Leadership and the Creation of Corporate Social Responsibility: An Introduction to the Special Issue

Abstract

In a recent interview, Apple’s CEO Tim Cook said that when the government is less functional, it falls on businesses and other areas of society to “step up” (Sorkin2017). His comment highlights what is perhaps the foundational question of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR): Who is responsible for what? and when and how does a business decide to “step up”? Today, problems such as political divisions, negative reactions to globalization, immigration, Brexit, discrimination, and the emergence of populism and nationalism create environments that can challenge businesses to either “step up” or be complacent (Wettstein2012). As Donaldson and Walsh (2015) explain, “business works both in and for society” (p. 182). If this is the case, it raises other key questions in CSR, such as how do businesses decide what their moral responsibilities are? And, in particular, what role do leaders play in CSR initiatives?