Proceedings of the International Association for Business and Society

Volume 15, 2004

Proceedings of the Fifteenth Annual Meeting

Duane Windsor
Pages 264-272

The Economics of Corporate Social Responsibility

A recent economic literature on corporate social responsibility treats CSR as purely a strategic variable: one dimension in an integrated strategic management directed strictly at wealth creation. That perspective arguably has some moral foundations in market utilitarianism and investors’ property rights, but since focused on strategy the economic literature barely touches on these foundations. Commitment to ethical conduct, beyond what is obliged by ill-defined law, is a philosophical choice by individuals about what matters. An axiomatic position of wealth maximization tends to obviate or erode moral judgment on specific issues and thus to undermine citizenship behaviors and ultimately social responsibility even though increasing economic wealth and consumption.