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Circular Economy and Corporate Social Responsibility

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Economic and Business Aspects of Sustainability".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 September 2021) | Viewed by 22127

Special Issue Editors

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

In 1994, John Elkington published the concept of the Triple Bottom Line in The Economist, a concept that determines that companies must produce and provide services based on the following parameters: on the one hand, they must obtain benefits, (profit), and, on the other hand, they must take into account the opinions of society (people) and configure their strategy based on these opinions and they must also consider the negative externalities that production and the provision of services generate in the environment (Planet).

In this sense, the corporate social responsibility is constituted as an instrument of business management that can face the different challenges that the organizations have in economic and environmental reality with negative externalities, including climate change generated by the model of the linear economy.

CSR is characterized by the fact that all stakeholders must join efforts with the aim of reducing, mitigating, and eliminating them in order to generate a new model of sustainable economic growth and a large part of the various actions of CSR has to do with projects related to sustainable development that the UN in 1987 proposed that sustainability as the ability to meet the needs of the current human generation without jeopardizing the needs of future generations.

The circular economy, a paradigm that implies that it is possible to produce in a different way, propagates a change of model and technologies of production and a productive system that is capable of generating a restorative and regenerative model of production and provision of services. This relies on renewable energies to reduce and mitigate the negative externalities of climatic change, environmental toxicity, and to improve biodiversity.  The circular economy focuses on the effective and efficient management of what are called technological nutrients under the management of R:

Rethink, Redesign, Recycle Reduce, Repair, Renew, Recover, Reuse

In this sense, we propose that researchers send us articles where they relate aspects and topics of CSR and EC, where they highlight that there are relationships of management variables and how the triple bottom line (TBL) strategies are designed in different organizations. In addition, it would be interesting to know how, from different points of view of the organizations, procedures of traceability and monitoring are being established to know how the processes are being carried out under the paradigm of the circular economy.

Prof. Valentín Molina-Moreno
Prof. Dr. Juan Victor Meseguer Sánchez
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 submissions that pass pre-check are 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 2400 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

  • Triple bottom line
  • CSR
  • shared value
  • 17 SDG/ODS
  • circular economy
  • social awareness
  • social-environmental reports
  • case studies
  • Bcorp Company
  • shared value
  • performance indicators KPI
  • corporate social responsibility
  • green economy
  • Millennium goals
  • socially responsible companies
  • carbon footprint
  • water footprint
  • plastic footprint
  • reverse logistics chain
  • logistics chain
  • environmental awareness
  • university corporate social responsibility
  • green technologies
  • personal social responsibility

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

22 pages, 317 KiB  
Article
The Relationship between the Integration of CSR and Sustainable Business Performance: Perceptions of SMEs in the South African Construction Industry
by Lance Wentzel, Julius Ayodeji Fapohunda and Rainer Haldenwang
Sustainability 2022, 14(3), 1049; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su14031049 - 18 Jan 2022
Cited by 15 | Viewed by 3980
Abstract
Although studies relative to redirecting the unsustainable trajectory of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the South African construction industry (SACI) have been extensively conducted, current statistics show that 70–80% of construction SMEs in the SACI fail within their first five years of [...] Read more.
Although studies relative to redirecting the unsustainable trajectory of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the South African construction industry (SACI) have been extensively conducted, current statistics show that 70–80% of construction SMEs in the SACI fail within their first five years of existence, raising concerns regarding their sustainability. This paper attempts to address the negative trajectory by exploring the concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR), investigating the organisational perceptions of SMEs in the SACI relative to the relationship between the integration of CSR and sustainable business performance (SBP). Existing literature was used to provide an overview of this relationship taking into consideration the views of SMEs in both developed and developing countries. The empirical study was conducted utilising a quantitative research approach in the form of an online questionnaire survey. The research data was analysed using both descriptive (mean, standard deviation, etc.) and inferential (Analysis of Variance ANOVA) statistics. Based on the research approach and data analysis, the findings revealed that SMEs in the SACI similarly perceive the relationship between the integration of CSR and SBP to be a positive one, implying that the practice of CSR within construction businesses should lead to SBP, and serve as a meaningful guide in addressing the unsustainable trajectory of SMEs in the SACI. The findings could guide government agencies such as the construction industry development board (cidb) to embed CSR education within contractor development programs, linking the adoption of CSR to the contractor grading system. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Circular Economy and Corporate Social Responsibility)
22 pages, 11796 KiB  
Article
Analysis of the Scientific Evolution of the Circular Economy Applied to Construction and Demolition Waste
by Carmen Díaz-López, Alessandra Bonoli, María Martín-Morales and Montserrat Zamorano
Sustainability 2021, 13(16), 9416; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su13169416 - 22 Aug 2021
Cited by 12 | Viewed by 3173
Abstract
The circular economy (CE) concept applied to construction and demolition waste (CDW) is a developing field of research that entails a large amount of complex and disjointed information; thus, a comprehensive review of scientific contributions could provide a completed perspective. This article aims [...] Read more.
The circular economy (CE) concept applied to construction and demolition waste (CDW) is a developing field of research that entails a large amount of complex and disjointed information; thus, a comprehensive review of scientific contributions could provide a completed perspective. This article aims to analyse the existing knowledge of CE research applied to CDW, using a double integrated analysis, a systematic literature review and a bibliometric analysis. For this purpose, Science Mapping Analysis Tool (SciMAT), a software for the analysis of performance indicators and visualisations of scientific maps, has been used, which offers a complete approach to the field and evaluates the most cited and productive authors and subject areas related to this discipline. The results obtained from the 1440 bibliographic records from 1993 to 2020 show a still-developing scientific field, evolving from concerns about economic aspects to the most recent progresses in the evaluation of sustainable deconstruction. This work will contribute to the existing body of knowledge by establishing connections, mapping networks of researchers and recommending new trends. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Circular Economy and Corporate Social Responsibility)
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16 pages, 4226 KiB  
Article
Managerial Risk Perceptions of Corporate Social Responsibility Disclosure: Evidence from the Forestry Sector in China
by Feifei Lu, Zhaohua Wang, Anne Toppinen, Dalia D’Amato and Zuomin Wen
Sustainability 2021, 13(12), 6811; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su13126811 - 16 Jun 2021
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2195
Abstract
Understanding how managers perceive risks in the decision-making process of corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure is vital, especially in sectors with high social and environmental demands on sustainability. The main aim of this study was to explore the impact of managerial risk perceptions [...] Read more.
Understanding how managers perceive risks in the decision-making process of corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure is vital, especially in sectors with high social and environmental demands on sustainability. The main aim of this study was to explore the impact of managerial risk perceptions and influencing factors on CSR disclosure in the forestry sector of China and to improve the sustainable development of forestry. Utilizing survey data of 214 managers from Chinese forestry enterprises, we analyzed how manager backgrounds, including six variables (gender, age, education level, degree major, number of years working as a manager, and work experience) related to the managers’ risk perceptions of CSR disclosure via a two-stage model. The analyses of the two-stage model revealed that the influence factors differ in the two stages of risk perception. According to our results, influencing factors were not the same at various stages of the CSR reporting process. This requires decision makers to take practical driving factors into account and select managers with different characteristics to carry out the CSR disclosure of forestry enterprises. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Circular Economy and Corporate Social Responsibility)
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18 pages, 3922 KiB  
Article
Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability. A Bibliometric Analysis of Their Interrelations
by Víctor Meseguer-Sánchez, Francisco Jesús Gálvez-Sánchez, Gabriel López-Martínez and Valentín Molina-Moreno
Sustainability 2021, 13(4), 1636; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su13041636 - 03 Feb 2021
Cited by 86 | Viewed by 10878
Abstract
Traditional economic system has brought important negative implications regarding environmental development, as well as an unequal distribution of wealth, which has led to ecological disasters and population imbalances. Considering the existence of unequal opportunities and access to resources in a global economy, it [...] Read more.
Traditional economic system has brought important negative implications regarding environmental development, as well as an unequal distribution of wealth, which has led to ecological disasters and population imbalances. Considering the existence of unequal opportunities and access to resources in a global economy, it would be relevant to study the interrelations between the concepts of Sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Global and multifactorial issues require the review of fieldworks and their connections. From this perspective, the present research aims to analyze the relationships between the concepts of Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability in order to understand the advances of current scientific production and future lines of research. In this way, there is a considerable increase of interest in this line of research, highlighting García-Sánchez as the most productive author, Business, Management and Accounting as the most studied topic, and Sustainability Switzerland as the most productive journal. The country with the most publications and citations is the United States, and the most productive institution is Universidad de Salamanca. Future lines of research should focus on the social dimension and its possibilities in the field of Circular Economy. Finally, a line of research is proposed that also includes the proposals from the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Circular Economy and Corporate Social Responsibility)
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