Importance of Social Domain in CSR and Sustainability.(CSR)

The four domains of Corporate Social Responsibility(CSR) as stated by Carroll’s in his CSR pyramid in 1979 are economic, legal, ethical and philanthropic and similarly the Three-Domain Model of CSR which is also known as Venn-Model Framework incorporates economic, legal and ethical responsibilities has separate as well as overlapped relation among the domain (Schwartz & Carroll, 2003).

Interesting, Monica Theil has advocated for higher prioritization in social domain as all of the other domain (economic, legal, ethical, philanthropy) initiates and exhibits from and within the society. CSR is the responsibility of the corporations, local communities and government to use the resources from the society in the most ethical and sustainable way so that we create a positive environment for upcoming progeny. It’s the long-term analysis and extrapolation rather than short-term profit orientation. The CSR revolves in a kind of circular loop and is a feedback read system and this circularity should make it sustainable.

Let us have a layman illustration, a company procures resources from the society, processes it, manufactures the product and gives it back to the community. Actually, the stakeholders are transmitting the input wherein the value goes on adding up. If we see it carefully the stakeholders throughout the process exhibits and manifest in other domain as stated above, i.e. economic; profit orientation, legal; pay tax, ethical; proper code of conduct, philanthropy; charities. But in fact, the whole phenomena revolve around the society. Indeed, the stakeholders do, relives and survives in the society which unequivocally emphasizes the importance of the social domain of CSR and sustainability.

President of United States actions, veridiction and their ramification intensifies us to think how important the social domain is. He proudly stepped back “Paris Climate Accord” and is also rolling back all those environment protection initiatives made by Obama administration. Though Trumps motto of “America First” may seem tantalizing for businesses and corporate entities as it harnesses the profit of dying coal companies and oil refineries for a time being, its negative impact on the environment and the well-being of society could not be neglected. It shall come with added health issues and insurance bills which would add up to the government medical budget ultimately.

The social domain advocates the unmet social needs and social issues demanded by the activities and NGO (Thiel, 2016) and if the overall principle of CSR and sustainability if is crafted by focusing on the social domain which comprise a broad scope, i.e. social well-being, human rights, diversity and inclusion, employee relation, taxes, social innovation most of the burning issues are well covered.

All the stakeholder, i.e. individual, corporation and business exists in the society, the social domain is the micro and macro level interaction of all this intermediaries acting and reacting explicitly and impliedly to create the long-term positive impact in the society and all of the remaining areas like economic, legal, cultural, political make sense only on the immensity of social domain.  A company could come up with various environmental protection schemes but if the people dwelling in that community is having economic hardship, then the environmental activism from the company might not make any sense. If society does not thrive than other remaining domains are hinder too.

It is well said that the social domain plays a crucial and critical factor in CSR and its sustainability.

Bibliography

Schwartz, M., & Carroll, A. B. (2003). Corporate Social Responsibility: A Three-Domain Approach. Business Ethics Quarterly, 503-530.

Thiel, M. (2016). The Social Domain in CSR and Sustainability: A Critical Study of Social Responsibility among Governments, Local Communities and Corporations. New York: Routledge.