The Metamorphosis of a Logic: Identifying changing conceptions of CSR in the corporate environment

Corporate Social Responsibility has been a phenomenon in the corporate sector since its inception in the mid-20th century. Over the first decade of the 21st century corporations have been engaging and producing CSR efforts in greater numbers. However, there seems to be a very diverse understanding of CSR between theorists and amongst corporations. This study aims to divine what corporations understand as CSR and by investigating what these firms produce in their CSR reporting. This study employs novel data mining techniques to mine data from these reports. It them approaches them using the Institutional Logics perspective and Institutional theory to understand the organisation dynamics at play. This study then contends that the meaning of CSR has indeed shifted over the period in question. It proves this by identifying logics that form CSR and using them to track the development of these ideas across the decade. Using this date this study proves that CSR has now become a complex idea that includes both the drive to deliver social good and the need to satisfy the needs of the organisation.