Integrating Corporate Social Responsibility into Business Strategy for Sustainable Advantage

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue, “Integrating Corporate Social Responsibility into Business Strategy for Sustainable Advantage,” invites contributions that examine how organizations embed responsibility, sustainability, and stakeholder considerations into strategy and day-to-day management to create enduring advantage.

Over the last two decades, research on CSR/ESG and corporate sustainability has expanded rapidly, spanning strategy, governance, accounting, operations, and organizational behavior. Yet insights remain dispersed and sometimes contradictory: outcomes appear highly contingent on context, implementation quality, stakeholder expectations, and the credibility of measurement and disclosure (Aguinis & Glavas, 2012). Recent reviews also point to a recurring gap between conceptual discussions of “integration” and the practical mechanisms that embed responsibility into strategic planning and execution (Rodrigues & Franco, 2019). Implementation-oriented evidence further suggests that managerial and control tools can shape whether CSR becomes strategically embedded or remains symbolic (Maccarrone & Contri, 2021).

These challenges are especially visible in SME contexts, where sustainability-related activities may be less formalized yet strongly rooted in local stakeholder relations and community engagement (Kolnhofer-Derecskei et al., 2024). Relatedly, research on small businesses highlights that leadership motivations and firm characteristics influence the adoption of sustainability measures, and that indirect impacts can be relevant in understanding pro-environmental engagement (Dombi et al., 2025).

Against this backdrop, the Special Issue aims to consolidate and extend knowledge on strategic integration—moving beyond stand-alone programs toward coherent configurations of governance, capabilities, processes, and metrics that align responsible practices with competitive positioning and value creation.

(1) Focus, Scope, Purpose

Focus: strategic and managerial approaches that integrate CSR/ESG and broader sustainability principles into core decision-making (strategy formulation and execution, governance, innovation, operations, finance, risk management, and stakeholder engagement).

The scope of the Special Issue includes conceptual, empirical, and review articles across sectors, firm sizes, and institutional settings. We especially welcome studies that clarify mechanisms (how integration works), contingencies (when it works), and implementation (how it is operationalized).

The purpose of the Special Issue is to advance management and organization scholarship by identifying credible pathways through which responsible and sustainability-oriented strategies generate sustainable advantage, while also addressing trade-offs, unintended consequences, and risks of decoupling.

(2) How the Special Issue supplements existing literature

This issue will usefully complement the existing CSR/sustainability and strategy literature by (i) bringing together insights that are currently fragmented across disciplines, (ii) highlighting mechanisms and boundary conditions that explain heterogeneous outcomes, and (iii) foregrounding execution—capabilities, governance, measurement, and cross-functional integration—needed to translate responsible intent into demonstrable results (Aguinis & Glavas, 2012; Maccarrone & Contri, 2021).

Suggested lines of research (please note that these are indicative, not exhaustive)

• Strategy–sustainability alignment; purpose and value creation
• Governance, accountability, and ethical decision-making
• Stakeholder management, legitimacy, and trust
• Business model innovation (e.g., circularity, servitization, sharing models)
• Responsible innovation and digital transformation (incl. AI governance)
• Risk, resilience, and sustainability in volatile environments
• Responsible supply chains and due diligence; human rights and labor standards
• Measurement, management control systems, incentives, and impact assessment
• Reporting, assurance, transparency, and credibility (incl. greenwashing dynamics)
• Culture, leadership, HR practices, and change management for integration
• SMEs, entrepreneurship, and responsible growth strategies
• Cross-sector collaboration and partnerships; SDG-oriented strategies
• Comparative and institutional perspectives; regulation and standards

We request that, prior to submitting a manuscript, interested authors initially submit a proposed title and an abstract of 300–500 words summarizing their intended contribution. Please send it to the Guest Editor Regina Zsuzsánna Reicher (reicher.regina@uni-bge.hu) or to Administrative Sciences (admsci@mdpi.com). Abstracts will be reviewed by the guest editors for the purposes of ensuring proper fit within the scope of the Special Issue. Full manuscripts will undergo double-blind peer-review.

References:

1. Aguinis, H., & Glavas, A. (2012). What we know and don’t know about corporate social responsibility: A review and research agenda. Journal of Management, 38(4), 932–968. https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206311436079.
2. Dombi, M., Kolnhofer-Derecskei, A., Reicher, R. Zs., & Győri, Z. (2025). Pro-environmental motivations of small businesses – Do indirect environmental impacts matter? Cleaner Environmental Systems, 17, 100272. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cesys.2025.100272.
3. Kolnhofer-Derecskei, A., Reicher, R. Zs., Dombi, M., & Győri, Z. (2024). How are the SMEs committed to their local communities in the term of sustainability? Economics and Culture, 21(1), 185–194. https://doi.org/10.2478/jec-2024-0014.
4. Maccarrone, P., & Contri, A. M. (2021). Integrating corporate social responsibility into corporate strategy: The role of formal tools. Sustainability, 13(22), 12551. https://doi.org/10.3390/su132212551.
5. Rodrigues, M., & Franco, M. (2019). The corporate sustainability strategy in organisations: A systematic review and future directions. Sustainability, 11(22), 6214. https://doi.org/10.3390/su11226214.

Dr. Regina Reicher
Dr. Beáta Kádár
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Administrative Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• corporate social responsibility (CSR)
• ESG
• sustainability strategy
• responsible management
• stakeholder management
• corporate governance
• business ethics
• sustainable business models
• circular economy
• risk management
• value creation stakeholder management management control systems AI governance circular economy greenwashing