Introduction 介绍
For the past several decades, there has been an increase in attention towards the relationship between business and society. In particular, there are varying debates on how business ought to relate with society. On one hand, there are those who argue that the sole purpose of business should be to maximise profits as long as their actions remain within the confines of ethics, laws and regulations (Sehwartz & Carroll 2003). On the other hand, there are those who argue that since businesses draw their profits from the society, they have an array of obligations and responsibilities towards society. Despite these differing arguments, there is a need to observe that most businesses have developed and implemented different programs to contribute to society under the banner of corporate social responsibility. In reference to Tai and Chuang (2014), the increasing adoption of corporate social responsibility is motivated by the increasing call for corporations to engage in sustainable development practices. In this regard, rather than entirely focusing on profit maximisation, corporations are encouraged to give back to the community through different initiatives such as sanitation and health, education and environmental protection among others. Importantly, whereas some section of society perceives corporate social responsibility as a way to encourage corporations to engage in responsible operations and practices, some opponents of such measures perceive it as simply a way for such corporations to market themselves in the community and as result, enhance their profit maximisation strategies. This paper explores the discrepancies in the perception towards corporate social responsibility.
在过去几十年中，人们越来越关注企业与社会之间的关系。特别是，关于企业应该如何与社会联系，存在着各种各样的争论。一方面，有人认为，只要他们的行为在道德、法律和法规的范围内，企业的目的就是利润更大化（Sehwartz&Carroll 2003）。另一方面，也有人认为，由于企业从社会中获取利润，它们对社会负有一系列义务和责任。尽管存在这些不同的论点，但需要注意的是，大多数企业都在企业社会责任的旗帜下制定并实施了不同的计划，为社会做出贡献。关于Tai和Chuang（2014），越来越多地采用企业社会责任是因为越来越多的人呼吁企业参与可持续发展实践。在这方面，我们鼓励企业通过不同的举措，如卫生与健康、教育和环境保护等，向社会做出回报，而不是完全专注于利润更大化。重要的是，虽然社会的某些部分将企业社会责任视为鼓励企业从事负责任的经营和实践的一种方式，但这些措施的一些反对者将其视为这些企业在社区中推销自己的一种方式，因此，加强他们的利润更大化战略。本文探讨了企业社会责任认知的差异。
Corporate Social Responsibility 企业社会责任
Researchers and scholars have put forth different definitions in an attempt to clearly highlight what corporate social responsibility entails. To begin with, Sehwartz and Carroll (2003) reiterate that corporate social responsibility involves the legal, ethical, economic and discretionary expectations that society has towards businesses and organisations operating within their environment at any given time. From this definition, it is clear that whereas it is not mandatory for businesses to engage in corporate social responsibility practices, the society expects them to engage in such practices. Similarly, Tai and Chuang (2014) define corporate social responsibility as a process through which corporations intends to promote a positive impact through their activities on consumers, stakeholders, environment, employees, communities and other public entities that may be considered as stakeholders. In line with this, Tai and Chuang (2014) perceive corporate social responsibility as the initiatives by corporations rather than the society. Despite these differences in its definition, both Tai and Chuang (2014) and Sehwartz and Carroll (2003) agree that the beneficiaries of the corporate social responsibility programs are stakeholders and particularly the society. Moreover, they agree that the implementation of corporate social responsibility programs do not benefits the corporation in question but rather the society.
研究人员和学者提出了不同的定义，试图明确强调企业社会责任的含义。首先，Sehwartz和Carroll（2003）重申，企业社会责任涉及社会在任何特定时间对在其环境中运营的企业和组织的法律、道德、经济和自由裁量期望。从这一定义可以清楚地看出，虽然企业不强制要求从事企业社会责任实践，但社会期望他们从事此类实践。同样，Tai和Chuang（2014）将企业社会责任定义为一个过程，通过该过程，企业打算通过其对消费者、利益相关者、环境、员工、社区和其他可能被视为利益相关者的公共实体的活动来促进积极影响。与此相一致，Tai和Chuang（2014）将企业社会责任视为企业而非社会的主动行动。尽管其定义存在这些差异，但Tai和Chuang（2014）以及Sehwartz和Carroll（2003）都同意，企业社会责任计划的受益人是利益相关者，尤其是社会。此外，他们同意，企业社会责任计划的实施对相关企业没有好处，而是对社会有好处。