Lo sviluppo degli studi sulla Corporate Social Responsibility nella dottrina internazionale

Many distinguished authors have been researching on the topical area of Corporate Social Responsibility. This paper aims to draw an evolutionary framework of the doctrine of CSR based on the most relevant North-American and international literature. The doctrine of CSR stems from the undeniable aspiration of finding a socially and ethically sustainable relationship between the business enterprise, its constituents and civil society. The focus of this research is on those Authors who have greatly contributed to the development of a theoretical synthesis of the various and different issues related to CSR. The concept of CSR itself has been developed within many academic disciplines, above all management and business administration but has also been incardinated within the more specific research fields of business ethics, corporate governance, corporate citizenship, business sustainability and other similar ones. More recently, the study of CSR has been intertwined with the discipline of stakeholder management and theory. From one hand, the stakeholder approach has contributed to operationalize CSR in terms of effective policies and practices to be implemented in order to respond to stakeholders’ expectations (instrumental approach). On the other hand, stakeholder theory has contributed to build a normative approach to CSR. This paper reviews the groundwork on which CSR theories and practices has been shaped in the last two decades.