IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/beo/journl/v60y2015i207p69-94.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A Holistic Approach To Corporate Social Responsibility As A Prerequisite For Sustainable Development: Empirical Evidence

Author

Listed:
  • Dejana Zlatanović

Abstract

The growing importance of sustainable development and corporate social responsibility (CSR) for contemporary organizations demands appropriate holistic tools. The paper highlights how Soft Systems Methodology (SSM), a relevant holistic, i.e., soft systems approach, supports the conceptualization and management of the complex issues of CSR and sustainable development. The SSM’s key methodological tools are used: rich picture, root definitions, and conceptual models. Empirical research compares a selected sample of enterprises in the automotive industry in the Republic of Serbia, to identify possible systemically desirable and culturally feasible changes to improve their CSR behaviour through promoting their sustainable development. Some limitations of this research and of SSM application are discussed. Combining SSM with some other systems approaches, such as System Dynamics or Critical Systems Heuristics, is recommended for future research.

Suggested Citation

  • Dejana Zlatanović, 2015. "A Holistic Approach To Corporate Social Responsibility As A Prerequisite For Sustainable Development: Empirical Evidence," Economic Annals, Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Belgrade, vol. 60(207), pages 69-94, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:beo:journl:v:60:y:2015:i:207:p:69-94
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.ekof.bg.ac.rs/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/353-1.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Alan Muller & Ans Kolk, 2009. "CSR Performance in Emerging Markets Evidence from Mexico," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 85(2), pages 325-337, April.
    2. Peter Checkland, 2012. "Four Conditions for Serious Systems Thinking and Action," Systems Research and Behavioral Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(5), pages 465-469, September.
    3. Ormerod, Richard J. & Ulrich, Werner, 2013. "Operational research and ethics: A literature review," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 228(2), pages 291-307.
    4. Rauschmayer, F. & Kavathatzopoulos, I. & Kunsch, P.L. & Le Menestrel, M., 2009. "Why good practice of OR is not enough--Ethical challenges for the OR practitioner," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 37(6), pages 1089-1099, December.
    5. Lane, David C. & Oliva, Rogelio, 1998. "The greater whole: Towards a synthesis of system dynamics and soft systems methodology," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 107(1), pages 214-235, May.
    6. Espinosa, A. & Harnden, R. & Walker, J., 2008. "A complexity approach to sustainability - Stafford Beer revisited," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 187(2), pages 636-651, June.
    7. Nuttaneeya Torugsa & Wayne O’Donohue & Rob Hecker, 2013. "Proactive CSR: An Empirical Analysis of the Role of its Economic, Social and Environmental Dimensions on the Association between Capabilities and Performance," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 115(2), pages 383-402, June.
    8. World Commission on Environment and Development,, 1987. "Our Common Future," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780192820808.
    9. Kunsch, P.L. & Kavathatzopoulos, I. & Rauschmayer, F., 2009. "Modelling complex ethical decision problems with operations research," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 37(6), pages 1100-1108, December.
    10. Andrea Pérez & Ignacio Rodríguez del Bosque, 2013. "Measuring CSR Image: Three Studies to Develop and to Validate a Reliable Measurement Tool," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 118(2), pages 265-286, December.
    11. Weber, Manuela, 2008. "The business case for corporate social responsibility: A company-level measurement approach for CSR," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 26(4), pages 247-261, August.
    12. Le Menestrel, Marc & Van Wassenhove, Luk N., 2009. "Ethics in Operations Research and Management Sciences: A never-ending effort to combine rigor and passion," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 37(6), pages 1039-1043, December.
    13. Gerald Midgley & Martin Reynolds, 2004. "Systems|operational research and sustainable development: towards a new agenda," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 12(1), pages 56-64.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Nikolić Jelena & Zlatanović Dejana, 2018. "Corporate Governance and Corporate Social Responsibility Synergies: A Systemic Approach," Naše gospodarstvo/Our economy, Sciendo, vol. 64(3), pages 36-46, September.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ormerod, Richard J. & Ulrich, Werner, 2013. "Operational research and ethics: A literature review," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 228(2), pages 291-307.
    2. Ricardo J. G. Mateus & João C. Bana e Costa & Pedro Verga Matos, 2017. "Supporting Multicriteria Group Decisions with MACBETH Tools: Selection of Sustainable Brownfield Redevelopment Actions," Group Decision and Negotiation, Springer, vol. 26(3), pages 495-521, May.
    3. Huh, Woonghee Tim & Lee, Jaywon & Park, Heesang & Park, Kun Soo, 2019. "The potty parity problem: Towards gender equality at restrooms in business facilities," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    4. Marc Le Menestrel & Luk N. Wassenhove, 2016. "Subjectively biased objective functions," EURO Journal on Decision Processes, Springer;EURO - The Association of European Operational Research Societies, vol. 4(1), pages 73-83, June.
    5. Pierre L. Kunsch, 2016. "How system dynamics education may enhance virtue-based Ethics," EURO Journal on Decision Processes, Springer;EURO - The Association of European Operational Research Societies, vol. 4(1), pages 33-52, June.
    6. White, Leroy & Lee, Gregory John, 2009. "Operational research and sustainable development: Tackling the social dimension," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 193(3), pages 683-692, March.
    7. Rezaee, Zabihollah, 2016. "Business sustainability research: A theoretical and integrated perspective," Journal of Accounting Literature, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 48-64.
    8. Søren H. Wenstøp & Fred Wenstøp, 2016. "Operational research virtues in the face of climate change," EURO Journal on Decision Processes, Springer;EURO - The Association of European Operational Research Societies, vol. 4(1), pages 53-72, June.
    9. Arturo Luque González & Jesús Ángel Coronado Martín & Ana Cecilia Vaca-Tapia & Francklin Rivas, 2021. "How Sustainability Is Defined: An Analysis of 100 Theoretical Approximations," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 9(11), pages 1-20, June.
    10. Subhajit Bhattacharya, 2017. "Does corporate social responsibility contribute to strengthen brand equity? An empirical study," International Review on Public and Nonprofit Marketing, Springer;International Association of Public and Non-Profit Marketing, vol. 14(4), pages 513-533, December.
    11. Mark Anthony Camilleri, 2017. "Corporate sustainability and responsibility: creating value for business, society and the environment," Asian Journal of Sustainability and Social Responsibility, Springer, vol. 2(1), pages 59-74, September.
    12. Peter Oberhofer & Elmar Fürst, 2013. "Sustainable Development in the Transport Sector: Influencing Environmental Behaviour and Performance," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(6), pages 374-389, September.
    13. Willamo, R. & Helenius, L. & Holmström, C. & Haapanen, L. & Sandström, V. & Huotari, E. & Kaarre, K. & Värre, U. & Nuotiomäki, A. & Happonen, J. & Kolehmainen, L., 2018. "Learning how to understand complexity and deal with sustainability challenges – A framework for a comprehensive approach and its application in university education," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 370(C), pages 1-13.
    14. Mingers, John & White, Leroy, 2010. "A review of the recent contribution of systems thinking to operational research and management science," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 207(3), pages 1147-1161, December.
    15. John P. Ulhøi & Benedicte P. Ulhøi, 2009. "Beyond Climate Focus and Disciplinary Myopia. The Roles and Responsibilities of Hospitals and Healthcare Professionals," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 6(3), pages 1-11, March.
    16. Johnson, Michael P. & Midgley, Gerald & Chichirau, George, 2018. "Emerging trends and new frontiers in community operational research," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 268(3), pages 1178-1191.
    17. Francesca Bartolacci & Andrea Caputo & Michela Soverchia, 2020. "Sustainability and financial performance of small and medium sized enterprises: A bibliometric and systematic literature review," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(3), pages 1297-1309, March.
    18. Rupert J. Baumgartner, 2014. "Managing Corporate Sustainability and CSR: A Conceptual Framework Combining Values, Strategies and Instruments Contributing to Sustainable Development," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 21(5), pages 258-271, September.
    19. Mingers, John, 2015. "Helping business schools engage with real problems: The contribution of critical realism and systems thinking," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 242(1), pages 316-331.
    20. Hector, Donald & Christensen, Carleton & Petrie, Jim, 2009. "A problem-structuring method for complex societal decisions: Its philosophical and psychological dimensions," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 193(3), pages 693-708, March.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Corporate Social Responsibility; Sustainable Development; Holistic Approach; Soft Systems Methodology;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • M14 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration - - - Corporate Culture; Diversity; Social Responsibility
    • M21 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Economics - - - Business Economics
    • Q01 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - General - - - Sustainable Development

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:beo:journl:v:60:y:2015:i:207:p:69-94. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Goran Petrić (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/efbeoyu.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.