Why Enforcing Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is Morally Questionable

Abstract

Docketed literature on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) exhibits heated contentions on the nature of business-society relations. This paper seeks to explore this contentious issue in the light of contemporary incorporation of CSR in business strategic plans. It notes that enforcing CSR on business might lead to its manipulation to advance corporate organisations’ purely self-interested ends rather than pursuing intrinsic philanthropic activities for the good of society. An insight into the undesirable consequences of enforcing CSR is given. Using Kantian ethics, the paper notes that the instrumental use of CSR by corporate organisations is immoral because it does not treat CSR as an end in itself in the same way as the profit maximisation is conceptualized in business circles. The paper, therefore, concludes that the integration of CSR in corporate organisations’ strategic plans is seen as instrumental to the realisation of their profit motives other than a genuine show of social concern.