Why companies engage in CSR

Abstract: To investigate the reasons why companies engage in Corporate Social Responsibility, CSR, this study conducts a survey with 47 companies and interviews with 7 company representatives in the UK. This empirical data and results are analysed in terms of theoretical ideas of CSR and economics. Board of Directors or top management, Attract employees, Reputation, Moral, and Economic reasons are, as in theory, pointed out as influential, whilst the empirics shows Shareholders, Media and public debate, and Attract investors, in opposition to theoretical claims, non influential. This study also examines the hypothesis that companies in different industries are engaging in CSR for different reasons. The results are mixed, possibly as a result of how hypothesis and industries where defined. The final conclusion is that companies have various reasons to why they engage in CSR, of which many appears to be shared between industries.