Corporate social responsibility in the Australian construction industry

Abstract

The Australian construction industry has a poor history of corporate social responsibility (CSR). The industry is characterised by a high proportion of small and medium size enterprises (SMEs) that contract to larger corporations. The latter have begun to develop codes of social responsibility but it is doubtful how much impact such codes have on the behaviour of their contractors. This paper examines the tensions inherent in the process of addressing CSR in a fragmented industry with diffuse layers of management. Major obstacles to the adoption of CSR include a general lack of awareness of CSR in the industry coupled with a lack of consensus on how CSR is defined and the principles that might be contained in a CSR model. Our paper concludes with a research strategy to address these matters.