Stakeholders within the framework of Corporate Social Responsibility: A systematic review/Los grupos de inter
| Autor | Z |
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Introduction
A variety of industries and countries have focused their attention on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) through the establishment of corporate ethical codes, management reports, and the auditing of socially responsible practices (Mikotajek-Gocejna, 2016) to respond to the interests of stakeholders (Pérez-Sanz, Gargallo-Castel, & Esteban-Salvador, 2019). From the upcoming CSR, questions have emerged regarding actions towards these groups: Milton Friedman proposes the adoption of corporate goals regarding shareholders (instrumental orientation); in contrast, Edward Freeman considers it appropriate to integrate stakeholders within the operation of the organization (Foss & Klein, 2018; Contreras-Pacheco, Talero-Sarmiento, & Camacho-Pinto, 2019).
Milton Friedman's premise, as part of neoclassical economic theory, states that managers should make as much money as possible, since the management of activities that reduce profit maximization or contribute to philanthropy is considered a loss for shareholders (Jahn & Brühl, 2018). In this respect, Morgan and Tumlinson (2019) demonstrate that when shareholders are concerned about the public good, specifically under circumstances directly affecting them, corporations will have to maximize their benefits through socially responsible management; however, Sekhon and Kathuria (2020) consider that corporate financial performance in developing countries is affected when spending in CSR.
Edward Freeman adds the interests of other parties involved to the shareholders model, emphasizing on the fact that managers should try to balance interests under an integral vision (Ferrero, Hoffman, & McNulty, 2014; Sanchis-Palacio & Campos-Climent, 2019). In consequence, CSR should represent corporate ethics in its relationships with its stakeholders, contributing to the society in which the business is operating (Freeman & Liedtka, 1991). This perspective is reinforced by Archie Carroll, considering ethical responsibility when adapting to standards and practices that are not legally encoded but turn into actions that shareholders expect from the organization (Carroll, 2016). In this regard, Wagner-Tsukamoto (2019) proposes the creation of ethical capital through a product or service that promotes corporate philanthropy towards stakeholders.
Hence, the purpose of this document is to analyze the theoretical-conceptual trends of stakeholders and CSR in the scientific literature between 2012 and 2016 to contextualize their origin, characteristics, and perspectives from an evolutionary view on the scientific organizational area. The methodology is developed at two different stages: a bibliometric analysis, through the search of papers in Scopus[R], the construction of the search equation and the definition of inclusion and exclusion criteria; second, the systematic review that gave shape to the theoretical-conceptual analysis contained in the results.
The paper is structured under three sections: methodological design, results of the systematic review, and conclusions and recommendations on the practical implications of introducing CSR and stakeholders in organizations.
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Methodology
2.1 Bibtiometric analysis
For the analysis of publications, the methodology proposed by Martínez, Bravo, and Becerra (2013) was followed. It comprises the collection, processing, and analysis of bibliometric information for the generation of results. The Scopus[R] database was selected as it is the largest base for abstracts and bibliographical references for scientific literature reviewed by academic peers, counting 18,000 titles and 5,000 international publishers; today, it is the best tool for bibliometric studies on scientific production, added to an increase in the number of publications on CSR between 2000 and 2018, as compared with other multidisciplinary databases (Smolarek & Sipa, 2020).
The analysis of scientific documents shows the impact and trends of scientific production (Tejedor-Estupiñán & Tejedor-Estupiñán, 2019); therefore, bibliometrics represents the application of quantitative methods to find bibliographic connections that make it possible to identify the literature standing out in the area of interest (Nita, 2019; Xue et al., 2020). For this reason, indicators make visible productivity, collaboration, citation, visibility, impact, recent, frequently cited documents, and the h index (Vitón, Diaz-Samada & Martínez, 2019).
The search protocol was defined between 2012 and 2016, inclusion and exclusion criteria were established (Table 1) as well as the combination of key words.
The profile for the search equation included criteria and coupling of terms (Table 2), which generated 591 articles when prototyped in the database, highlighting authors and institutions, the production dynamics, and the evolution of the subject matter. Then, titles, keywords and abstracts were read thoroughly; therefore, the initial number was narrowed down to 64 publications.
2.2 Systematic review
The systematic review from bibliometrics in the methodological phase allowed to identify patterns of literature, impact studies, and theoretical-conceptual evolution (Lopes & De Carvalho, 2018); in turn, it led to the development of a reviewing protocol which materialized as a structured analysis of information (Martínez-Usarralde, Gil-Salom & Macías-Mendoza, 2019). According to Ferreira, Urrutia and Alonso-Coello (2011), systematic reviews are:
"Scientific research in which the unit of analysis comes from primary original studies; they provide an essential tool to synthesize the scientific information available; to increase the validity of conclusions in individual studies and identify areas of uncertainty where it is necessary to conduct research; however, conducting a quality systematic review is not an easy task, and sometimes its interpretation is not easy either" (p.689).
For Santana, Morales-Sánchez and Pasamar (2020), the development and evolution of literature related with CSR makes conducting bibliographic studies that identify theoretical and methodological trends among stakeholders in socially responsible practices, including materials and methods used to obtain results worth it (Pérez, 2019). Consequently, three stages were implemented: 1) review planning; 2) development of review and interpretation, and 3) presentation of results (Tranfield, Denyer, & Smart, 2003).
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Results
The findings resulted from the two main variables of the study, stakeholders and CSR. The former was analyzed from three categories: genesis, definition, and theories of stakeholders; the latter, from the following categories: conceptualization, classification and definitions.
3.1 Approaching stakeholders
There is a wide range of bibliography on stakeholders; however, most authors agree on the fact that philosopher Edward Freeman is the father of this theory. In his book Strategic Management a Stakeholder Approach, he states that the world of business takes up new administrative and productive roles facing the globalized change in technologies, communications, and the economic system. He also states that companies went from small family homes to multinational corporations with representative progress in their corporate actions, with significant effects on the society and their surroundings (Freeman, 1984). Hence, organizations hold countless interests at stake, not only from shareholders and owners, but from all groups and communities they interact with (Seguí, 2012).
Corporate actions and productive activities have both a direct and indirect impact on the well-being of stakeholders, including shareholders, employees, clients, providers, local communities, the natural environment, the government, and society in general; since the expectations of every group of stakeholders are defined according to their needs (Alniacik, Alniacik, & Genc, 2011). In this respect, Post, Preston and Sachs (2002) state that stakeholders are defined as "individuals and groups that voluntarily or involuntarily contribute to a business' capacity and activities for the creation of wealth, and consequently they are the business' potential beneficiaries and/or risk holders" (p. 8). In this sense, their corporate influence is important (exogenous influence) as the success and implications of corporate management and organizational image depend on this influence (Noto & Noto, 2018).
According to Freeman "one of the stakeholders in an organization is any group or individual who may affect or be affected by the achievement of the organization's objectives" (Freeman, 1984, p.25). On the other hand, Bryson (1995) states that stakeholders may present an ownership claim before an organization to defend their rights and request guarantee on responses to their reality. These examples of stakeholders refer to a governmental body, trade unions, social organizations, political parties, the financial community, and the citizens (Corrèa & Miranda, 2011). Likewise, Chung, Lin, and Yang (2012) state that these claims are emphasized on the corporate objectives facing responsible actions towards the surrounding social and environmental settings.
Although the primary definition of stakeholders put forth by Freeman (1984) has revolutionized the corporate world regarding the affectation of stakeholders, what this definition denotes has evolved to include providers, environmentalists and other groups that may contribute to or hinder organizational purposes. For this reason, Clarkson (1995) divides stakeholders into primary and secondary. Primary stakeholders are indispensable for the corporation to develop and achieve its social purpose and comprising shareholders, investors, employees, clients, suppliers, and the so called public stakeholders (communities and the government), who provide infrastructure, markets, laws and regulations, thus creating interdependence between the corporation and primary stakeholders (Moura-Leite, Padgett, & Galán, 2014; Colvin...
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