Traffic congestion, corporate social responsibility (CSR), and community perception: Narrowing the gap between “talking” CSR and “walking” CSR

This study explored corporate social responsibility (CSR) practice and public perceptions of that practice to traffic congestion (TC). This investigation uses a phenomenological and qualitative method to analyze how Corporate CSR practices by corporations that can mitigate Traffic Congestion (TC) align with how communities perceive their effectiveness. While CSR and TC have been widely studied, there is a gap in the literature in incorporating TC as part of CSR strategies. We use Atlanta, GA, in the U.S.A. as a case study to investigate how corporations TC related CSR efforts are perceived by three stakeholder groups, including corporate executives, community members, and a non-profit, urban redevelopment, organization, the Atlanta Beltline, Inc. (ABI). This study also evaluates if corporations include and prioritize TC as part of their CSR efforts, especially on how it affects their operations. As such, this study incorporates two research questions: (1) How are corporations integrating TC within their CSR strategies? (2) How do stakeholders perceive TC and its relationship to CSR? We achieve our overall goal through face-to-face and phone interviews, which were later evaluated qualitatively. Results show that while corporate managers' views of CSR vary overall, most regard TC as an intractable social problem. Community groups are mostly unaware of CSR's role in mitigating TC but see the potential of the ABI's project, which could be supportive, that is, act as a link or bridge between corporations' CSR and TC mitigation. Overall findings suggest that corporations' CSR strategies toward TC mitigation are currently under-reported, but also a promising domain for CSR, which can serve as an innovative leverage point for corporations. CSR and TC mitigation can also demonstrate corporations' commitment to act as responsible community leaders while simultaneously enabling public agencies to utilize the resources and expertise of the business world to increase sustainable modes of transportation while tackling TC.