A study of inverted U-shape relationship between firm size and corporate social responsibility - the case of Indonesia

Abstract

The aim of this study is to investigate Udayasankar's hypothesis regarding the relationship between firm size and corporate social responsibility (CSR) participation in Indonesia. Udayasankar (2008) proposed the U-shape relationship of firm size and CSR participation. Since at the country level, factors such as economic development, and social, political, and cultural factors play a significant role in determining CSR participation, the relationship shape needs to be examined per country basis. Therefore, this research has applied content analysis to measure CSR participation index for 433 Indonesian companies listed on Indonesian Stock Exchange for 2012. Resource access, operation scale and visibility are used as indicators of firm size. Our findings reveal an inverted U-shape relationship between firm size and CSR participation. This study reports a positive relationship between size and CSR participation for small companies, and a negative relationship between size and CSR participation for large companies. The study contributes that the country level factors play an important role toward CSR practices.