Corporate Volunteering: definition and relationship with Corporate Social Responsibility

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to build a definition of corporate volunteering, which is useful to analyze how this concept can be linked to that of Corporate Social Responsibility. Bibliographical research was done by consulting various databases. A broad spectrum of theoretical interpretations and empirical research was analyzed, which served to identify each of the components of the proposed definition and to support that this definition is functional to define Corporate Social Responsibility. The definition combines specific characteristics of corporate volunteering, elements related to its management and a summary of the benefits that this activity generates for the stakeholders involved. This article contributes to the theoretical development of corporate volunteering, to the construction of useful tools for conducting empirical research, and to the development of management strategies and methodologies for implementing corporate volunteering programs that operate effectively as tools of Corporate Social Responsibility.