Special Issue "Corporate Social Responsibility: Organizational Strategy for Sustainable Growth"

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 16 October 2021.

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Byung Il Park
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
HUFS business school, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, Seoul (02450), South Korea
Interests: knowledge acquisition from MNEs; MNE subsidiary performance; corporate social responsibility of MNEs; the impacts of FDI on economic growth
Prof. Simon Shufeng Xiao
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Division of Business Administration, Sookmyung Women's University, Seoul (04310), South Korea
Interests: emerging multinational enterprises; institutional theory in strategic management; cross-cultural management; entrepreneurship and innovation; subsidiary management in emerging markets, with a focus on China and India

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Despite its current variations, corporate social responsibility (CSR) frameworks can be defined as voluntary actions by firms that appear to advance social good at an activity level “above and beyond” that required by law (Park, Chidlow, and Choi, 2014). There is no doubt that being socially responsible is crucial in itself, but organizations must make sensible decisions about the level at which to leverage their CSR activities, and then translate social good into strategic benefit (Choi, Choi, Choi and Chung, 2020; Polonsky, and Jevons, 2009). Through strategies based on CSR, firms often progress to where they use organizational core resources to improve their competitiveness and performance, which again helps to lead to sustainable growth. Considering the financial value of CSR, relevant business research is in the limelight and shows that firms undertaking stronger CSR commonly attract consumers (in marketing), meet investor expectations (in finance), satisfy internal employees (in management), and successfully compete against local and global companies (in strategic international business).

In this line, this is the time to, first, synthesize different research fragments on CSR, second, combine CSR with an additional unique agenda (e.g., human rights, win-win partnership, official development assistance), and third, compile all the theoretical and empirical studies for organizational sustainability. Thus, by inviting submissions from researchers who study diverse theoretical perspectives, adopt varied empirical approaches, and perform multiple levels of analysis, as well as qualitative and quantitative experiments, literature reviews, and meta-analyses, this Special Issue aims to draw a comprehensive picture of CSR. We welcome submissions from various disciplines but are not limited to the following topics:

  • Corporate social responsibility as part of organizational strategy;
  • Corporate social responsibility as conduit for sustainable growth;
  • Corporate social responsibility as a means for win-win partnerships;
  • Corporate social responsibility associated with human rights;
  • Corporate social responsibility related to official development assistance;
  • Stakeholder influences on corporate social responsibility in various disciplines;
  • Institutional pressures for corporate social responsibility in diverse domains;
  • Relationship between the level of corporate social responsibilty and long-lived companies (i.e., proxy for sustainability).

References

Choi, D.; Choi, P.M.S.; Choi, J.H.; Chung, C.Y. Corporate Governance and Corporate Social Responsibility: Evidence from the Role of the Largest Institutional Blockholders in the Korean Market. Sustainability 2020, 12, 1680.

Park, B.I.; Ghauri, P.N. Determinants influencing CSR practices in small and medium sized MNE subsidiaries: A stakeholder perspective. Journal of World Business 2015, 50, 192-204.

Park, B.I.; Chidlow, A.; Choi, J. Corporate social responsibility: Stakeholders influence on MNEs’ activities. International Business Review 2014, 23, 966-980.

Polonsky, M.; Jevons, C. Global branding and strategic CSR: An overview of three types of complexity, International Marketing Review 2009, 26, 327-347.

Prof. Byung Il Park
Prof. Simon Shufeng Xiao
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 papers will be 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 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

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 single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly 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 1900 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.

Keywords

  • corporate social responsibility
  • sustainable growth
  • strategic international business
  • organizational sustainability
  • marketing
  • finance
  • business management
  • win-win partnership
  • human rights

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

Article
The Construction Industry as the Subject of Implementing Corporate Social Responsibility (the Case of Poland)
Sustainability 2021, 13(17), 9728; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13179728 (registering DOI) - 30 Aug 2021
Viewed by 146
Abstract
Companies of the construction sector face a significant impact on the environment and people: consume massive amounts of natural resources, emit pollutants, and generate large amounts of waste, are a place of danger and accidents at work. It is well established that implementation [...] Read more.
Companies of the construction sector face a significant impact on the environment and people: consume massive amounts of natural resources, emit pollutants, and generate large amounts of waste, are a place of danger and accidents at work. It is well established that implementation of CSR principles can lead to several economic, social, and environmental benefits. This is shown by numerous studies carried out in various countries among companies from different sectors of the economy. The aim of the article is to identify the most determining activity motives, barriers, and effects of implementing CSR principles by enterprises of the Polish construction sector and to determine the differences in this aspect between large, medium, and small-size enterprises. A questionnaire survey covered 177 enterprises. Factor like size, a place of origin, type of capital (domestic, foreign), annual turnover and time in the market were also considered. The documents of enterprises, reports, statistical data, and internal regulations of companies were also examined. The research results show large variations in terms of motives, barriers and expected benefits out of the implementation of CSR principles in various types of construction enterprises. There are different ways of implementing CSR principles and incorporating this area into organizational structures of the companies. A special role is assigned to large enterprises that show the greatest commitment in this scope. They become sources of good practices for other types of enterprises. Full article
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Article
The Effect of CSR Attributes on CSR Authenticity: Focusing on Mediating Effects of Digital Transformation
Sustainability 2021, 13(13), 7206; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13137206 - 28 Jun 2021
Viewed by 666
Abstract
What corporate social responsibility (CSR) attributes determine the CSR authenticity of a company? In the face of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, what direction should the CSR strategy pursue? In the electronics industries in Korea and China, are there any differences in CSR attributes? [...] Read more.
What corporate social responsibility (CSR) attributes determine the CSR authenticity of a company? In the face of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, what direction should the CSR strategy pursue? In the electronics industries in Korea and China, are there any differences in CSR attributes? In this study, we start with some of these basic questions. Considering the promotional and actual costs incurred from CSR activities, CSR strategy are not an issue that can be easily determined from the corporate perspective. However, now it is essential for companies to carry out CSR and sustainable development goals (SDGs) activities, and businesses cannot overlook social issues either. Companies cannot pursue only growth through corporate interests without social value. In this study, we derive three attributes of CSR fit, CSR sustainability, and CSR impact to verify the authenticity of CSR activities. Moreover, we demonstrated the impact of these three attributes on CSR authenticity for the electronics industries in Korea and China. As a result of empirical testing, most of three attributes above mentioned (i.e., CSR fit, CSR sustainability, and CSR impact) produce meaningful results for CSR authenticity. However, CSR sustainability was rejected for the Korea sample, and CSR fit was rejected for the Chinese sample, showing some differences between the two countries. Meanwhile, the digital transformation of the Fourth Industrial Revolution had strong partial mediating effects between CSR attributes and CSR authenticity. This means that digital transformation can be an important pathway to achieve CSR authenticity and suggests that important mediating effects can eventually lead to a firm’s competitiveness. Full article
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