A critical look on quality through CSR lenses: Key challenges stemming from the development of ISO 26000

The purpose of this paper is to map the key challenges that quality management faces in order to meet the demands of CSR. The paper focuses on ISO 26000 – a newly emerging international standard for social responsibility – and discusses synergies (and divergences) between quality management (and ISO quality management and environmental management standards) and CSR as they emerged during the process of ISO 26000 development.

This paper draws conclusions from the resolutions and working materials produced by ISO Committee on Consumer Policy, the Strategic Advisory Group on Social Responsibility and ISO/TMB/WG SR – a working group in charge of the development of ISO 26000. To add the quality management dimension to the discussion, the evidence is further expanded from the ISO documents by revealing the arguments posited by nominated experts during the development of ISO 26000.

The paper finds that the quality field can significantly contribute to the deployment and uptake of the corporate social responsibility agenda yet needs to reinvent and rejuvenate in key areas such as management systems; integration of strategy, operations, technology, CSR and quality; incorporation of corporate governance; and improvements in third‐party certification and internal auditing practices.

The research in the paper is limited to the linkages between quality management and CSR stemming from the development of ISO 26000. Other CSR standards and tools are not included. However, as ISO 26000 is a global initiative, this paper provides a view from the perspective of one of the most significant initiatives in recent years.

The paper informs quality practitioners about the recent developments in international standardization of social responsibility and draws the linkages between quality management and corporate social responsibility that will enable them to adopt the CSR agenda and ISO 26000 in the future.

This is one of the first papers that deals with the linkages and synergies between ISO 26000 and quality management. By doing so, key areas are also offered that practitioners and academics should further explore in order to demonstrate the contribution of quality management to CSR.