Evolution of Traditional Philanthropy to Corporate Social Responsibility: The Overview of the Context and Practices in Turkey.

This study aims to trace the evolution of philanthropy towards CSR and to reach an elucidating scheme about the current context and contemporary practices in Turkey. The evolution of the philanthropy concept is evaluated regarding the period of the Ottoman Empire, the Republic of Turkey, the development of the private sector, and finally the influence of globalization. Accordingly, the paper concluded that the historical evolution of philanthropy in Turkey brings about a scheme in which CSR perspective has been emerging. The contemporary practices such as awarding, CSR reporting and following of CSR standards are claimed to be reflections of CSR perspective. On the other side, philanthropy carries on to be influential to some extent in a corporate character, in the practices of the companies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]