ABSTRACT
Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has been a prominent management trend since the 1990s with business organizations under pressure to address not only economic imperatives but also to consider the social and environmental impact of business operations. The ubiquitous nature of CSR suggests that it can be considered as a taken-for-granted concept within western society.1 As Brammer et al., argue, ‘CSR itself has become a strongly institutionalized feature of the contemporary landscape in advanced industrialized economies’.2 One of the key ways in which organizations address the issue of CSR is through the formation of a social partnership.3 A social partnership is where two or more organizations from different economic sectors collaborate to address a social issue and where there is a shared understanding of responsibilities and a commitment of resources.4 These partnerships form in part because addressing social issues can be overly challenging for an individual organization and requires collaboration with multiple actors that bring different skills to the partnership.5 There are four types of social partnership: business and non-profit partnerships; non-profit and government partnerships; business and government partnerships; and tripartite partnerships between all three sectors.6 These reflect a change in the roles and responsibilities between government, business and the civil sector.7
