The Relationship between Corporate Social Responsibility and Business Ethics

Abstract

The relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and business ethics (BE) is both a practical and theoretical issue. Unlike the traditional way of clarifying the relationship through identifying and comparing the extant definitions of the two terms, this study addresses and compares CSR and BE from three perspectives (basic concepts, academic fields, and social movements) in two analytical dimensions (in practice and in theory). This study indicates that: The relationship between the concept of CSR and BE is different from either the relationship between CSR as an academic field and BE as another academic field or the relationship between CSR as a movement and BE as another movement; within the relationships of the two concepts, fields and movements, the relationship between them in practice is different from that in theory; and CSR and BE are neither totally independent nor one of mutual inclusion, rather, they have similarities and differences.

Keywords

corporate social responsibility (CSR), business ethics (BE), relationship

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