Internal Corporate Social Responsibility for Sustainability

The recent attention paid to internal corporate social responsibility (ICSR) observed in the academic literature has been paralleled by an increased focus thereof in management, to achieve the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). A bibliometric examination of the literature on ICSR and a complementary content analysis with ATLAS.ti revealed that the topic was largely neglected until 2014 but has now reached a consolidation stage. The main contribution of this paper was to conceptualize ICSR within the current theoretical paradigm of sustainability. The obtained results demonstrate that sustainable management requires attention to internal practices such as employee well-being and engagement. We anticipate that very soon, organizations will be directly involved in the SDG agenda through ICSR.

Automated summary

In recent years, there has been increasing attention to internal corporate social responsibility in both academic literature and management circles, in order to achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Research shows that the topic of ICSR was largely neglected until 2014 but has now reached a consolidation stage. The main contribution of this study is the conceptualization of ICSR within the current theoretical paradigm of sustainability.