Why Corporate Social Responsibility? An Analysis of Drivers of CSR in India

This study aimed to generate a more nuanced and socioculturally grounded analysis of the key drivers of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in India than those provided by current debates. Results, based on 19 elite, in-depth conversations with business leaders and senior managers actively involved in shaping CSR in India revealed that participant understandings of the drivers of CSR in India simultaneously negotiated apparently contradictory notions of moral and economic imperatives. Building on earlier calls for culturally locating the study of CSR, the article further proposes that the ancient Indian concept of dharma might be a probable theoretical framework within which these key drivers of CSR in India could be further understood.