CEO Social Capital and Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility of the Firm: Bonding and Bridging Effects.

Abstract

A considerable body of upper echelons theory research demonstrate the role that various facets of CEOs’ individual characteristics play in shaping firm’s strategies and behaviors. With the increasing debate concerning the different drivers and determinants of CSR, we complement these two lines of inquiries by theorizing and proposing a CEO-social capital perspective on CSR. Furthermore, we discuss the various types of social capital ties and how they could lead to different CSR strategies depending on the density and the quality of the social capital ties. More specifically, we discuss two types of social capital: bridging and bonding ties. We propose that bridging ties lead to greater emphasis on CSR actions that are directed towards external stakeholders while bonding ties within the organizational members lead to greater emphasis on internal CSR. Lastly, we propose that the balance between internal and external CSR will be influenced by the density, intensity, and quality of the ties.