Reversing the lens: Why corporate social responsibility is not community development

Sharon McLennan and Glenn Banks

Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, 2019, vol. 26, issue 1, 117-126

Abstract: Corporate activities have impacts on different groups across societies, and businesses therefore have different sets of responsibilities to these groups. These are increasingly being addressed through corporate social responsibility (CSR) and corporate community development (CCD) initiatives, and there is now a wide body of literature that highlights the value of CSR for business. However, less attention has been paid to understanding the impacts of these activities from the perspective of communities. This paper “reverses the lens” to explore these community perspectives. We argue that communities see and evaluate CSR/CCD in terms of the broader immanent effects of the corporate presence rather than simply the intentional CSR programs and prioritize relationships over material outcomes. We outline an agenda for corporations that begins with the realization that core business practices can impact profoundly on long‐term community development and that effective contributions require corporations to “embrace chaos” and to develop the types of relationships that foreground community goals and priorities.

Date: 2019
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (12)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:wly:corsem:v:26:y:2019:i:1:p:117-126

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