Exploring the relationship between CSR and innovation

Purpose The paper aims at summarizing the state of knowledge on the relationship between a company’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) and its innovation performance. Design/methodology/approach The research relied on a systematic literature review with the use of SALSA (Search, AppraisaL, Synthesis, Analysis) and backwards-snowballing methods. The search encompassed one electronic database – Scopus. Finally, the set of papers analyzed amounted to 24 publications. The relationship between innovation and CSR reported in these papers were synthesized in the form of a mapping review. Findings The results indicated the lack of scientific consensus on many aspects of the relationship studied. CSR was assumed to influence innovation performance, and inversely, innovations were presumed to have an impact on the company’s CSR. However, the relation’s determinants were strongly diversified in the set of articles studied. Research limitations/implications The present paper omitted articles published in languages other than English. Also, it limited the papers studied to those published between January 2000 and August 2014 in journals listed on the Journal Citation Report. The paper contributes to the research by highlighting the most important research gaps and implications for further research. Practical implications The present paper constitutes an up-to-date summary on the studied relationship, which is important for practitioners in the management process. Originality/value According to the authors’ knowledge, no systematic reviews dedicated to the relationship between a company’s CSR and its innovation performance were made before. Thus, it fulfils an important research gap.