CSR in the Post COVID-19 Era: An Old-fashioned Term or a Broadened Concept?
Yaping Chen, MSc Accounting and Finance graduate, explores if 'Corporate Social Responsibility' is going to be replaced by newer concepts.
As an important business concept, corporate social responsibility (CSR) has been discussed since the 1950s. This ongoing discussion has led to various perspectives on how to define a responsible business.
In recent years, terms such as Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) have attracted extensive public attention. The term “CSR” is less used and may even be viewed as old fashioned. Moreover, in the challenging post COVID-19 conditions where businesses tend to deprioritise costly CSR initiatives and practices, the question arises as to whether CSR can keep momentum.
This article explores the question by reviewing the research literature relevant to the evolving conceptualisation of and recent changes in “CSR”. The author argues that “CSR” may eventually be replaced by other trending terms.
However, the conceptualisation of responsible business does not cease, and our understanding of CSR has been broadened. A conceptual framework (Figure 3) is proposed to show how SDGs, CSR, and ESG are interconnected and embedded into a responsible business’s model, strategy, activities, and long-term value creation process.
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