A critical review of CSR effectiveness and recipient involvement in humanitarian-oriented CSR projects

Over the last decades, corporate social responsibility (CSR) has considerably gained significance and constitutes a great opportunity for companies to combine their social responsibilities towards stakeholders with their economic aims. Based on the public presentation of CSR projects the impression arises that companies also positively affect the lives of recipients with their CSR efforts. However, such a conclusion is inappropriate since the effectiveness of external CSR activities on recipients is still an unexplored subject that is greatly overlooked in business literature. Hence, this research focuses on investigating if CSR has positive or negative effects on final recipients and how they are involved in the development and execution of CSR projects. Therefore, the research is composed of a literature review and a case study analysis. The American shoe manufacturer TOMS serves as a case example since its shoe donations to underprivileged children caused controversy about the effects of CSR. The insights gained through this research highlight that achieving CSR effectiveness for all stakeholders involved in related projects is highly challenging. Hence, further research is urgently needed to enhance the available body of literature and to provide businesses valuable recommendations on how to improve their CSR efforts.