2008/01/01 by Subhabrata Bobby Banerjee · 2 citations
Business, Management and Accounting · Decision Sciences · #Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting #Management and Organizational Studies #Ethics in Business and Education #Corporate social responsibility #Stakeholder #Ideology #Rhetoric #Sustainability #Sociology #Power (physics) #Stakeholder theory #Citizenship #Public relations #Social responsibility #Corporate communication #Environmental ethics #Critical discourse analysis #Political science #Politics #Law
paper · doi:10.1177/0896920507084623
openalex publication_date 2008/01/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/31
In this article I critically analyze contemporary discourses of corporate social responsibility and related discourses of sustainability and corporate citizenship. I argue that despite their emancipatory rhetoric, discourses of corporate citizenship, social responsibility and sustainability are defined by narrow business interests and serve to curtail interests of external stakeholders. I provide an alternate perspective, one that views discourses of corporate citizenship, corporate social responsibility, and sustainability as ideological movements that are intended to legitimize and consolidate the power of large corporations. I also problematize the popular notion of organizational `stakeholders'. I argue that stakeholder theory of the firm represents a form of stakeholder colonialism that serves to regulate the behavior of stakeholders. I conclude by discussing implications for critical management studies.