The Past, History, and Corporate Social Responsibility

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EDITORIAL ESSAY

The Past, History, and Corporate Social Responsibility Robert Phillips1 · Judith Schrempf‑Stirling2   · Christian Stutz3,4  Received: 16 September 2019 / Accepted: 15 October 2019 © Springer Nature B.V. 2019

Abstract An emerging body of research recognizes the importance of the past and history for corporate social responsibility (CSR) scholarship and practice. However, the meanings that scholars and practitioners can ascribe to the past and history differ fundamentally, posing challenges to the integration of history and CSR thinking. This essay reviews diverse approaches and proposes a broad conceptualization of the relationship between the past, history, and CSR. We suggest historical CSR as an umbrella term that comprises three distinct theoretical perspectives. The “past-of-CSR” perspective is concerned with the history of CSR and business ethics as a set of concepts and practices. The “past-in-CSR” perspective involves employing empirical historical research to substantiate and elaborate CSR concepts and theories. Finally, the “past-as-CSR” perspective seeks to understand the past as a living, yet contested, facet of current organizations, influencing contemporary perceptions of corporate and managerial responsibility. We then elaborate on conceptual issues and paths that may prove useful for future research. In all, this essay and the thematic symposium it precedes strive to deepen and broaden the salience of the past and history for thinking about business ethics and business responsibilities. Keywords  Corporate social responsibility · Business ethics · Historic corporate social responsibility · Historical research · Organizational history · Uses of the past Part of a broader literature dedicated to more historically informed theory and practice (Kipping and Üsdiken 2014; Maclean et al. 2016; Rowlinson et al. 2014; Stutz and Sachs 2018; Wadhwani and Bucheli 2014), the concept of historic corporate social responsibility (HCSR) addresses questions of responsibility and accountability for long-ago actions (Schrempf-Stirling et al. 2016). HCSR considers how corporations manage the legitimacy of their activities when criticism of past wrongdoings flares up. The introduction of HCSR to the scholarly discourse about business ethics and * Robert Phillips [email protected] Judith Schrempf‑Stirling judith.schrempf‑[email protected] Christian Stutz christian.stutz@fh‑hwz.ch 1



Schulich School of Business, York University, Toronto, Canada

2



University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland

3

University of Applied Science in Business Administration Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland

4

University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland



business responsibilities can “be seen as marking a historic turn in the ever-expanding field of CSR” (Godfrey et al. 2016, p. 601, italics added). The idea that the past and history have relevance for CSR scholarship, however, is a central theme of a more diverse body of research (Stutz 2018). A first camp values a deep and complex understanding of the history of CS

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