Tushar Amin and Cigdem Degirmencioglu discuss CSR in the U.S and Sweden in their article, “CSR in Commercial Banks-Comparison of the U.S and Swedish Market.” This article highlights the fact that CSR has been a topic that has been talked about for the last three decades when pertaining to financial firms. Companies have sought to make themselves more socially responsible as CSR is becoming a major practice. The notion is brought forward that CSR is important for commercial banks. “CSR in financial firms is as important or more important as other industries because of the influence on its operating environment and crucial results in their performance to survive in the market.” (Amin, Degirmencioglu, 2011). CSR is also important for banks due to the financial crisis that occurred in 2008. “Alan Greenspan, former Federal Reserve chief so eloquently said – ‘the financial crises will happen again unless we succeed in changing human nature (News 2009).’” (Amin, Degirmencioglu, 2011). In comparing CSR is U.S and Swedish markets, U.S has larger CSR implementation than in Sweden. Focusing on CSR in the U.S, CSR is something that becomes natural for U.S businesses, based on the Anglo Saxon law. With less government interference, it is expected that companies act more philanthropic to benefit the society. “Griffin and Vivari (2009) have mentioned that CSR in the U.S has been accepted as volunteerism and it is encouraged as a part of corporate culture because of the traditional understanding of the CSR concept.” (Amin, Degirmencioglu, 2011).

This article provided an interesting take on CSR and banking, comparing CSR implementation between the U.S and Sweden. It was a bit surprising to see that the U.S has more CSR implementation, since companies are expected to behave socially responsible that can benefit the society. From my perspective, I agree that CSR is a concept that companies in the U.S should follow. Banks providing an ethical nature comes off well for the consumers, as they place confidence in these banks. Some banks are notorious for scandals, such as Wells Fargo and their fraudulent account scandal. A company implementing CSR shows society that they are ethical and care about society instead of themselves.

Source: Amin, T., & Degirmencioglu, C. (2011). CSR in Commercial Banks-Comparison Between U.S and Swedish Markets.

Okpara and Idowu focus on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in their book, “Corporate Social Responsibility: Challenges, Opportunities, and Strategies for 21st Century Leaders.” This book places major emphasis on what CSR and why it is effective for companies. In Chapter 11, “Corporate Social Responsibility implementation in the EU and USA: The trend and the way forward,” they explain how CSR is used in the U.S. They explain that consumers expect companies to engage in socially responsible behavior. It is stated, ““The US is highly ‘corporatised society’ as a large number of corporations over the last century has emerged there with significant public and private ownership. The corporations dominate Americans’ personal and business lives. As a result, collective business behaviour has always been the integral part of the nation’s legacy, culture, structure and behaviour. Hence the American citizens expect their corporations to ‘behave better, to act in the social interest and to be well, a good citizen’ (Googins, 2002).” (Okpara, Idowu, 2013). This quote shows that in the U.S, consumers think highly of companies and expect them to have socially responsible behavior.

This chapter is very useful in thinking about what consumers think of CSR. In some articles, there is no clear indication on the relationship between consumers and CSR, some saying there is a positive link and some saying that consumers do not pay much mind to CSR. This book does prove, however, that consumers do believe that companies should follow CSR. I agree with Okpara and Idowu, because I do not think consumers would want to do business with a company that is unethical. This chapter from their book can prove useful in CSR research.

Source: Okpara, J., & Idowu, S. O. (2016). Corporate Social Responsibility Challenges, Opportunities and Strategies for 21st Century Leaders. Berlin: Springer Berlin.