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Corporate social responsibility in times of recession: Changing discourses and implications for policy and practice
Author(s) -
Ellis Louise,
Bastin Claire
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
corporate social responsibility and environmental management
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.519
H-Index - 73
eISSN - 1535-3966
pISSN - 1535-3958
DOI - 10.1002/csr.254
Subject(s) - corporate social responsibility , recession , prosperity , action (physics) , business , political economy , public relations , political science , public economics , economics , economic growth , macroeconomics , physics , quantum mechanics
In UK environmental, social, and economic policy‐making sustainable development (SD) is discussed in a corporate‐centric manner, with corporate social responsibility (CSR) seen as an extension of SD. The CSR and SD agendas have, to some extent, been confined to ones which are ‘safe’ in the current economic system. This paper examines whether the way corporations ‘talk about’ CSR has changed during the recession. Using document analysis and interviews with key informants, this paper contributes to the debate around whether change in language leads to change in action and whether this affects agenda‐setting and policy‐making. This paper contributes to the debate linking CSR and corporate activity and investigates how robust CSR activity is when economic prosperity is threatened. Initial findings suggest that CSR is seemingly recession‐proof, at least in part because corporate commitment to CSR remains conservative and securely grounded in the safe area of efficiency. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.