead focusing entirely on the development of practical applications such as codes of conduct, standards and reporting initiatives. This article argues that the discussion on CSR as a whole has reached this impasse because it ignores two major underlying problems. First, the fact that CSR is an ideological notion: the definition and use of ‘CSR’ depends on the moral and practical views of the people and organisations involved. Secondly, the debate on CSR lacks a thorough discussion about the nature and role of the firm, the main actor when it comes to accepting and implementing CSR. After explaining our standpoint, this article winds up with the implications of this reframing for the CSR debate, for the efforts to define it and for the efforts to apply it.
ISSN:1573-0697
Contains:Enthalten in: Journal of business ethics
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1007/s10551-010-0446-9