Abstract:
Business is a social institution and society has always designated a role for
business which has been undergoing changes with changing societal values and
paradigms. Thus while business has always had some responsibilities, the modern
connotation of the words corporate social responsibility commonly refers to business
assuming responsibilities in economic, social and environmental realms. Relevance
and acceptance of this view regarding the role of business in society has been
increasing and is especially important for sectors such as the forest products industry.
However corporate social responsibility in the forest products industry is an under-
investigated area, more so, in the US context. To fill this gap, this research investigates
corporate social responsibility in the US forest products industry. This is done by first
developing a general theoretical foundation about the concept of corporate social
responsibility, followed by investigating students' perceptions regarding the success of
the US forest products industry in fulfilling its economic, social and environmental
responsibilities. These students were drawn from four academic majors at Oregon
State University and University of Montana and their perceptions were assessed on
items covering economic, social and environmental responsibilities that were
developed in Finland. The results suggest that students with different academic majors
perceive the US forest products industry's success in fulfilling its economic, social and
environmental responsibilities differently. Differences in perceptions were also found
between male and female students. Limitations associated with this study led to
conducting a broader study by first identifying social and environmental issues
associated with the US forest products industry and then assessing the perceptions of
general society with regards to industry's performance on these issues. Issues were
identified by developing a two stage framework that consists of key-informants
interviews and a Delphi group decision-making technique. Societal perceptions were
assessed relative to industry perceptions for developing insights into business and
society interaction. This was done by developing an issues evaluation framework
consisting the legitimacy gap and expectational gaps components. Results suggest
that significant legitimacy and expectational gaps exist between societal respondents
and industry managers, indicating managerial attention to the social and environmental
issues facing the US forest products industry.
