Corporate Social Responsibility: Review of Academic Literature

Abstract

CSR has gained more attention in recent years in both developing and developed countries and among the ancient debate questions concerning CSR is determining if it is important for companies to pay societal demands. Still date, this query has been a vital initiate for several studies, several researchers have stated that an answer to this question is yet to be found. The difference in CSR significances calls for a literature study so as to shed light on the debate and permit the drawing of a conclusion.  Although for many developing countries like Cameroon, Nigeria, Ghana, CSR is not yet a priority for managers of firms, this study reveals several relationships between CSR and financial performance that include; positive, negative, U-shaped and even no relationship. Some studies have different opinion about CSR and performance but they are mostly outdated materials. There has been a lot of changes since the beginning of the CSR debate, hence one can say with conviction that “Good Ethics is Good Business”.

Keywords: Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), Financial performance, Literature review

DOI: 10.7176/RJFA/11-18-05

Publication date:September 30^th 2020