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Definitions of Social Responsibility

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Encyclopedia of Corporate Social Responsibility

Introduction

Social responsibility is the ideological notion that organizations should not behave unethically or function amorally, and should aim (instead) to deliberately contribute to the welfare of society or societies – comprised of various communities and stakeholders – that they operate in and interact with. As such, the notion of social responsibility is effectively taken to apply to all and any organizational entities, whether a government, a corporation, and institution, or an individual, dealing with society at large when conducting core (commercial) activities. In recent decades, however, social responsibility has come to be acknowledged as particularly relevant in relation to corporate behavior, that is, in relation to the way in which businesses and managers behave and conduct themselves in societal relationships, and the extent to which these actors commit themselves to socially oriented initiatives aimed at improving the quality of life in and overall well-being of...

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Correspondence to Brigitte Planken .

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Planken, B. (2013). Definitions of Social Responsibility. In: Idowu, S.O., Capaldi, N., Zu, L., Gupta, A.D. (eds) Encyclopedia of Corporate Social Responsibility. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-28036-8_476

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