Editorial

Citation

Aras, G. and Crowther, D. (2011), "Editorial", Social Responsibility Journal, Vol. 7 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/srj.2011.36807daa.001

Editorial

Article Type: Editorial From: Social Responsibility Journal, Volume 7, Issue 4

There is considerable evidence that the field of social responsibility is changing and maturing. This can be seen from the issues that are of concern to people currently researching in the field. Thus in this issue we can see that there is an increasing interest in SMEs, which is a welcome development as there has been too much examination of the activity of multinationals at the expense of all other sectors of society. This is an important area of research, and we look forward to publishing more research on this important area. This is also true of the public sector, and an example paper here discusses social responsible behaviour in public sector organisations: this too is a welcome development, and we look forward to more research in this area also. Indeed, we look forward to the debate becoming more developed about the way in which socially responsible behaviour differs for public sector organisations – if indeed it differs at all. We will see how this aspect of the discourse develops.

As usual, the papers in this issue come from a wide range of geographical areas, with nine countries being represented (in addition to those of the editors) from five continents. And as usual there are contributions from developing and developed countries. The topics being examined are equally broad. Accounting is always well represented, but we can also see topics related to marketing and strategic development. And the financial crisis also appears with some suggestions from social theory. The breadth of contributions is always an encouraging sign of the healthy state of social responsibility research.

Social Responsibility Journal is of course the official journal of the Social Responsibility Research Network (SRRNet; see www.socialresponsibility.biz). Producing it is one of the main activities that the Network undertakes. All papers in this issue, as in all others, have the commonality that they investigate an aspect of social responsibility – and one feature of social responsibility is that it is a very wide and very interdisciplinary field.

Publishing the journal is one of the main activities that the Network undertakes. The other main activity of the Network is to organise an annual conference, and as this issue is published preparation will be well advanced for the 11th International Conference on Corporate Social Responsibility which will take place in Lahti, Finland, as a collaboration between the Network and the university in Lahti – we look forward to welcoming you to this conference. Plans are also firm for the conferences over the next few years, following our plan to host alternative conferences in Europe and elsewhere – and we hope to see you at one of these future conferences. The conferences are designed to act as a forum for the debate and analysis of contemporary issues in the broad area of CSR, but we also focus upon a particular issue (without excluding general issues) at each conference. And we can expect to see some of the contributions to the conference appearing in the journal in due course, just as we have already see papers from previous conferences appearing in issues of the journal – including this issue.

The Network is interdisciplinary and so too is the conference. This journal, just as the conference, is also interdisciplinary in its focus and international in its outlook – and this is reflected in the papers this volume. What is apparent, however, is the commonality of concern as different papers from different parts of the world address similar issues and concerns – reflecting the global nature of our concerns and our research. All papers have the commonality that they investigate an aspect of social responsibility – and one feature of social responsibility is that it is a very wide and very interdisciplinary field. With that we leave you to read the papers, hoping that this will inspire you to contribute to a future edition.

Güler Aras, David Crowther