Synergien von CSR, CDR und Digital Sustainability

: Eine Analyse von Großunternehmen im deutschsprachigen EU-Raum

Abstract

Corporate social responsibility (CSR), corporate digital responsibility (CDR) and digital sustainability take different forms in different countries. In Germany and Austria, they are already known through various regulations, guidelines, standards, initiatives and laws, which is why Europe is also one of the pioneers in the areas of sustainability and digitalization or ethical use of AI. However, the integration of the concepts, in particular CDR and digital sustainability, is still being developed in large companies. The master's thesis examines how these concepts are being implemented in large companies in the German-speaking EU region and what strategic implications arise. To answer the research questions - “How do experts assess the integration of CSR, CDR and digital sustainability?” and “What are the implications for the strategic orientation of large companies?” - an online content analysis and expert interviews were conducted. First, an online content analysis of the text content listed on the company websites was carried out. As company websites change quickly and only publicly accessible measures are communicated, an interview was then conducted with experts from these large companies. In the online content analysis, the texts of the sustainability pages were specifically analyzed according to defined criteria to gain an initial impression of the concepts used. The expert interviews should then provide a deeper insight. CSR is a central component for many companies and forms the basis of their sustainability/corporate strategy. Digital sustainability is mainly implemented on a project basis and CDR is the least mature concept. It is often limited to data protection and IT security, while algorithmic fairness or digital inclusion are hardly considered in practice. For the concepts of CDR and digital sustainability, further research can therefore be conducted on ethical challenges, the implementation of different frameworks or the investigation of maturity models in companies.

Date of Award	2025
Original language	German (Austria)
Supervisor	Martina Gaisch (Supervisor)