Research Databases

Free Online Resources - Company

Free Online Resources - Industry

More Free Online Resources

Books

Journals

Other CSR Research Guides

Research Databases*

(*Please note: research databases are restricted to current students, staff, and faculty at the University of Pittsburgh. If you are using an off-campus computer, you must log in here in order to access these licensed resources.)

Business Source Complete

Search suggestions:

• Type "Social responsibility of business" in the first search box, and "Wal-Mart Stores, Inc" in the second search box.
  
• Depending on your topic, you may also want to try the terms "business ethics,"  "corporate citizenship," or "corporate governance"
  
• If you are looking for information on a specific company, be sure to use the full company name. You may want to check to see if the company you are researching has a parent company. See this page for ideas on how to do this.
  
• If you are looking for articles on a topic related to corporate responsibility, try combining "Social responsibility of business" with another term, like "environmental law,"  "sustainable development,"  "human rights," etc.
  
• To view market research reports related to CSR, search for "Social responsibility of business". When viewing the results, click on "market research reports" to narrow your results. Notice the headings listed in this area; this is an effective way to narrow your results to only academic journals, trade journals, etc.
  

Academic Lexis-Nexis

Search suggestions:

• Select "Power search"
• Click on "Add keywords (Index Terms) to your search..."
• A new window will pop up. Notice the drop-down box in the upper right, and select "subject," then, type in "corporate social responsibility" (or other related term)
• Check the box next to the best term, and click "ok--add to search. "  You can continue to add terms to your search this way, including company names, and it will perform a more efficient search. For suggestions on terms to use, see above.

Conference Board

go to Annual Studies, then scroll down to "Corpoorate Contributions" to see overviews of corporate giving.

Free Online Resources - Companies

Be sure to search for a CSR report produced by the company itself, keeping in mind that it is written from the company's perspective. They often make these available on their websites alongside their annual reports, or may devote a separate page to a specific topic, such as sustainability or human rights.

BELL: The Business Ethics Links Library

Developed by a business librarian, contains a broad range of resources on CSR, ethics, and sustainable business practices. Use the search feature to search by company name. 

Better Business Bureau

Search for reports on businesses or charities (BBB Wise Giving Alliance)

Business & Human Rights Resource Center

Find information about exploitative practices of 4000 businesses worldwide. Search by company name, issue, country or topic.

Co-op America’s “Responsible Shopper” guide

provides company profiles from the consumer perspective, describing the social and environmental impact of major corporations.

Corporate Research Project

A non-profit center that researches and analyzes companies and industries.

Corporate Register

Free with registration. This site has gathered social and environmental reports put out by companies themselves and made them available in one place.

Influence Explorer

A project of the Sunlight Foundation, this website allows you to search by company, industry, organization or individual to investigate political contributions. Data is provided by the Center for Responsive Politics, the National Institute for Money in State Politics, the Project On Government Oversight and USASpending.gov.

Securities Class Action Clearinghouse

Provides detailed information relating to federal class action securities fraud litigation.

Social Funds

This site allows you to search by company name, and provides articles and reports. They also provide links to company-produced CSR reports.

Free Online Resources - Industries

Business and Sustainable Development: A Global Guide

Includes company case studies, industry-specific resource lists, market info on "green consumers," and a section on business tools & strategies.  This site was developed by the International Institute for Sustainable Development.

ELDIS. Developed by the Institute of Development Studies

Extensive resource guide with full text policy documents on a range of CSR-related areas such as tourism, ethical finance, fair trade, biotechnology, and more.

Corporate Philanthropy

"Giving in Numbers" Report published annually. Industry comparisons, Fortune 100 comparison, giving trends.

More free online resources

Business Ethics

Reports from Business Ethics: The Magazine of Corporate Responsibility.

Beyond Grey Pinstrips

Provides alternative rankings for business schools, evaluating them based on their committment to social and environmental stewardship.

Business and Social Initiatives Database,

From the International Labour Association.

globalEDGE

Created by the International Business Center at Michigan State University. They maintain a list of web resources on CSR.

Business and Sustainable Development: A Global Guide

Includes company case studies, industry-specific resource lists, market information on "green consumers," and a section on business tools & strategies.  This site was developed by the International Institute for Sustainable Development.

Business Ethics: A Manual for Managing a Responsible Business Enterprise in Emerging Market Economies

A business ethics manual from the US International Trade Administration

Books from the Reference Collection

Search PittCat+, the library catalog.  Do a keyword search using the term "corporate social responsibility" or a subject search using the term "social responsibility of business."

If you have trouble finding what you need, help is available in a variety of formats here: http://www.library.pitt.edu/reference/index.html

National Directory of Corporate Giving 

BUSINESS LIBRARY - Reference  HG4028 C6N37

The A to Z of corporate social responsibility : a complete reference guide to concepts, codes and organisations

BUSINESS - LIBRARY - Reference  HD60 .A22 2007

Business: The Ultimate Resource

(see the section on "corporate social responsibility and governance")
BUSINESS LIBRARY - Reference  HD38.15 .B878 2006

Journals

(below are several journals that focus on CSR topics. Many other journals also publish articles on CSR.)

Business Ethics Quarterly: The Journal of the Society for Business Ethics   

Business Ethics: A European Review         

Corporate Governance              

Corporate Governance Advisor    

Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management    

Ethics

Journal of Business Ethics

Journal of Corporate Citizenship

Other CSR Research Guides

Columbia University Resarch Guide

Rutgers Univeristy Resarch Guide

University of Pennsylvania Resarch Guides on Business Ethics and Green Business

Questions? Ask A Librarian

(Back to Business Research Guide Homepage)

(*Please note: research databases are restricted to current students, staff, and faculty at the University of Pittsburgh. If you are using an off-campus computer, you must log in here in order to access these licensed resources.)