Corporate social responsibility 

Introduction

What is this course about?

Welcome to this multimodal online course!

This course is about corporate social responsibility (CSR). CSR is receiving increasing attention from investors, customers, the media, and many other stakeholders. If your plan is to work for a company, your employer will probably expect you to be familiar with the concept of CSR. They might even ask you to contribute to CSR reporting.

In order to better prepare you, this online module will explain you what CSR is, how it has evolved over time, and how it is communicated.

What is the structure of this course? 

This course is divided into four parts (visible in the four tabs right below the course title):

• This introduction;
• Theory in the form of texts, videos, and external links to recommended reading (estimated time for completion: 2 hours);
• Exercises where you can test how much you have learnt from the theory, or how much you already knew (estimated time for completion: 2 hours);
• A case study dealing with the reporting of CSR content in a real-life scenario, where you can put your knowledge and skills into practice (estimated time for completion: 2 hours).

Is this the right course for you?

You are a perfect match for this course if:

1.  You are studying business, accounting, economics, or another related discipline; and
2.  You have a good knowledge of English.

How can you follow this course?

Some aspects of your participation in this course are obligatory, while others are optional.

Obligatory:

1.  Spend at least 6 hours between theory, exercises, and case study;
2.  Complete the case study. Please note that the recommended reading on the communication of CSR will be particularly helpful for the case study.

Optional:

1.  The theory is available both in textual format and in audiovisual format. For each topic, you can read the theory, watch the video, or do both.
2.  You can re-read/re-watch the theory as many times as you need, for instance if you have doubts while doing the exercises or the case study;
3.  You can devote more time to one component over the others. For example, you can dedicate the same amount of time to theory, exercises, and case study, or you can focus more on one of these parts over the others (but remember that you need to spend at least 6 hours on this course!);
4.  You can access this course as many times as you need. You don’t need to look at all the materials in just one session (in fact, we hope that you don’t!);
5.  We assume that you are an independent learner and that you will be able to decide when to finish the course. As a rule of thumb, we recommend that you take part in this course until you are able to answer the questions below.

What will you learn?

At the end of this course, you will be able to answer the following four questions:

1.  What is CSR?
2.  Which events have pushed the CSR agenda forward in the past few decades?
3.  What is the impact of ‘good’ or ‘bad’ CSR communication?
4.  Are all channels of CSR communication appropriate for all stakeholders?

A final note…

In order to create the materials in the theoretical section, we used the reports and the scientific publications listed below as sources. Feel free to have a look at them if you want to learn even more!

Sources

• Agudelo, M., Jóhannsdóttir, L., & Davídsdóttir, B. (2019). A literature review of the history and evolution of corporate social responsibility. International Journal of Corporate Social Responsibility, 4(1).
• Cahan, S. F., De Villiers, C., Jeter, D. C., Naiker, V., & Van Staden, C. J. (2015). Are CSR disclosures value relevant? Cross-country evidence. European Accounting Review, 25(3), 579–611.
• Carroll, B. (2008). A history of corporate social responsibility: Concepts and practices. In: A. Crane, D. Matten, A. McWilliams, J. Moon, & D. Siegel (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of corporate social responsibility (pp. 19–46). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
• Cone Communications. (2015). Cone Communications/Ebiquity global CSR study. https://www.conecomm.com/research-blog/2015-cone-communications-ebiquity-global-csr-study
• European Commission (2011). A Renewed EU Strategy 2011-14 for Corporate Social Responsibility. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:52011DC0681&from=EN
• Kim, S., & Ferguson, M. T. (2014). Public expectations of CSR communication: What and how to communicate CSR. Public Relations Journal, 8(3). https://www.bellisario.psu.edu/assets/uploads/2014KIMFERGUSON.pdf
• KPMG. (2016). Carrots & sticks. Global trends in sustainability reporting regulation and policy. https://assets.kpmg/content/dam/kpmg/pdf/2016/05/carrots-and-sticks-may-2016.pdf
• Martínez, P., & Del Bosque, I. R. (2013). CSR and customer loyalty: The roles of trust, customer identification with the company and satisfaction. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 35, 89–99.
• Öberseder, M., Schlegelmilch, B. B., & Murphy, P. E. (2013). CSR practices and consumer perceptions. Journal of Business Research, 66(10), 1839–1851.
• Porter, M. E., & Kramer, M. R. (2011). Creating shared value: How to reinvent capitalism—and unleash a wave of innovation and growth. Harvard Business Review. http://hbr.org/2011/01/the-big-idea-creatingshared-value
• Servaes, H., & Tamayo, A. (2013). The impact of corporate social responsibility on firm value: The role of customer awareness. Management Science, 59(5), 1045–1061.
• Thornton, A. (2019). These 11 companies are leading the way to a circular economy. World Economic Forum. https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/02/companies-leading-way-to-circular-economy/
• Tschopp, D. & Huefner, R. J. (2015). Comparing the evolution of CSR reporting to that of financial reporting. Journal of Business Ethics, 127(3), 565–577.

Team and contact information

Dr Alessandra Rossetti (alessandra.rossetti@uantwerpen.be)

Prof Luuk Van Waes (luuk.vanwaes@uantwerpen.be)

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No 888918.