A number of papers reviewed by other peers look at CSR in relation to aviation but don’t look at its CSI pillar specifically and its links to the corporate strategy in airlines.
For the purpose of this study, we shall focus on the one pillar of CSR, which is CSI.
**A HISTORY OF CSR
Its believed that one of the very first ever documented debates on CSR happened in 1932 with a string of articles published by Columbia professor Adolf A Berle and Harvard professor E. Merrick Dodd in the Harvard Law Review journal (Cochran, 2007: 449). In response to the question “for whom are managers trustees?” The professors conceived the response that corporates are permitted to operate by law primarily as they are of service to the community rather than on the basis that they generate a profit for their shareholders( Cochran, 2007: 449).
WHAT THEN IS THE UNDERSTANDING OF CSR AND CSI?
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) refers to the ethical behavior of a company towards society according to Cowper-Smith & Grosbois (2011:62).
CSI and CSR where for a longtime used interchangeably however over the years they have been defined separately … REFER TO CSI SOLUTIONS BOOK ON CSI AND CSR …show more content…
WBCSD’s narrative (1999, p. 3), defines CSR as “Corporate social responsibility is the continuing commitment by business to behave ethically and contribute to economic development while improving the quality of life of the workforce and their families as well as of the local community and society at large.” This was added on by the European Union who described CSR as “a concept whereby companies integrate social and environmental concerns in their business operations and in their interactions with their stakeholders on a voluntary basis” (European Commission, 2002, p.