Humility, deliberation, hyperactivism and hyperbole: why CSR is best viewed as a wicked problem

The purpose of this study is to set out the benefits for the public relations (PR) field of framing corporate social responsibility (CSR) as a wicked problem (WP).
The paper further suggests that discrete issues associated with CSR, such as business sustainability, are also best regarded as wicked problems (WPs). This analysis leads to the promotion of three organisational priorities positioned as strategically important to PR leaders seeking to influence CSR policy and practice. These are the encouragement of organisational
humility, the promotion of deliberative approaches to stakeholder engagement and localised innovation. The last priority is set against a growing trend of hyperactivism and hyperbole in contemporary public life. It is argued these tendencies contribute to the creation of communicative cultures which work against the collaboration necessary to tackle the WP of CSR, simultaneously intensifying the levels of complexity entangling this challenge.