Individual and Corporate Social Responsibility

2009/12/16 by Roland Bénabou, ROLAND BÉNABOU, Jean Tirole +1 · 2,260 citations
Business, Management and Accounting · Decision Sciences · Psychology · Social Sciences · #Business #Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting #Corporate governance #Corporate social responsibility #Economics #Ethics in Business and Education #Experimental Behavioral Economics Studies #Finance #Insider #Law #Perspective (graphical) #Political science #Prosocial behavior #Psychology #Public economics #Public relations #Social psychology #Social responsibility

paper · pdf · doi:10.1111/j.1468-0335.2009.00843.x

published in Economica 77(305), 1-19 (Wiley)

openalex publication_date 2009/12/16 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05

Abstract

Society's demands for individual and corporate social responsibility as alternative responses to market and distributive failures are becoming increasingly prominent. We draw on recent developments in the psychology and economics of prosocial behaviour to shed light on this trend and the underlying mix of motivations. We then link individual concerns to corporate social responsibility, contrasting three possible understandings of the term: firms' adoption of a more long‐term perspective, the delegated exercise of prosocial behaviour on behalf of stakeholders, and insider‐initiated corporate philanthropy. We discuss the benefits, costs and limits of socially responsible behaviour as a means to further societal goals.

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