The study of corporate social responsibility (CSR) focuses on the relationship between organized corporate activity and social issues. Corporate social responsibility is a strategic decision made by an organization to undertake obligations to society, such as various forms of sponsorship, commitment to local communities, and attention to the environment.
Various business, organizational and economic theorists and researchers have contributed to building a body of knowledge of how for-profit business and corporate social responsibility can blend. Although several previous studies have provided important models for empirical investigation of CSR, social work research has been limited in this area. Over the past several years, it has been established that occupational social workers (OSWs) provide extensive and increasingly important social services in the workplace.
It has also been demonstrated that social work practice in work organizations is effective and efficient. Occupational social workers function in a host environment and many of their behaviors are defined by corporations. In order to properly understand the scope and effectiveness of the occupational social workers’ work, it is necessary to find out how they, occupational social workers, define their roles and functions and how they are defined by the employing corporations.
The scope of corporate social responsibility has broadened to the point where corporations and social workers associated or employed by corporations cannot safely ignore the social or financial consequences of their actions or inactions.
Corporate leaders are increasingly finding their companies in trouble because of unethical behavior, such as cheating on taxes, covering up accidents, and falsifying expense reports. Since 1990, the corporate environment has changed to reflect the public’s rethinking of its ideas about CSR. The trend of mergers, acquisitions, hostile takeovers, and downsizings over the last ten years has led to a pattern of more job change and less corporate loyalty on management’s part.
