Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and CSR Implementation

Dear Colleagues,

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) means that companies are responsible for the effects of their activities on society and the environment. CSR should be integrated in all of a company’s segments and strategies and should ideally become part of its corporate culture. A consistent and broad implementation of CSR plays a key role in improving sustainable development and providing solutions to social challenges. It can also considerably improve companies’ competitive position. The commitment shown by a company’s management and shareholders is a key factor of CSR implementation. To implement CSR, companies need to take stakeholder interests into account (e.g., shareholders, employees, consumers, local communities, and non-government organizations). Companies usually prepare their CSR/sustainability reports following Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) standards, which include economic, environmental, and social dimensions. Their implementation should cover the whole range of effects of corporate activities, including the value-added chain, and take stakeholders’ requirements into account. Transparency and a readiness to engage in dialogue are at the core of CSR and contribute to its successful implementation. The question of how to strategically implement CSR on an overall company level and in different managerial areas is turning out to be a crucial success factor.

For this Special Issue, we would like to invite researchers and professionals from universities, enterprises, and governmental units to share new ideas, innovations, trends, and experiences concerning any issues related to CSR and CSR implementation. Both original research articles and review articles are welcome. In this Special Issue, the subtopics may include, but are not limited to, the following:

• CSR implementation;
• CSR and business performance;
• CSR and corporate governance;
• CSR and sustainable development;
• CSR and earnings management;
• CSR and financial risk;
• CSR in various industries;
• CSR disclosure and business performance;
• Strategic CSR;
• Environmental, social, and governance (ESG);
• GRI economic dimension and business performance;
• GRI environmental dimension and business performance;
• GRI social dimension and business performance;
• Socially responsible investing;
• Social return on investment;
• Renewable energy policy and planning;
• Green innovation and green marketing;
• Green supply chain management;
• Internal corporate governance mechanisms and CSR reporting;
• External corporate governance mechanisms and CSR reporting;
• CSR disclosure and firm/market value;
• CSR disclosure and competitive advantages;
• CSR disclosure and enterprise resource planning (ERP)
• CSR assurance;
• CSR decoupling;
• Voluntary/mandatory CSR disclosure and business performance;
• Big data and corporate sustainability;
• Internet of things (IoT) and corporate sustainability;
• Artificial intelligence (AI) and corporate sustainability.

Prof. Dr. Wen-Hsien Tsai
Dr. Cheng-Tsu Huang
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• Corporate social responsibility (CSR)
• Corporate engagement
• Strategic CSR
• CSR implementation
• CSR disclosure
• Environmental, social, and governance (ESG)
• Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) standards
• GRI economic dimensions
• GRI environmental dimensions
• GRI social dimensions
• Socially responsible investing
• Social return on investment
• Renewable energy policy
• Green innovation
• Green marketing
• Green supply chain management
• CSR reporting
• Internal corporate governance mechanisms
• External corporate governance mechanisms
• Firm/market value
• Competitive advantages
• Corporate performance
• Risk taking
• CSR assurance
• CSR decoupling
• CSR networks
• Ethics
• Voluntary/mandatory CSR disclosure
• Corporate sustainability
• Big data
• Internet of things (IoT)
• Artificial intelligence (AI)
• Enterprise resource planning (ERP)