ABSTRACT
In recent years Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has been the subject of much attention. Commentators have referred to CSR as a ‘global movement’ and ‘mega-trend’. Some have also suggested that the popularity of the CSR idea resembles that of a typical ‘management fashion’. In this article we conduct a preliminary analysis of the evolution and life-cycle of CSR in the Norwegian context. Focusing on the supply-side of CSR, we examine the public discourse around the idea using so-called ‘print-media indicators’. The discourse data show a rapid growth in the intensity of discourse in the years from 2005 to 2013. Interestingly, the life-cycle curve lags behind that seen in other countries, where CSR-related discourse started several years earlier. This indicates that the take-up of the CSR idea has not been uniform across countries. Based on the findings and a discussion of the limitations of our analysis, we map out a research agenda for studying the take-up and evolution of CSR as a fashionable management idea in different contexts.
Keywords
Corporate Social Responsibility, management idea, management concept, management fashion, business media, print-media indicators, discourse