Better CSR? return to neighborliness

Abstract

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is often criticized for being overly broad and abstract, if not cynical and deceitful. This leaves many stakeholders frustrated or disengaged, including occasionally the organization’s own staff and shareholders. We see the extraordinary disruptions of the past three years amid the COVID-19 pandemic as an opportunity to reengage with CSR in a more meaningful way. Echoing early conceptualizations by academics and practitioners, we turn to the idea of neighborliness as a guide for this transformation, outlining concrete ways in which this can be operationalized for focused engagements that reflect each company’s embeddedness in distinct communities.