Individual Report Project 2: Literature Review on CSR

This report presents a comprehensive literature review on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). It begins with an introduction to literature reviews, outlining their purpose, objectives, and the process of conducting one. The main body of the report delves into CSR, defining it as a business approach that contributes to sustainable development by providing economic, social, and environmental benefits to stakeholders. It explores the objectives of CSR, its impact on employee engagement, decision-making, and ethical business practices. The report highlights the importance of CSR in enhancing brand image, attracting and retaining employees, and improving overall business performance. The report also includes the steps involved in writing a literature review and the key issues related to CSR, such as economic development, community investment, and environmental concerns. The conclusion summarizes the key findings, emphasizing the role of literature reviews in research and the contributions of CSR to sustainable development and organizational goals.

Individual report
project 2

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
1.What is Literature Review...................................................................................................1
2. Literature Review on Corporate Social Responsibility......................................................3
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................5
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................6

INTRODUCTION
A literature review is the comprehensive study that contain the critical analysis and
summarised information from the various sources and fill the gap of literature and also provide
the possibilities for the future research. And it is an overview of the research on a given
particular topic and answer the all related questions. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is the
business approach that helps to contribute to maintain the sustainable development of the
environment and society by providing the economic, social and environmental benefits to the
stakeholders(Chaudhri, 2016). This report is based on the literature review and process and steps
to achieve the literature review. This will also contain the purpose and objective of the literature
review. Further more this report will include the corporate social responsibility and how dose it
helps the sustainable development also will explain how companies apply it to achieve their
overall organisational goal with improving the society and environmental condition with the help
of the CSR.
MAIN BODY
1.What is Literature Review
Literature review is the summary and the explanation of the current knowledge and study
which include the findings, theoretical and as well as methodological contribution on a particular
and limited topic (Writing a Literature Review,2019). It can also be defined as the published
information on limited and fix subject area and sometimes information in a particular subject
area within a particular time period. The literature review is the comprehensive study and
summary of the past information and research on the specific topic, it surveys books, articles as
well as other relevant sources on particular topic of the research. It is just a summary of the
sources. Literature review has an organisational pattern that combine the summary and synthesis
both. In which summary refers to recap of the important information where synthesis is the
reorganization or the reshuffling of that particular information. This gives the new meaning and
understanding of the old information or combine the new material with the old one.
Literature review is the different from the academic books as the focus of the academic
research to develop the new argument that contain the literature review as one of its part. And the
focus of the literature review is to summarised and synthesis the discussion and argument and
ideas of others without adding new contribution. This literature review provide the guideline on
particular subject area(Booth, Sutton and Papaioannou, 2016). If someone has limited time to
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conduct the research literature review helps in providing an overview and this make the
professionals up to date with current state of knowledge.
Objective of the literature review
 literature review provide the ease to the research on a particular topic by selecting the
articles or studies which are most relevant and meaningful to the topic.
 Literature review summarised all the valid and relevant information into one complete
report.
 Literature review ensures that researcher could not copy the work which has already been
done.
 It provides the constructive and critical analysis of the methodology and approaches to
the future researchers(Snowden, 2017).
 It gives an excellent beginning point to the researchers to start their research I knew
subject area and also force them to summarise, evaluate and compare the research in that
specific area.
 Objective of the literature review is to identify the literature which is related to the
development and also measure the sources which is used in developing literature review.
 It surveys the literature in specific chosen subject area.
 It synthesises the information into a summary.
 It presents the literature in an organised way.
Content of the Review
Introduction – Introduction include the importance and explanation of the subject area. It also
explains and discuss the topic that what kind of work has to be done on the particular subject
area and suggest how findings will lead the research.
Body – Body summarised and evaluate the current state of knowledge. This also include the
findings about which researcher is agreed or disagree. This purpose of the body is to make the
argument clear and justify the research(Vagia, Transeth and Fjerdingen, 2016).
Conclusion - This conclusion summarised all the findings and information which is being
discussed in the body section. It highlights the gap and indicate how the past research will lead to
the research and methodology.
Steps To Writing A Literature Review
There are nine steps to writing a literature review
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11 Find a working topic : Firstly researcher find a subjective area in which research have to
be done. Take advice from the professors, read lecture notes and current issues in that
field.11 Review the literature : Researcher uses the keywords, computer database. Must take at
least two databases which is relevant to the subject area.11 Focus on the topic and select papers accordingly : Focus on the particular topic what is
interested and create interest in others too and set a time to consider the research.11 Read the selected articles and evaluate them : In this stage researcher read the articles
carefully and evaluate the methodologies, assumptions, materials etc. and make the
conclusion (Writing a Literature Review,2019).11 Organize the selected papers : In this stage researchers consider the findings, theories
and important trends and manage the papers accordingly.11 Develop a working thesis : In this researcher summarised one or two sentences about the
major trends and create research what has been done on subject.11 Organised papers based on the findings from step 4 and 5 : In these
headings/subheadings, tables and all the findings are to be organized and categorized.11 Write the body of the paper : In the body, plan has to be follow and implemented
which have developed in above stages. And divide sections on the basis of themes and
subtopics(Machi and McEvoy, 2016).11 Look at what have written, focus on analysis : At the last look at the all the sentences
and paragraphs, each of these must be presented in clear position and logically developed
from beginning to end.
2. Literature Review on Corporate Social Responsibility
According to Schmitz (2015), corporates social responsibility defines as the self
regulation business model which helps a company to be socially responsible, by implementing
CSR, company can gain the higher level of customer loyalty from the market place. It is
recognised as the wide concept that has a great impact on the company and it also takes many
forms depending on the business operations but Tiba (2019), argues that corporate social
responsibility can be explain as the integration of socially beneficial programmes and activities
in a company business model. It plays an important role in increasing the long term business
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profit for the companies which can be possible only through enabling them to become more
effective and attracting the positive attention from their efforts.
As per the view of Osagie (2016), corporate social responsibility is management concept
of companies, in which business units integrate social and environmental concern in its business
activities for better interaction with the stakeholders. It develops the systematic process which
plays a critical role in maintaining a balance between economical, social and environmental
imperatives and helps in addressing the expectations of the stakeholder. Enterprise gives
valuable contribution in the poverty reduction which results in enhancing the brand image of the
company in the market place as well as increasing the public image of the firm but Glavas
(2016), argues that corporate social responsibility is the policy which develop by the
management of the company for making decisions which are desirable in terms of the objective
and values for the communities. For appropriately following CSR policy, company contributes
voluntarily amount towards improving the life style of society as well as better environment. A
properly implemented CSR can also bring the variety of various competitive advantages such as
increased sales and profit, better quality and productivity and quality, better decision making and
efficient human resource base.
In the words of Yamahaki (2016), Corporate social responsibility plays an important role
in the greater employee engagement because companies with good CSR activities motivate its
employees to give their best possible efforts in the achievement of desired level of outcome.
Companies inform its employees about social activities and after knowing this employee feel
like that their contribution in the firm are helps to society in terms of reducing the poverty of the
state. It also results in attracting new employees as well as retaining the existing employees but
as per the view of Feng (2017), Corporates social responsibility are the major part of the success
of every business unit because it helps the company in terms of gaining the desired level of
benefits from the market place which improves the overall performance of the enterprise. If
companies provides the higher level of efforts in the charity firms that shows corporate unit are
more committed with the social activities which returns in appearing much more favourable to
consumers, overall this process enhance the public image of the company. In the corporate sector
the first Corporate social responsibility of the every business unit towards its employees, to
ensure that they are satisfied and happy with their job, for this management of the company
needs to maintain the work environment of the company in the way which ensure that the
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employee associated with the business operations are actually enjoying what they are doing. In
this manager needs to provide the work to the employees according to the knowledge and
experience of the employees so that they can perform their role in the organisation effectively
towards the accomplishment of the goal of the enterprise.
According to Glavas (2016), corporates social responsibility has great impact on the
decision making process of the firm because companies with CSR policies needs to make the
decision which are ethical in nature as well as beneficial in the welfare activity of the societies.
The organisation need to ensure that big part of the social activities is contributed towards the
betterment of the local public area in which the company operates its business operations for
helping the individual in terms of their growth. Company with corporate social responsibility
also require using the natural resources according to the demand of the situation which controls
the production process or the excessive wastage. CSR activities of the enterprise also ensure that
the firm do not contribute in increasing the level of pollution on the particular place where the
business operates and they also focus in reducing the carbon foot prints in the environment. But
Frynas (2017), says that company need to practice the ethical business for efficiently follow the
CSR activities in its work place environment which ensure that business activities of the
company do not harm the stakeholder and environment. The key issues of the corporate social
responsibility involves economic development, community investment and the environmental
issues like climate change, waste production and the work place diversity & work life quality.
CONCLUSION
From the above study it has been concluded that the literature review has important role
in conducting the research on a limited and particular topic. It provides the summarised version
of the information and also include the critical analysis of the information that give an ease to the
future researchers. CSR (corporate social responsibility) helps the organisation to improving the
life style and society's condition by providing the economic, environmental and social benefits
and focus of the CSR is to contribute to sustainable development of the environment. These
approaches of CSR also helps the organisation to achieve its organisational goal and increase
their brand image in the marketplace.
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REFERENCES
Books and journals
Ali, W., Frynas, J.G. and Mahmood, Z., 2017. Determinants of corporate social responsibility
(CSR) disclosure in developed and developing countries: A literature review. Corporate
Social Responsibility and Environmental Management. 24(4). pp.273-294.
Booth, A., Sutton, A. and Papaioannou, D., 2016. Systematic approaches to a successful
literature review. Sage.
Chaudhri, V., 2016. Corporate social responsibility and the communication imperative:
Perspectives from CSR managers. International Journal of Business
Communication. 53(4). pp.419-442.
Crowther, D. and Seifi, S. eds., 2018. Redefining Corporate Social Responsibility. Emerald
Group Publishing.
Feng, Y., Zhu, Q. and Lai, K.H., 2017. Corporate social responsibility for supply chain
management: A literature review and bibliometric analysis. Journal of Cleaner
Production. 158. pp.296-307.
Frynas, J.G. and Yamahaki, C., 2016. Corporate social responsibility: Review and roadmap of
theoretical perspectives. Business Ethics: A European Review. 25(3). pp.258-285.
Glavas, A., 2016. Corporate social responsibility and organizational psychology: An integrative
review. Frontiers in psychology. 7. p.144.
Glavas, A., 2016. Corporate social responsibility and organizational psychology: An integrative
review. Frontiers in psychology. 7. p.144.
Machi, L.A. and McEvoy, B.T., 2016. The literature review: Six steps to success. Corwin Press.
Osagie, E.R and et.al., 2016. Individual competencies for corporate social responsibility: A
literature and practice perspective. Journal of Business Ethics. 135(2). pp.233-252.
Schmitz, J. and Schrader, J., 2015. Corporate social responsibility: A microeconomic review of
the literature. Journal of Economic Surveys. 29(1). pp.27-45.
Snowden, M.B and et.al., 2017. Dementia and co‐occurring chronic conditions: a systematic
literature review to identify what is known and where are the gaps in the
evidence?. International journal of geriatric psychiatry. 32(4). pp.357-371.
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Tiba, S., van Rijnsoever, F.J. and Hekkert, M.P., 2019. Firms with benefits: A systematic review
of responsible entrepreneurship and corporate social responsibility literature. Corporate
Social Responsibility and Environmental Management.
Vagia, M., Transeth, A.A. and Fjerdingen, S.A., 2016. A literature review on the levels of
automation during the years. What are the different taxonomies that have been
proposed?. Applied ergonomics. 53. pp.190-202.
Online
Writing a Literature Review.2019.[Online].Available through<https://www.lib.uoguelph.ca/get-
assistance/writing/specific-types-papers/writing-literature-review>
Definition of corporate social responsibility (CSR).2019.[Online].Available
through<http://lexicon.ft.com/Term?term=corporate-social-responsibility--(CSR)>
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