Abstract
The lack of consensus in stating what Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) exactly means has led some people to argue that the concept is too vague to offer guidance, while others suggest forgetting about theorising and instead focusing entirely on the development of practical applications such as codes of conduct, standards and reporting initiatives. This article argues that the discussion on CSR as a whole has reached this impasse because it ignores two major underlying problems. First, the fact that CSR is an ideological notion: the definition and use of ‘CSR’ depends on the moral and practical views of the people and organisations involved. Secondly, the debate on CSR lacks a thorough discussion about the nature and role of the firm, the main actor when it comes to accepting and implementing CSR. After explaining our standpoint, this article winds up with the implications of this reframing for the CSR debate, for the efforts to define it and for the efforts to apply it.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Acemoglu, D., J.A Robinson, S. Johnson. (2000). The colonial origins of comparative development: an emprical investigation. Cambridge, USA/MA: MIT, Department of Economics.
Amaeshi, K.M. and B. Adi (2007). Reconstructing the corporate social responsibility construct in Utlish, Business Ethics: a European Review, 16 (1), 3-18.
Arrow, K.J. (1950). A Difficulty in the Concept of Social Welfare. Journal of Political Economy, 58(4), 328-346.
Barney, J.B., William Hesterly. (1999). Organizational Economics: understanding the relationship between organizations and economic analysis. In S. R. C. a. C. Hardy (Ed.), Studying Organisation: theory & method (pp. 109-141). London: Sage.
Beinhocker, E.D. (2006). The Origin of Wealth: evolution, complexity and the radical remaking of economics. Harvard: Harvard Business school Press.
Bowen, H.R. (1953). Social Responsibilities of the businessman. New York: Harper & Row.
Callon, M. (1998a). The law of the Markets. Oxford Blackwell.
Callon, M. (1998b). The Embeddedness of economic markets in economics In M. Callon (Ed.), The Law of the Markets (pp. 1-57). Oxford: Blackwell
Campbell, J.Y., A.W. Lo, A.C. MacKinlay. (1997). The Econometrics of Financial Markets. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Carroll, A.B. (1979). A Three-Dimensional Conceptual Model of Corporate Performance, The Academy of Management Review, 4 (4.), 497-505.
Coase, R.H. (1937). The nature of the Firm. Economica, 4, 386-405.
Davis, K. (1973). The Case for and against Business Assumption of Social Responsibilities. The academy of Management Journal, 16 (2): 312-322
Evans, P. (1979). Dependent Development: the alliance of multinational, state, and local capital in Brazil. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Evans, P. (1995). Embedded Autonomy: states & industrial transformation. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Evans, P. (2004). Development as institutional change: The pitfalls of monocropping and the potentials of deliberation. Studies in Comparative International Development (SCID), 38(4), 3-131.
Fourcade, M., Kieran Healy. (2007). Moral Views of Market Society. Annual Review of Sociology, 33, 285-311.
Friedman, M. (1962). Capitalism and Freedom. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Friedman, M. (1970). The Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase its Profits, The New York Times Magazine, September 13, 1-5.
Friedman, M.: 2005, Rethinking the Social Responsibility of Business. A Reason Debate, Featuring Milton Friedman, Whole Foods’ John Mackey, and Cypress Semiconductor’s T.J. Rodgers, October, 1–10.
Garriga, E. and D. Melé (2004). Corporate Social Responsibility Theories: Mapping the Territory, Journal of Business Ethics, 53, 51-71
Granovetter, M. (1985). Economic Action and Social Structure: The Problem of Embeddedness, The American Journal of Sociology, 91(3), 481-510.
Granovetter, M. (1992). Problems of Explanation in Economic Sociology. In: N. Nohria and R. C. Eccles (eds), Networks and Organizations: Structure, Form and Action (pp. 25-49). Boston: Harvard Business School Press.
Grossman, S., Hart, O. (1986). The Costs and Benefits of Ownership: a theory of vertical integration. Journal of Political Economy, 94, 691-719.
Hajer, M. (1995). The Politics of Environmental Discourse : ecological modernization and the policy process. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Hayek, F. (1960). The Constitution of Liberty. New York: John Wiley.
Healy, S. (2005). Toward a vocabulary for speaking of the engagement of things into discourse. Journal of Environmental Policy & Planning, 7(3), 239-256.
Hirschman, A. O. (1977). The Passions and the Interests. Princeton University Press, Princeton.
Hodgson, G.M. (1993). Economics and Evolution: bringing life back Into economics. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
Jensen, M., W Meckling. (1976). Theory of the Firm: managerial behavior, agency costs, and capital structure. Journal of Financial Economics, 3, 305-360.
Jones, T. M. (1980). Corporate Social Responsibility Revisited, Redefined. California Management Review, 22(3), 59.
Ketola, T. (2008). A Holistic Corporate Responsibility Model: Integrating Values, Discourses and Actions. Journal of Business Ethics, 80, 419-435.
Kirman, A. (1999). The Future of Economic Theory. In A. Kirman, Louis-André Gérard-Varet (Ed.), Economics beyond the Millennium (pp. 8-23). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Koza, M.P., Jean-Claude Thoenig. (2003). Rethinking the Firm: organizational approaches. Organization Studies, 24(8), 1219-1229.
Landes, D. (1998). The Wealth and Poverty of the Nations. Brettenham: Little, Brown & Company.
Lane, R.E. (1991). The Market Experience. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
MacKenzie, D., Fabian Muniesa,Lucia Siu. (2007). Do Economists Make Markets?: On the performativity of economics: : Cambridge University Press.
Mahbubani, K. (2008). De eeuw van Azië: een onafwendbare mondiale machstverschuiving. Amsterdam: Nieuw Amsterdam.
Marx, K.: 1872, Het Kapitaal: een kritische beschouwing over de economie (I. Lipschits, Trans. 5e ed.) (De Haan, Bussum).
McCloskey, D. (2006). The Bourgeois Virtues: ethics in an age of commerce. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Mintzberg, H. (1983). Power in and around Organisations. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall.
Mintzberg, H. (1994). Strategievorming. Tien scholen. Schiedam: Scriptum Books.
Nadeau, R.: 2008, ‘The Economist Has No Clothes’, Scientific American, April 2008
North, D.C. (1990). Institutions, Institutional Change and Economic Performance. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
North, D.C. (1994). Economic Performance Through Time. The American Economic Review, 84, 359-368.
Olson, M. (2000). Big Bills Left on the Sideway: Why Some Nations are Rich and Others Poor. In: M. Olson and S. Kähkönen (eds.), A Not So-Dismal Science: A Broader View of Economies and Societies (pp. 37-60). Oxford: Oxford University Press
Polanyi, K. (1957). The Great Transformation: the political and economic origins of our time. Boston: Beacon Press.
Porter, M.E. (1980). Competitive Strategy: Techniques for Analyzing Industries and Competitors (Free Press, New York).
Porter, M.E. and C. van der Linde (1995). Toward a New Conception of the Environment-Competitiveness Relationship. The Journal of Economic Perspectives, 9 (4), 97-118.
Schumpeter, J.A. (1950). Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy. New York: Haper & Brothers Publishers.
Schumpeter, J.A. (1961). The Theory of Economic Development. New York: Oxfrod University Press.
Schwartz, B. (2005). The Paradox of Choice. New York: Harper Perennial.
Simmel, G. (2004). The Philosophy of Money. London: Routledge.
Smith, A. (1757). The Theory of Moral Sentiments. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Smith, A. (1776). An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. In: E. Cannan (ed.). Compilation of An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. London: Methuen & Co., Ltd.
Sornette, D. (2003). Why Stockmarkets Crash: critical events in financial markets. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Stigler, J. and G.S. Becker (1977). De Gustibus Non Est Disputandum. The American Economic Review, 67 (2), 76-90.
Taleb, N.N. (2007). The Black Swan: the impact of the highly improbable. London: Random House.
Thrift, N. (2005). Knowing Capitalism. London: Sage
Van Marrewijk, M. (2003). Concepts and Definitions of CSR and Corporate Sustainability: Between Agency and Communion. Journal of Business Ethics, 44 (2):95-105.
Van Tulder, R. and A. van der Zwart: 2003, Reputaties op het spel. Maatschappelijk verantwoord ondernemen in een onderhandelingssamenleving (Uitgeverij Het Spectrum B.V., Utrecht), pp. 18–138.
Veblen, T. (1974). De theorie vande nietsdoende klasse. Amsterdam: Arbeiderspers.
Votaw, D.: 1972, `Genius Becomes Rare: A comment on the Doctrine of Social responsibility', California Management Review (pre-1986), 15(winter 1973), 25–31.
Wiggins, R.R., TW Ruefli. (2002). Sustained Competitive Advantage. Organization Science, 13(1), 81-105.
Wiggins, R.R., TW Ruefli. (2005). Schumpeter’s Ghost: Is Hypercompetition Making the Best of Times Shorter? Strategic Management Journal, 26, 887-911.
Williamson, O.E. (1975). Markets and Hierarchies: analysis and antitrust implications. New York Free Press.
Zelizer, V. (2007). Pasts and Futures of Economic Sociology. American Behavioral Scientist, 50(8), 1056-1069.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Knippenberg, L., de Jong, E.B.P. Moralising the Market by Moralising the Firm. J Bus Ethics 96, 17–31 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-010-0446-9
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-010-0446-9