Public Relations Theory

13Corporate Social Responsibility

Chun‐Ju Flora Hung‐Baesecke, Yi‐Ru Regina Chen, Cindy Sing‐Bik Ngai, and Minqin Ma

In recent decades, organizations have placed increasing emphasis on corporate social responsibility (CSR), either because of public demand or because of its contribution to corporate outcomes by triggering positive reactions from various stakeholders (e.g. consumers, employees, community leaders, and government officials) (Dawkins & Lewis, 2003). For example, 3,478 companies in Hong Kong were awarded the Caring Company logo in recognition of their CSR practices by the Caring Company scheme in 2016–2017 (Hong Kong Council of Social Service, 2017). The scheme is the longest standing and largest CSR recognition scheme in Hong Kong sponsored by the government. The number of corporate awardees was 12 times larger than it was 15 years ago when the scheme was founded (Hong Kong Council of Social Service, 2017). A recent CSR study found that Americans are more willing than before to reward companies for their responsible business practice and advocacy of social issues in line with their own concerns by doing business with them or making donations to charities the companies support (Cone, 2017). The study also found that Americans are more willing than before to punish corporations that fail to act responsibly by stopping their purchases of the company’s products and boycotting them. These examples demonstrate why giving attention to CSR efforts is important.

Defining ...