The Pros And Cons Of Corporate Social Responsibility

2.2 CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) or CSR activity is seen as a complex and contested area, which is rapidly gaining importance from businesses all over the world (Vaaland & Heide, 2008). Mintzberg (1983), refers to Elbing (1970) when he states that the concept of social responsibility has been discussed academically by professors, pragmatically by businessmen, politically by public representative and approached from various angles philosophically, psychologically, sociologically, economically even aesthetically. The complexity of the concept has lead to variations of definitions some boarder than others with no consensus on a generally accepted definition. The difficulty with defining CSR sterns from

Aaron (2011) defines CSR as encapsulating a broad field ranging from corporate commitments and ethical conduct to philanthropic gestures by corporations in their operating communities. Aguilera et al. (2007) use a definition of CSR, which refers to the firm’s considerations of, and response to issues outside the usual firm requirements to accomplish social and environmental benefits along with the traditional economic gains that the firm

According to Moir (2001) who quotes Wood (1991), the fundamental idea of corporate social responsibility is that business and society are not distinct entities but instead interwoven. Additionally, Bremner (1994) opines that the pressure for those who prosper financially to be socially “responsible” has deep historical roots in most cultures and religions. As such, business enterprises have been anchored not only in the desire to solely make profit but also in a broader aim to build “the good society” by attending to the welfare of employees and actively partaking in public life (Hall, 1997; Parkes, Scully & Anson, 2010). Conversely, Aaron (2011) attributes this to the recent ‘corporate enthusiasm’ for CSR which seems to give the impression that companies are genuinely interested in improving the lives of people in communities in which they operate. Arguing that while in some cases it may be true that CSR has proved beneficial to target communities, it also appears that CSR is driven not so much by philanthropic considerations as the profit-maximising calculations of business, implying that corporations are involved in altruistic gestures only if it makes sense business wise (Aaron, 2011). However, Moir (2001) did