Can Corporate Social Responsibility Favor the Adoption of Circular Economy?

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) allows organization to implement socially and environmentally responsible actions while still pursuing economic goals. In light of such interventions, we argue that CSR can favor the adoption of Circular Economy (CE), i.e. an economic system planned to reuse materials in subsequent production cycles, reducing waste to a minimum. Indeed, under the stakeholder theory, in this study we investigate how CSR can implicitly favor CE benefiting economic, environmental and social sustainability. The results of our qualitative analyses conducted in the agribusiness sector, highlight how firms by adopting CSR practices also achieve an orientation towards CE. These outcomes enrich the understanding of CSR and CE phenomena, and their relationship, also providing indications to managers to fully take advantage of the two approaches and benefit all the stakeholders.