Rethinking CSR in public sector organisations: perimeter and designation of "Public Sector Social Responsibility"

The aim of the present study is to verify if there is a concept of social responsibility in the public sector and how it is articulated. It is obvious that, in this case, we will no longer be able to speak about corporate... [ view full abstract ]

The aim of the present study is to verify if there is a concept of social responsibility in the public sector and how it is articulated. It is obvious that, in this case, we will no longer be able to speak about corporate social responsibility (CSR) - place that the raison d'être of the noun "corporate" fails - but rather of the “public sector social responsibility (PSSR)”. Beyond the terminological switch, the question that arises is substantial: the "social responsibility" construct emerged in the private sector, on which the literature is wide and transversal; while in the public field it is scarce and nebulous (Moon and Sochaki, 1996; Aaronson and Reeves, 2002; Albareda et al., 2007). Moreover, in the last twenty years, the interest of the academic and professional world in relation to social, environmental and sustainability reporting – i.e. a tool through which these responsibilities are disclosed to stakeholders - has increased in the public sector (i.e. Marcuccio and Steccolini, 2005, 2009; Ball and Bebbington, 2008; Guthrie and Farneti, 2008, 2009; Farneti et al., 2010; Bellringer et al., 2011; Lodhia and Jacobs; 2013; Niemann and Hoppe, 2017). Nevertheless, almost all studies are missing on the previous step, that is if a social responsibility really exists in the public sector, what does it mean and how is expressed. There seems to be, therefore, a logical leap, which this work intends, at least in part, to fill. Besides that, it should be considered the association and the boundary with another search path, i.e. the public ethics, which received new impetus to phenomena such us dismanagement, corruption and clientelism, but also excessive tensions towards "privatization" models of management - read new public management (i.e. Osborne, 2002; Maesschalck, 2004; Kolthoff et al., 2006; Frederickson and Ghere, 2013).

In summary, we have three main research questions:

RQ1: is there a public sector social responsibility?

RQ2: how does it decline (and, therefore, what is the difference with the private sector)?

RQ3: what, if any, its relationship to public ethics?

The paper has a conceptual nature, in fact we carried on a critical review of literature on issues of public ethics and social responsibility, following which we showed our point of view. Specifically, stating that social responsibility in the public sector exists and has its own independence from the concept of public ethics, we argued that the role that the public sector is called to play is twofold. On the one hand it is called upon to promote and encourage businesses towards sustainable and socially responsible behaviours, on the other hand it is called upon to assume - and be accountable on - this responsibility in its management, production and delivery of public goods and services. With reference to this latter aspect, social responsibility assumes a different meaning depending on the considered level: political, managerial or relational level between the two previous ones.