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Corporate societal responsibility in marketing: normatively broadening the concept

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Abstract

The premise of this paper is that corporate societal responsibility in marketing should go far beyond traditionally conceived corporate social responsibility (CSR). Admittedly, some typical efforts like philanthropy and executive volunteerism do have a distinct social component, but in recent years much CSR activity, including choices for corporate charity, are instrumentally infused with branding, product development, supply chain construction and a host of other strategic marketing decisions by corporations. This paper briefly reviews relevant CSR writings, presents a new definition of corporate societal responsibility in marketing, and advances several foundational premises for responsible marketing practice. Implications are drawn for both marketing scholarship and marketing management.

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Notes

  1. The theory of personal responsibility both in business and in general is a much higher level of development (see Darling-Smith 2007).

  2. In the virtue theory literature, integrity was characterized as a “supervirtue” that contains similarity to a hyper norm (Solomon 1992).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Notre Dame, 394 Mendoza College of Business, Notre Dame, IN, 46556-5646, USA

    Patrick E. Murphy

  2. GfK Austria, Ungargasse 37, 1030, Vienna, Austria

    Magdalena Öberseder

  3. College of Business Administration, Marquette University, P.O. Box 1881, Milwaukee, WI, USA

    Gene R. Laczniak

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  1. Patrick E. Murphy
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  2. Magdalena Öberseder
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  3. Gene R. Laczniak
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Correspondence to Patrick E. Murphy.

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Murphy, P.E., Öberseder, M. & Laczniak, G.R. Corporate societal responsibility in marketing: normatively broadening the concept. AMS Rev 3, 86–102 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13162-013-0046-9

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