Corporate social responsibility for business sustainability

Download This Article

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Abstract

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has emerged as a critical component of organizational success and sustainability in today’s business landscape (Muslim & Pelu, 2023). This study examines the role of CSR in promoting business sustainability across economic, social, and environmental dimensions. Using a qualitative research design that combines documentary analysis with interviews from Thai enterprises, this study provides a multidimensional assessment of CSR practices across economic, social, and environmental dimensions. The findings demonstrate that well-structured and strategically aligned CSR initiatives improve financial stability, strengthen governance accountability, build stakeholder trust, and support environmental innovation, particularly through circular economy practices. Importantly, the study contributes to CSR scholarship by linking classical frameworks — such as Carroll’s CSR pyramid, the triple bottom line (TBL), and creating shared value (CSV) — with contemporary sustainability and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) imperatives, showing how these models can be effectively integrated and contextualized within a developing economy. Practically, the research highlights the conditions under which both large firms and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) can embed CSR into core operations to enhance long-term competitiveness and resilience. This study advances academic understanding of CSR as a strategic driver of business sustainability and provides actionable guidance for organizations seeking to align CSR with global sustainability goals.

Keywords: Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), Business Sustainability, Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG), Developing Economy, Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs)

Authors’ individual contribution: Conceptualization — U.M. and C.M.; Methodology — U.M.; Validation — U.M. and C.M.; Formal Analysis — U.M.; Investigation — U.M.; Resources — U.M. and C.M.; Data Curation — U.M.; Writing — Original Draft — U.M.; Writing — Review & Editing — U.M. and C.M.; Visualization — U.M. and C.M.; Supervision — U.M.; Project Administration — U.M.

Declaration of conflicting interests: The Authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.

JEL Classification: L26, M14, Q01

Received: 18.09.2025
Revised: 04.12.2025; 27.02.2026
Accepted: 27.03.2026
Published online: 30.03.2026

How to cite this paper: Muangsan, U., & Muangwichian, C. (2026). Corporate social responsibility for business sustainability. Corporate Governance and Sustainability Review, 10(2), 150–156. https://doi.org/10.22495/cgsrv10i2p13