The Concept of Value for CSR: A Debate Drawn from Italian Classical Accounting

Abstract

This paper underlines the importance of the concept of value for corporate social responsibility (CSR) and then explores it beyond economics, looking for its social and philosophical roots. Con- sidering the most recent literature on the matter, the dilemma between a non monetary, multi variable conception and a monetary, one variable conception is set. To obtain the origins of the meaning for this basic concept in CSR, Italian literature regarding ‘value in accounting’ is ex- plored. The main result from this first survey is the existence of a ‘chain’ from the highest con- ception of value (philosophical, ethical), to the most practical conception (accounting techniques of measurement). By this first approach, some provisional normative clauses are then deduced, in a ‘problem setting attitude’ to be tested by means of further research on the topic, exploring other literature and building a new general paradigm to finally provide a commonly shared measure for social value.