Essay on Corporate Social Responsibility

Abstract

This report provides information on whether the benefits of CSR outweigh the drawbacks. The report shows that the benefits of CSR are more than the drawbacks and managers should consider implementing the strategy. The research utilizes the use of secondary resources to conclude. Most of the authors used in this report show that CSR has more advantages such as consumer satisfaction, financial performance, productivity, and promotes relationships among the companies, the stakeholders, and society. This research informs the managers on the benefits of executing CSR in their companies. More so, it provides information on few drawbacks that the managers should be prepared to experience. The study adds new information concerning the comparison of advantages and disadvantages of CSR which makes it easier to determine if the strategy should be implemented in companies.

Corporate Social Responsibility

Introduction

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a self-controlling model of business that helps business organizations to be socially accountable to the public, stakeholders, and self. Through CSR, companies have conscious of how that affects society environmentally, socially, and economically as they do their businesses (Basuony et al., 2014). Engaging in CSR means that companies are operating in ways that improve society and its environment. As much as CSR influences companies to translate the principles into practical activities, some of the researchers show that CSR may harm companies, stakeholders, and consumers.

Research Questions

Do the positive impacts outweigh the negative effects of CSR among the companies?

Hypothesis

Despite some of the researchers revealing the negative impacts of CSR, there are many positive influences that companies, stakeholders, and consumers experience. Companies should ensure that they are responsible for themselves, society, stakeholders, and consumers. This promotes the positive impact of business in society without other people suffering the implications of unethical business activities. However, it is linked to few drawbacks such as costs, conflicts in the profit motive, and “green washing” of customers.

Methodology

This report will utilize secondary sources for review to come up with conclusions. Articles that are less than 10 years old will be used to develop conclusions on whether CSR is effective among companies and if the benefits outweigh the drawbacks.

Literature Review

Based on a substantiation from Mena country, Basuony et al. (2014) state that CSR promotes the performance of business organizations. The stakeholder theory suggests that organizations have to manage relationships with other groups and stakeholders which influences the effectiveness of business decisions. Despite making entrepreneurship progress, businesses that pay attention to the needs of society are successful. For example, branding is effective when a business organization protects the environment and takes part in social activities such as the construction of schools. Most of the researches in this article show that CSR influences business performance through market orientation and consumer satisfaction and financial performance. In research done by Newman et al. (2018), shows that CSR has an independent positive influence on the level of firms efficacy- increased productivity influenced by high effective business engagement. Increased company involvement in community initiatives is a great influence for success in business due to customers’ and stakeholders’ trust.

The concept of the future of CSR presented by Archie Caroll shows that as companies continue to apply CSR, benefits such as stakeholders engagement, increased productivity due to employees being the driving force of business and the enhancement of power among ethically sensitive customers and the client will be experienced (Agudelo et al., 2019). The concept influences effective governance criteria, environmental responsibility, corporate citizenship, the establishment of shared business values, and social performance. However, CSR is linked to various negative impacts. Mahmood et al. (2020) suggest that CSR influences negativity through abusive supervision while valuing employees’ conducts. As much as CSR influences minimization of negative employees’ behavior, it also influences negative conduct when there is abusive supervision. More so, the implementation of CSR needs money. Especially for small businesses, CSR is not affordable to be allocated in the budget. The conflict of the profit motive is also established in CSR as the focus on societal benefits may influence losses to companies. Greenwashing of consumers is linked to CSR. For example, labeling products to be organic to attract consumers.

Implications

This exploration has implications for both bodies of knowledge and management. The research used in this report shows that as much as CSR may have various drawbacks, the benefits outweighs the disadvantages. It contributes to the existing body of knowledge by showing that CSR has more benefits and companies should consider its application in business. The limitations of the current study are the use of secondary sources and few articles to provide more evidence. More so, the articles used in this report do not include cultural factors such as religion which are significant in understanding CSR and the involved activities in the society. The discussion concerning the link between CSR and corporate governance is not provided. Therefore, further research should be done to evaluate this link and its impact on the performance of the company and the experiences of the stakeholders and customers. More so, the research provides a key takeaway for managers which is mainly the benefits of executing CSR in companies to influence performance. The managers should know that despite the presence of drawbacks linked to CSR, there are many advantages such as consumer satisfaction, effective branding, establishing trust, and financial performance.

Conclusion

Based on the previous research used in this report, it is evident that CSR has many advantages. These pros include consumer satisfaction, productivity, good relationships with society and stakeholders, financial performance, and effective branding. These advantages overpower the drawbacks which include costs, conflicts in the profit motive, and “green washing” of customers. However, the limitations of the research include the inclusion of fewer articles and a lack of cultural factors in the research. Therefore, this study concludes that the benefits of CSR outweigh the disadvantages. The implication of the literature is informing managers to execute CSR which promotes productivity and financial performance.

References

Agudelo, M. A. L., Jóhannsdóttir, L., & Davídsdóttir, B. (2019). A literature review of the history and evolution of corporate social responsibility. International Journal of Corporate Social Responsibility, 4(1), 1-23.

Basuony, M. A., Elseidi, R. I., & Mohamed, E. K. (2014). The impact of corporate social responsibility on firm performance: Evidence from a MENA country. Corporate Ownership & Control, 12(1-9), 761-774.

Mahmood, F., Qadeer, F., Abbas, Z., Hussain, I., Saleem, M., Hussain, A., & Aman, J. (2020). Corporate social responsibility and employees’ negative behaviors under abusive supervision: A multilevel insight. Sustainability, 12(7), 2647.

Newman, C., Rand, J., Tarp, F., & Trifkovic, N. (2020). Corporate social responsibility in a competitive business environment. The Journal of Development Studies, 56(8), 1455-1472.