Reframing Corporate and CSR Governance With Contexts in Mind: Why We Need to Restore the G to the B&S Field

ABSTRACT

The Business & Society field concerns itself with improving relationships among the overlapping spheres of business, society, and the natural environment to create shared value. This paper argues that the field needs to focus more on the potential of government in reshaping corporate governance and corporate social responsibility (CSR) multistakeholder governance institutions and practices to head off impending or future tragedies of the commons. The legal construct of corporate personhood has incentivized business executives to define their responsibilities narrowly in terms of profitability and asset appreciation. CSR stakeholder network governance arose from activist efforts to forge standards of social and environmental performance that can win voluntary corporate accountability and compliance. The problem is that global “corporate citizens” have been reluctant to devote resources beyond what is needed to achieve the credible appearance of compliance with voluntary sustainability standards. This paper uses the potential of a tragedy of the commons scenario to consider how we can head off a potential dystopian future posed by an AI Armageddon.