Dear Colleagues,

Despite its current variations, corporate social responsibility (CSR) frameworks can be defined as voluntary actions by firms that appear to advance social good at an activity level “above and beyond” that required by law (Park, Chidlow, and Choi, 2014). There is no doubt that being socially responsible is crucial in itself, but organizations must make sensible decisions about the level at which to leverage their CSR activities, and then translate social good into strategic benefit (Choi, Choi, Choi and Chung, 2020; Polonsky, and Jevons, 2009). Through strategies based on CSR, firms often progress to where they use organizational core resources to improve their competitiveness and performance, which again helps to lead to sustainable growth. Considering the financial value of CSR, relevant business research is in the limelight and shows that firms undertaking stronger CSR commonly attract consumers (in marketing), meet investor expectations (in finance), satisfy internal employees (in management), and successfully compete against local and global companies (in strategic international business).

In this line, this is the time to, first, synthesize different research fragments on CSR, second, combine CSR with an additional unique agenda (e.g., human rights, win-win partnership, official development assistance), and third, compile all the theoretical and empirical studies for organizational sustainability. Thus, by inviting submissions from researchers who study diverse theoretical perspectives, adopt varied empirical approaches, and perform multiple levels of analysis, as well as qualitative and quantitative experiments, literature reviews, and meta-analyses, this Special Issue aims to draw a comprehensive picture of CSR. We welcome submissions from various disciplines but are not limited to the following topics:

• Corporate social responsibility as part of organizational strategy;
• Corporate social responsibility as conduit for sustainable growth;
• Corporate social responsibility as a means for win-win partnerships;
• Corporate social responsibility associated with human rights;
• Corporate social responsibility related to official development assistance;
• Stakeholder influences on corporate social responsibility in various disciplines;
• Institutional pressures for corporate social responsibility in diverse domains;
• Relationship between the level of corporate social responsibilty and long-lived companies (i.e., proxy for sustainability).

References

Choi, D.; Choi, P.M.S.; Choi, J.H.; Chung, C.Y. Corporate Governance and Corporate Social Responsibility: Evidence from the Role of the Largest Institutional Blockholders in the Korean Market. Sustainability 2020, 12, 1680.

Park, B.I.; Ghauri, P.N. Determinants influencing CSR practices in small and medium sized MNE subsidiaries: A stakeholder perspective. Journal of World Business 2015, 50, 192-204.

Park, B.I.; Chidlow, A.; Choi, J. Corporate social responsibility: Stakeholders influence on MNEs’ activities. International Business Review 2014, 23, 966-980.

Polonsky, M.; Jevons, C. Global branding and strategic CSR: An overview of three types of complexity, International Marketing Review 2009, 26, 327-347.

Prof. Byung Il Park
Prof. Simon Shufeng Xiao
Guest Editors

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• corporate social responsibility
• sustainable growth
• strategic international business
• organizational sustainability
• marketing
• finance
• business management
• win-win partnership
• human rights