MISSING SOCIAL OUTCOMES IN CSR REPORTS OF AWARD WINNERS

Kathleen Wilburn and Ralph Wilburn

Global Journal of Business Research, 2019, vol. 13, issue 2, 13-36

Abstract: Consumers increasingly expect transparency from companies practicing Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and base their buying practices on what they see and hear about a company’s CSR initiatives. Unfortunately, many CSR reports resemble marketing materials, rather than data that shows what the actions have accomplished for those targeted stakeholder groups. CSR reports need to prove that companies have achieved outcomes, not just established goals. Companies need to demonstrate that their CSR initiatives are not just greenwashing to keep their consumers happy. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the CSR/Sustainability Reports of twenty-one corporations that appear both in the CR Magazine’s 2018 100 Best Corporate Citizens and the World’s Most Reputable Companies for Corporate Social Responsibility for 2018 to see if they report outcome measures as well as goals. The study found that, although many of the corporations address the Ten Principles of the UN Global Compact and the UN 2013 Sustainable Development Goals in their reports, the initiatives that focus on the social elements have no data or outcomes for them, especially when they involve philanthropy to nonprofits. Only environmental goals had year-to-year data on progress toward goals

Keywords: Corporate Social Responsibility; Sustainable Development Goals; Global Reporting Initiative; Ten Principles of the UN Global Compact (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: M14 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
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