Defining Corporate Citizenship: Evidence from Australia

Abstract

This study reports the results of a survey of the attitudes to corporate citizenship and practices of corporate citizenship of 93 of the largest private and publicly listed corporations in Australia. The results suggest there was considerable hesitation in positioning corporate citizenship as a proactive, long term, internal culture process. Instead, corporate emphasis was generally on short-term community activities. Also, there was little variation in these results when respondents were classified by industry, international involvement and legal structure. Clearly, significant links have yet to be made by corporate Australia to connect the financial, social and environmental bottom lines.

Keywords:

• Corporate citizenship
• social responsibility
• community partnerships
• Australia