The Role of Government in Corporate Social Responsibility

This paper aims to contribute to understanding of the government’s role promoting Corporate Social Responsibility as an answer to the debate that has arisen within the political and global context during the last decade. This paper: (1) sets out the research findings and the various factors governments or the academic literature consider to be key drivers behind public initiatives for fostering CSR; (2) proposes a relational framework as a model for analysing the various approaches taken by governments and looks at the various public policies that governments may adopt to foster CSR. These policies are classified by the agents involved, and in particular by their relationships; (3) explores the relationship among social, economic and environmental context and the development of CSR governmental approaches; and (4) sets out the governments’, companies’, and NGOs’ perceptions as to what role governments ought to play in fostering CSR.