This paper aims to describe the development of research on corporate social responsibility in international business (IB) journals and to suggest future research directions. We conducted a bibliometric study of articles published in twelve leading international business journals over three decades in a longer time frame (1996–۲۰۱۵). Five research trends were found in IB journals: business ethics, integration of stakeholder management, the evolution of the CSR concept, the political and social demands of CSR, and the financial implications of CSR. Our results thus have several implications and suggest numerous opportunities for future research.

Introduction

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is an important factor in a multinational company’s competitiveness. By addressing social responsibility, enterprises can build long-term employee and consumer trust as a basis for sustainable business models. This in turn helps to create an environment in which enterprises can innovate and grow. Recently, many CSR studies have been conducted in many research fields. As a result of globalization, CSR research in international business has also been increasing (Egri & Ralston, 2008; Kolk, 2016; Rodriguez, Siegel, Hillman, & Eden, 2006). Actually, 271 articles of out of a total of 8465 articles were published in the top twelve international business (IB) journals, accounting for 3.20% of the total number published in these journals. Thus, the total number of publications referring to CSR were increased in the timeframe of 1996–۲۰۱۵ (especially in CGIR), and the ratio of CSR articles in IB also increased. Boyacigiller and Adler (1991) argued that CSR was part of the important environmental dimension in IB studies. The social responsibilities of businesses and their managers have been discussed in the academic literature since at least the 1950s. We think that CSR became more important in particular IB research fields, given that both the number of articles and the relative proportion of CSR articles in IB journals increased over time. Specifically, the percentage of CSR articles in IB journals increased from 0.5% in 2002 to 5.2% in 2015. This means that the relative importance of CSR as compared with traditional IB subjects certainly increased. Despite the increasing numbers of research articles on CSR in IB journals, we do not know exactly what kinds of research have been performed or specifically what research should be conducted in the future. This study extends the existing literature in order to better illuminate the main trends of IB research across a longer timeframe (1996–۲۰۱۵). The ratio of CSR articles in IB journals can be compared with those of other traditional IB research subjects including international marketing, international strategy, international finance, and international human resource management. Our main research questions are the followings: What are the research trends of CSR in IB journals and are they similar to those in nonIB journals? Have the research trends of CSR changed over a period of time? Who are the main researchers producing CSR articles in IB journals? Our methodological approach, based on a bibliometric study of 271 articles published in the top twelve journals for IB research, permits, deeper analyses of past trends and of the evolution of the literature than can be accomplished through traditional literature reviews (Ferreira, 2011; Ramos-Rodríguez & Ruíz-Navarro, 2004). In the past, scholars have attempted to review the previous literature in order to summarize the body of knowledge related to CSR, and they have used qualitative methods to identify and suggest future directions for research. However, the academic field has grown considerably and there are now numerous academic articles on this topic.