IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eme/srjpps/v6y2010i3p332-344.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Latest evolution of academic research in corporate social responsibility: an empirical analysis

Author

Listed:
  • Enrique Bigné Alcañiz
  • Alejandro Alvarado Herrera
  • Rafael Currás Pérez
  • José Javier Rivera Alcami

Abstract

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to determine whether management‐ and marketing‐salient literature focused on corporate social responsibility (CSR) and related issues has evolved from 2003 to 2006, both quantitatively and qualitatively, and to learn which of three competitive epistemological evolutional views (progressive, variegational, normativist) best fits CSR evolution in both disciplines. Design/methodology/approach - Following an ex professo methodology developed by de Bakker, Groenewegen and Den Hond, a content analysis (CA)‐based empirical examination of 570 papers focused on CSR and corporate social performance (CSP) published in indexed management and marketing journals between 2003 and 2006 was conducted. The selected temporal scope is equivalent, in terms of CSR published papers, to the period 1972‐2002 analyzed by de Bakker et al. Three coders judged each paper by their epistemological orientation and discipline pertinence, achieving larger enough reliability coefficients. Findings - The epistemological evolution of CSR within the management and marketing literatures fits a progressive view, and both alternative evolutional perspectives, variegational and normativist, were rejected. This finding means that theoretical‐oriented papers (conceptual, exploratory or predictive) prevailed over prescriptive (instrumental and normative) and descriptive articles. This qualitative evolution has been accompanied by a significant growth in the total number of CSR papers published in the broad management field from 2003 to 2006. Research limitations/implications - Judgments were mainly based on papers' abstracts, titles and keywords. Full text analyses were only done on those cases where coders had doubts. Originality/value - The research contributes to a better understanding of the role of CSR within the management and marketing disciplines, as it is the first to analyse the epistemological evolution of CSR in the academic research. The findings serve to refute the ideas that CSR research has an intrinsic normative character, is still too embryonic or has a disoriented evolution.

Suggested Citation

  • Enrique Bigné Alcañiz & Alejandro Alvarado Herrera & Rafael Currás Pérez & José Javier Rivera Alcami, 2010. "Latest evolution of academic research in corporate social responsibility: an empirical analysis," Social Responsibility Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 6(3), pages 332-344, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:eme:srjpps:v:6:y:2010:i:3:p:332-344
    DOI: 10.1108/17471111011064726
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/17471111011064726/full/html?utm_source=repec&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=repec
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers
    File URL: https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/17471111011064726/full/pdf?utm_source=repec&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=repec
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1108/17471111011064726?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kolbe, Richard H & Burnett, Melissa S, 1991. "Content-Analysis Research: An Examination of Applications with Directives for Improving Research Reliability and Objectivity," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 18(2), pages 243-250, September.
    2. David P. Baron, 2001. "Private Politics, Corporate Social Responsibility, and Integrated Strategy," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 10(1), pages 7-45, March.
    3. Andy Lockett & Jeremy Moon & Wayne Visser, 2006. "Corporate Social Responsibility in Management Research: Focus, Nature, Salience and Sources of Influence," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(1), pages 115-136, January.
    4. Abagail McWilliams & Donald S. Siegel & Patrick M. Wright, 2006. "Corporate Social Responsibility: Strategic Implications," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(1), pages 1-18, January.
    5. Baumgartner, H. & Pieters, R., 2000. "The Influence of Marketing Journals : A Citation Analysis of the Discipline and its Sub-areas," Discussion Paper 2000-123, Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research.
    6. Belk, Russell W, 1987. "Material Values in the Comics: A Content Analysis of Comic Books Featuring Themes of Wealth," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 14(1), pages 26-42, June.
    7. Kassarjian, Harold H, 1977. "Content Analysis in Consumer Research," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 4(1), pages 8-18, June.
    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. Candace L. White & Anne Ellerup Nielsen & Chiara Valentini, 2017. "CSR research in the apparel industry: A quantitative and qualitative review of existing literature," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 24(5), pages 382-394, 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. Markus Kitzmueller, 2008. "Economics and Corporate Social Responsibility," Economics Working Papers ECO2008/37, European University Institute.
    2. repec:cte:wbrepe:wb130301 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. Kudla, Nicole & Stölzle, Wolfgang, 2011. "Sustainability Supply Chain Management Research," Die Unternehmung - Swiss Journal of Business Research and Practice, Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG, vol. 65(3), pages 263-301.
    4. Eric Guthey & Mette Morsing, 2014. "CSR and the Mediated Emergence of Strategic Ambiguity," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 120(4), pages 555-569, April.
    5. Wang Shuo & Gao Yuhui, 2016. "What do we know about corporate social responsibility research? a content analysis," The Irish Journal of Management, Sciendo, vol. 35(1), pages 1-16, April.
    6. Meng Zhao, 2012. "CSR-Based Political Legitimacy Strategy: Managing the State by Doing Good in China and Russia," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 111(4), pages 439-460, December.
    7. Markus Kitzmueller & Jay Shimshack, 2012. "Economic Perspectives on Corporate Social Responsibility," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 50(1), pages 51-84, March.
    8. Ian Worthington, 2009. "Corporate Perceptions of the Business Case for Supplier Diversity: How Socially Responsible Purchasing can ‘Pay’," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 90(1), pages 47-60, November.
    9. Enrique Bigné Alcañiz & Alejandro Alvarado Herrera & Rafael Currás Pérez, 2009. "Epistemological evolution of corporate social responsibility in marketing," International Review on Public and Nonprofit Marketing, Springer;International Association of Public and Non-Profit Marketing, vol. 6(1), pages 35-50, June.
    10. Finger, Maya & Gavious, Ilanit & Manos, Ronny, 2018. "Environmental risk management and financial performance in the banking industry: A cross-country comparison," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 240-261.
    11. Rachel Bocquet & Caroline Danièle Mothe, 2013. "Profils des entreprises en matière de RSE et innovation technologique," Post-Print hal-00950166, HAL.
    12. Scholtens, Bert, 2008. "A note on the interaction between corporate social responsibility and financial performance," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(1-2), pages 46-55, December.
    13. Chiara Mauri & Angelo Di Gregorio & Alice Mazzucchelli & Isabella Maggioni, 2017. "The employability of marketing graduates in the era of digitalisation and globalisation," MERCATI & COMPETITIVIT?, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2017(4), pages 103-124.
    14. Smith, Andrew N. & Fischer, Eileen & Yongjian, Chen, 2012. "How Does Brand-related User-generated Content Differ across YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter?," Journal of Interactive Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 26(2), pages 102-113.
    15. Meyer, Margit & Waßmann, Jan, 2011. "Strategische Corporate Social Responsibility. Konzeptionelle Entwicklung und Implementierung in der Praxis am Beispiel 'dm-drogerie markt'," Research Papers on Marketing Strategy 3/2011, Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg, Lehrstuhl für BWL und Marketing.
    16. Lei Wang & Heikki Juslin, 2011. "The effects of value on the perception of corporate social responsibility implementation: A study of Chinese youth," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 18(4), pages 246-262, July.
    17. Cameron Sabadoz, 2011. "Between Profit-Seeking and Prosociality: Corporate Social Responsibility as Derridean Supplement," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 104(1), pages 77-91, November.
    18. Tony Cooper & Constantino Stavros & Angela R. Dobele, 2019. "The levers of engagement: an exploration of governance in an online brand community," Journal of Brand Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 26(3), pages 240-254, May.
    19. Jong-Seo Choi & Young-Min Kwak & Chongwoo Choe, 2010. "Corporate social responsibility and corporate financial performance: Evidence from Korea," Australian Journal of Management, Australian School of Business, vol. 35(3), pages 291-311, December.
    20. Pullig, Chris & Maxham, James III & Hair, Joseph Jr., 2002. "Salesforce automation systems: an exploratory examination of organizational factors associated with effective implementation and salesforce productivity," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 55(5), pages 401-415, May.
    21. Stefan Gold & Stefan Seuring & Philip Beske, 2010. "Sustainable supply chain management and inter‐organizational resources: a literature review," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 17(4), pages 230-245, July.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Social responsibility; Company performance;

    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:eme:srjpps:v:6:y:2010:i:3:p:332-344. 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: Emerald Support (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    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.