Emerging Paradigms of Corporate Social Responsibility, Regulation, and Governance: Introduction to the Thematic Symposium

Over the last decade, corporate social responsibility (CSR) has experienced a “governance turn” as scholars began examining the institutionally embedded nature of CSR (Brammer et al. 2012; Campbell 2007; Matten and Moon 2008; Waddock 2008). This was also a period when foundational work in institutional and political CSR appeared, including Habermasian approaches (Scherer and Palazzo, 2007), corporate citizenship (Matten and Crane 2005), and corporate accountability through multi-stakeholder initiatives (MSIs) (Gilbert and Rasche 2007). Simultaneously, scholars utilizing post-colonial insights began surfacing the negative effects of CSR (Banerjee 2008). In short, CSR has emerged as an important part of a wider field of institutions governing the corporation and the economy, perhaps even as a mode of governance in itself (Brammer et al. 2012, p. 3). The aim of this thematic symposium of the Journal of Business Ethics is to contribute to and further these debates and highlight some questions still remaining to be addressed.