Do CSR Awards Motivate Award Winners' Competitors to Undertake CSR Activities?

Abstract

This study proposes that firms that witnessed competitors’ winning corporate social responsibility (CSR) awards will experience an upward comparison, which can motivate them to undertake intensive CSR activities in the post-award period. The influence of witnessing competitors’ winning CSR awards on focal firms’ CSR intensity is stronger when the focal firms have high similarity with CSR award- winning firms. Our findings also show that CSR activities conducted by focal firms after witnessing competitors’ winning CSR awards in the post- award period will give rise to higher performance compared with CSR activities by the same firms in the pre-award period. Using a sample of CSR award- winning firms’ competitors, we find empirical support for our arguments.