Corporate Social Responsibility: To What Extent Businesses Should Contribute From Theoretical Perspective?

Today there is a general consensus among academics, practitioners and policy makers that businesses should use their resources and power to minimize problems in the society. However, there is still some disagreements regarding to what extent a business should get involve in social matters. Some people want businesses to assume significant responsibilities in order to alleviate various social problems, while others claim that businesses should only invest in social activities if they give positive returns. There is a great amount of rhetoric in this subject and many researchers have examined the reasons both for and against the concept of CSR, pointing out that corporations receive a social sanction from the society that requires them to contribute towards growth and development of the society. Nevertheless, critics of CSR point out that companies are already contributing to society by delivering goods and services, creating employment, paying taxes to government and providing returns to shareholders. In this article we provide a comprehensive review of the various concepts of corporate social responsibility. We also examine the arguments and philosophies for engaging in social activities. Keywords: Corporate social responsibility, Shareholder theory, Stakeholder theory DOI: 10.7176/EJBM/11-12-04 Publication date: April 30th 201