A Critical Review of CSR-Related ISO Research

Although research on international corporate social responsibility (CSR) has expanded significantly, the truly global nature of CSR research is still being questioned, especially for the research of ISO's CSR-related standards. We systematically reviewed 43 articles over an 18-year period. We assess the “global” of ISO-CSR in international business; analyze the coverage of developing and developed countries; discuss main features; summarize key problems, and provide improvement measures for future research. We find that ISO-CSR research is still emerging in "mainstream" countries, far from being globalized. Especially in developing countries or emerging economies, the research on CSR in ISO has not received the proper attention.