CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY IMPACTS ON SUSTAINABLE HUMAN DEVELOPMENT

The goal of this article is to critically analyze the findings of the first, recently published, studies about Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) impacts on Sustainable Human Development (SHD). We aim at deriving conclusions for effective CSR strategies and at identifying consequences for managem...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Kerstin Anstätt, Jürgen Volkert
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Faculty of Economics and Business in Osijek 2016-06-01
Series:Ekonomski Vjesnik
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hrcak.srce.hr/file/237429
_version_ 1797335220534378496
author Kerstin Anstätt
Jürgen Volkert
author_facet Kerstin Anstätt
Jürgen Volkert
author_sort Kerstin Anstätt
collection DOAJ
description The goal of this article is to critically analyze the findings of the first, recently published, studies about Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) impacts on Sustainable Human Development (SHD). We aim at deriving conclusions for effective CSR strategies and at identifying consequences for management and research. As CSR claims to create value for corporations and for society, we argue that the people-centered Capability Approach (CA) is promising to provide neglected and much needed insights how corporate activities affect individuals and communities. Based on a survey of recent literature addressing CSR impacts on SHD, we highlight CSR potentials to improve average well-being in multiple dimensions of SHD. Moreover, we critically assess challenges and limitations of CSR as a strategy to preserve and foster SHD. For instance, studies have shown that, despite CSR-driven well-being increases, social capital, relational capabilities and collective agency may become challenged by corporate strategies. Moreover, corporate environmental impacts have been found to be less often addressed by both, companies and SHD researchers. Resulting inequality and fairness issues have been identified as causes of violence against corporations even in the presence of total well-being improvements. We conclude that companies should strategically take into account a comprehensive range of factors driving and hampering SHD to account for their whole portfolio of corporate opportunities and risks. This requires evaluating CSR impacts instead of only focusing on CSR inputs and outputs. Thereby, corporations can mitigate their risks, improve their stakeholder trust and strengthen their competitiveness.
first_indexed 2024-03-08T08:33:47Z
format Article
id doaj.art-dd8b338222cb4f36aacc7eea07499cb7
institution Directory Open Access Journal
issn 0353-359X
1847-2206
language English
last_indexed 2024-03-08T08:33:47Z
publishDate 2016-06-01
publisher Faculty of Economics and Business in Osijek
record_format Article
series Ekonomski Vjesnik
spelling doaj.art-dd8b338222cb4f36aacc7eea07499cb72024-02-02T02:29:58ZengFaculty of Economics and Business in OsijekEkonomski Vjesnik0353-359X1847-22062016-06-01291193210CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY IMPACTS ON SUSTAINABLE HUMAN DEVELOPMENTKerstin Anstätt 0Jürgen Volkert1Pforzheim University, Institute for Industrial Ecology, Pforzheim, GermanyPforzheim University, Department of Economics, Pforzheim, GermanyThe goal of this article is to critically analyze the findings of the first, recently published, studies about Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) impacts on Sustainable Human Development (SHD). We aim at deriving conclusions for effective CSR strategies and at identifying consequences for management and research. As CSR claims to create value for corporations and for society, we argue that the people-centered Capability Approach (CA) is promising to provide neglected and much needed insights how corporate activities affect individuals and communities. Based on a survey of recent literature addressing CSR impacts on SHD, we highlight CSR potentials to improve average well-being in multiple dimensions of SHD. Moreover, we critically assess challenges and limitations of CSR as a strategy to preserve and foster SHD. For instance, studies have shown that, despite CSR-driven well-being increases, social capital, relational capabilities and collective agency may become challenged by corporate strategies. Moreover, corporate environmental impacts have been found to be less often addressed by both, companies and SHD researchers. Resulting inequality and fairness issues have been identified as causes of violence against corporations even in the presence of total well-being improvements. We conclude that companies should strategically take into account a comprehensive range of factors driving and hampering SHD to account for their whole portfolio of corporate opportunities and risks. This requires evaluating CSR impacts instead of only focusing on CSR inputs and outputs. Thereby, corporations can mitigate their risks, improve their stakeholder trust and strengthen their competitiveness.http://hrcak.srce.hr/file/237429Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)CSR impact evaluationSustainable Human DevelopmentBase of the Pyramid (BoP)Capability Approach
spellingShingle Kerstin Anstätt
Jürgen Volkert
CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY IMPACTS ON SUSTAINABLE HUMAN DEVELOPMENT
Ekonomski Vjesnik
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)
CSR impact evaluation
Sustainable Human Development
Base of the Pyramid (BoP)
Capability Approach
title CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY IMPACTS ON SUSTAINABLE HUMAN DEVELOPMENT
title_full CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY IMPACTS ON SUSTAINABLE HUMAN DEVELOPMENT
title_fullStr CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY IMPACTS ON SUSTAINABLE HUMAN DEVELOPMENT
title_full_unstemmed CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY IMPACTS ON SUSTAINABLE HUMAN DEVELOPMENT
title_short CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY IMPACTS ON SUSTAINABLE HUMAN DEVELOPMENT
title_sort corporate social responsibility impacts on sustainable human development
topic Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)
CSR impact evaluation
Sustainable Human Development
Base of the Pyramid (BoP)
Capability Approach
url http://hrcak.srce.hr/file/237429
work_keys_str_mv AT kerstinanstatt corporatesocialresponsibilityimpactsonsustainablehumandevelopment
AT jurgenvolkert corporatesocialresponsibilityimpactsonsustainablehumandevelopment