Chapter 4: Legislated CSR: A Brief Introduction

Although corporate social responsibility (CSR) is typically conceptualized as a discretionary pursuit that firms voluntarily engage in, state intervention in CSR — which we call legislated CSR — has been increasing globally. The nature and scope of CSR legislations, however, vary among countries. This chapter provides a broad overview of legislated CSR but it also presents a detailed analysis of a specific CSR legislation, the CSR law of India, in order to closely examine how and why CSR legislations emerge and what could be their implications for CSR.