Responsibility In-Focus: Deconstructing “Corporate Social Responsibility” Concept

The term “Corporate Social Responsibility” has gained lot of momentum in the last few decades. Several scholars have tried to deconstruct what it actually means and the kind of responsibility corporate organizations have. Carroll’s pyramidal model has made significant contribution to the debate by categorizing corporate social responsibility into four broad dimensions: Economic, Legal, Ethical and Philanthropic. While several scholars have emphasized these four dimensions in different perspectives, the debate seems to remain persistent. This paper looks into different dimensions of corporate social responsibility and tries to deconstruct its primary motive. Through the scanning of literatures available on the definitions of corporate social responsibility concept, this paper tries to understand the focus of such an attempt. It then takes the help of qualitative in-depth interview methodology to understand what the corporate managers in India across sectors feel about corporate social responsibility. This leads to convergence of literature review and in-depth interview findings benefiting both academic and corporate world. The findings suggest that although companies seem to accomplish such responsibility for societal purposes, the ultimate objective is an economically viable model which leads to the sustainability of a corporate organization. A model is suggested based on the above findings.