Social Responsibility and Community Development in Vermont’s Food Business

David S Conner,Michael Archer,Rocki-Lee Dewitt,Shoshanah M Inwood

doi:10.5539/jfr.v4n6p93

Abstract

Businesses are increasingly expected to contribute to community development and sustainability. This exploratory research examines how food and agriculturally-based Vermont businesses are defining the concept of social responsibility (SR), incorporating it into their enterprises, and linking their enterprises to their communities. We develop indicators of SR and use them to examine qualitative interviews of 20 food entrepreneurs. We find that these businesses expressed commitment to and claimed actions to contribute to a broad array of SR goals, including community (with specific mention of employee well-being and improved access to healthy foods), local economy, and the environment. In many cases the respondents cited measurable impacts their actions made such as employee retention, food access, improved farm nutrient management and support for and assistance to local businesses. Contrary to prior studies, firm age did not have a measurable impact on SR values or practices. However, we found evidence of a U-shaped relationship between SR and scale, where small and large firms were more highly engaged and medium scale ones slightly less so. Implications focus on strategies for improved metrics for validation of impacts.

Highlights

1.1 Problem IntroductionBusinesses are increasingly expected to go beyond the traditional roles of creating wealth for shareholders through the provision of goods and services to the marketplace
We find that these businesses expressed commitment to and claimed actions to contribute to a broad array of social responsibility (SR) goals, including community, local economy, and the environment
In many cases the respondents cited measurable impacts their actions made such as employee retention, food access, improved farm nutrient management and support for and assistance to local businesses

Summary

Introduction

1.1 Problem IntroductionBusinesses are increasingly expected to go beyond the traditional roles of creating wealth for shareholders through the provision of goods and services to the marketplace. The majority of research on SR has focused on understanding how large-scale, mature, publicly traded businesses have considered the relationship between their economic outcomes and social and environmental initiatives. Their intentions have been linked to a set of targeted actions and they have created a variety of internal processes and systems to provide oversight, coordination, and reporting of their SR efforts (Graafland, van de Ven, & Stoffele, 2003). Even less considered is the relationship between rural and agricultural SR initiatives and community impact (Besser, 1998)

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