Corporate social irresponsibility: review and conceptual boundaries

• Published in: European journal of management and business economics Vol. 26; no. 2; pp. 146 - 162
• Main Authors: Riera, Marta, Iborra, María
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Madrid Emerald Group Publishing Limited 01-01-2017; Emerald Publishing
• Subjects: Behavior; Boolean; Corporate social irresponsibility; Corporate social responsibility; Corruption; Ethics; Fraud; Interest groups; Literature reviews; Professional ethics; Professionals; Social responsibility; Strategic management; Studies; Unethical behaviour
• ISSN: 2444-8451; 2444-8494
• DOI: 10.1108/EJMBE-07-2017-009

The purpose of this paper is to carry out a review of the academic literature about corporate social irresponsibility (CSIR) highlighting aspects that help us to define socially irresponsible behaviour and its relationship with socially responsible behaviour. Through a Boolean search of studies related to terms of irresponsibility undertaken from 1956 to October 2016, the authors develop a review of the literature focussing on the main perspectives used for defining the term of CSIR. The paper provides a framework of three main dimensions for understanding the differences in the literature that defines CSIR: who defines irresponsible behaviour, an impartial observer or a specific group of stakeholders, whether it is a firm strategy or a punctual action and which is the relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and CSIR, continuity vs orthogonal relationship. The paper provides and extensive and original review of a key construct, CSIR, and develops some insights about its antecedents and consequences. The authors try to provide light to the contradictory situation where a growing interest in CSR and the increase in voluntary commitments adopted by company leaders incorporating CSR into their strategies are, paradoxically, increasingly associated with CSIR.