Antecedents Of Corporate Social Responsibility Research Articles

The effect of prosocial orientation on CSR scope: the moderating role of the CSR department

Purpose Considering that corporate social responsibility (CSR) addresses a wide range of claims from multiple stakeholders, companies must determine their CSR scope. This paper aims to examine what factors influence a firm’s decision in its scope of CSR. In exploring what factors influence CSR scope, the authors examine the relationship between a firm’s prosocial orientation and CSR and further examine its boundary conditions by the existence of CSR department. Design/methodology/approach This study uses a data set – the Social Value Survey – administered by the Center for Social Value Enhancement Studies based in the context of Korean firms. Based on 86 firm responses, statistical models were performed to test hypotheses. Findings The findings show that a firm’s prosocial orientation is positively associated with CSR scope. Further, this study shows that there is a negative moderating effect of the CSR department for the relationship between the prosocial orientation and CSR scope. Originality/value This study attempts to contribute to the extensive line of work on the antecedents of CSR by exploring the simultaneous existence of various drivers of CSR and the interplay between the drivers. And this study enhances the understanding on what factors influence the decision of CSR scope within a complex system of diverse stakeholder relationships. Additionally, this study has potentially shed light on the role of CSR departments to determine CSR scope.

The Impact of Antecedents of Corporate Social Responsibility on Corporate Social Responsibility Performance: A Perspective of Pakistan’s Banks

The Impact of Antecedents of Corporate Social Responsibility on Corporate Social Responsibility Performance: A Perspective of Pakistan’s Banks

Exploring how organizational performance feedback influences corporate social responsibility (CSR): the moderating role of LGBT inclusion

PurposeCorporate social responsibility (CSR) captures organizational actions that account for economic, social and environmental performance. CSR is becoming increasingly relevant for organizations because of changing societal norms and attitudes. Prior research on CSR shows that socially responsible actions are beneficial for the firm and the society. However, much less is known about the antecedents of CSR. The authors suggest that CSR is a strategic organizational decision and use organizational performance feedback theory to explain how organizations decide on CSR activities.Design/methodology/approachUsing a longitudinal sample of 189 US public firms with 1,050 observations, the authors test how performance decreases below aspirations and performance increases above aspirations influence CSR. The authors also test for the moderation effect of LGBT inclusion on these relationships as a proxy for CSR consistency and stakeholder support.FindingsThe authors find that as organizational performance decreases further below aspirations, CSR increases and LGBT inclusion strengthens this increase. The authors also find that as performance increases above aspirations, organizations become more engaged in CSR, but LGBT inclusion does not moderate this relationship.Originality/valuePrior research recently started extending the performance feedback theory to CSR, but empirical findings on the relationships between performance feedback and CSR are seemingly inconclusive. Moreover, studies had primarily focused on performance below aspirations and to a much lesser extent on performance above aspirations. This study aims to better integrate organizational performance feedback theory to the CSR discourse.

A Rising Tide Lifts All Boats: The Effects of Common Ownership on Corporate Social Responsibility

Common owners face an incredible investment challenge: managing systematic risk. Because common owners hold shares in multiple firms across an industry, an action (or inaction) by one firm that affects industry peers is felt more severely by common owners than by non-common owners. Research has largely focused on common owners’ role in orchestrating competitive dynamics among their portfolio firms, with almost no empirical investigation of how common owners manage systematic risk. Drawing on research showing that one firm’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) can produce positive spillovers for peer firms and that its irresponsibility can harm its peers, we argue that common owners increase firms’ CSR to produce spillovers that reduce systematic risk and multiply their investment returns. Consistent with our theory, we find that common ownership is positively associated with firm CSR. Unpacking that relationship, we find that increases in CSR are driven by common owners with long-term orientations and are concentrated in stakeholder sensitive industries, in which CSR spillovers are most economically impactful. We also find that common owners focus their efforts on financially material CSR over financially immaterial CSR. We use a natural experiment with a quasi-exogenous shock to rule out alternative explanations. Our study contributes to literatures on the antecedents of CSR and outcomes of common ownership, providing a new perspective on how common owners shape corporate strategic behavior. Supplemental Material: The online appendix is available at https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.2022.1620 .

Industry and community peers as drivers of corporate social responsibility in India: The contingent role of institutional investors

The extant research has widely investigated the various institutional antecedents of corporate social responsibility (CSR). However, the role of peer groups on the firm’s CSR has received relatively less attention. To this end, the present study examines the CSR of the firms due to the mimetic isomorphism mechanism arising among ‘industry peers’ (i.e., peer firms which operate in the same industry) and ‘community peers’ (i.e., peer firms with their headquarters located in the same geographical area). The study examines CSR along two dimensions: CSR engagement level and CSR spending. The study examines the fixed effects regression on a balanced panel data, collected from the annual reports and CMIE Prowess database of 321 listed firms from 2015 to 2018 in India. The results indicate that both the industry and the community peers positively influence the CSR engagement level and CSR spending of the firms. However, community peers’ effect is stronger than the industry peers’ on both dimensions. The divergence from peer groups’ mean CSR spending negatively moderates the peer group and CSR relationships. The results further indicate that institutional investors reduce the mimetic isomorphic (shouldn’t it be isomorphic mimetic) pressure on the firm. The study contributes by proposing a measurement index of CSR engagement level. Managers can develop appropriate business policies for a firm’s CSR activities based on ‘industry’ and ‘community’ peer firms.

Competition Intensity, Stakeholder Voice, and Environmental Irresponsibility

We incorporate industry environment in the literature on institutional antecedents of environmental irresponsibility. While scholars have recently undertaken important steps to examine institutions antecedents of corporate social responsibility, research has thus far mostly focused on macro-level factors. In this paper, we both introduce missing macro-level institutions as well as integrate the role of firm’s immediate institutional environment, viz., competition intensity in determining firm behavior. Specifically, using a longitudinal, multi-country sample, we show that moderate competition curtails environmentally irresponsible behavior. This direct effect is also moderated by the national voice and accountability environment of the country in which focal firms are located. In doing so, we elucidate the interplay of macro and meso institutions in determining firm behavior.

Social Status and Corporate Social Responsibility: Evidence from Chinese Privately Owned Firms

In countries such as China, where Confucianism is the backbone of national culture, high-social-status entrepreneurs are inclined to engage in corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities due to the perceived high stress from stakeholders and high ability of doing CSR. Based on a large-scale survey of private enterprises in China, our paper finds that Chinese entrepreneurs at private firms who have high social status are prone to engage in social responsibility efforts. In addition, high-social-status Chinese entrepreneurs are even more likely to engage in social responsibility efforts as they become more politically connected and as the region becomes more market-oriented. These findings extend the upper echelons perspective of CSR into Chinese context by shedding light on antecedents of CSR from a new perspective (i.e., entrepreneurs’ social status) and clarifying the boundary conditions of the social status–CSR link from the institutional perspective.

Grounding managerial values towards social responsibility on an ideological framework

PurposeThe literature on corporate social responsibility (CSR) neglects the link between values and their ideological underpinnings. This paper aims to fill this void by grounding the managerial values towards CSR on an ideological ground by following the Schwartz’s (1994) value framework.Design/methodology/approachThis paper provides a theoretical construct that builds the ideological stances of different managerial values towards CSR.FindingsThe study proposes that ideologically liberal managers might be involved in CSR based on their openness to change values, whereas their conservative counterparts are likely motivated by the conservative values such as security, conformity and tradition. On the other hand, egalitarian managers can engage in CSR based on their self-transcendence values, while non-egalitarian managers might involve in CSR based on their self-enhancement values as achievement and power.Practical implicationsThe study can provide to all stakeholders a new perspective and a sound reference point to understand and monitor the socially responsible behaviours of managers.Originality/valueThe proposed bases of managerial values to CSR deepen the understanding on the antecedents of CSR. Based on the study, the future studies can configure out the role of diverse values on CSR in line with their ideological roots.

Performance Feedback and Corporate Social Responsibility

Grounded on the behavioral theory of the firm, this study attempts to extend the present understanding of antecedents of corporate social responsibility (CSR) with behavioral lens. We demarcate CSR into internal versus external CSR and argue that performance feedback adjusts levels of risk taking and triggers different types of CSR activities. A panel data set of 112 listed companies in Sri Lanka for a five years period is used to test the hypotheses. Findings suggest that outperforming feedback triggers internal CSR as an internal sense-making approach while underperforming feedback triggers external CSR as an instrument for turning the poor performance. These relationships are moderated by market competition and organizational slack.

Multilevel corporate environmental responsibility

The multilevel empirical study of the antecedents of corporate social responsibility (CSR) has been identified as “the first knowledge gap” in CSR research. Based on an extensive literature review, the present study outlines a conceptual multilevel model of CSR, then designs and empirically validates an operational multilevel model of the principal driving factors affecting corporate environmental responsibility (CER), as a measure of CSR. Both conceptual and operational models incorporate three levels of analysis: institutional, organizational, and individual. The multilevel nature of the design allows for the assessment of the relative importance of the levels and of their components in the achievement of CER. Unweighted least squares (ULS) regression analysis reveals that the institutional-level variables have medium relationships with CER, some variables having a negative effect. The organizational level is revealed as having strong and positive significant relationships with CER, with organizational culture and managers' attitudes and behaviors as significant driving forces. The study demonstrates the importance of multilevel analysis in improving the understanding of CSR drivers, relative to single level models, even if the significance of specific drivers and levels may vary by context.

The Antecedents of Corporate Social Responsibility for Extractive Industries in the Governance Systems in Africa

The extractive industry gets huge international consideration because of the way they discharge their ecological and social obligations. Despite the fact that mining sector ventures have numerous points of interest, wrong mining operations have prompted emotional environment and resources exhaustion. To accomplish a parity of such operations, sustainable programs are an absolute necessity and ought to be trailed by the business. Of the different feasible practices, CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) has picked up conspicuousness as of late. The developed nations, CSR is at a propelled level, yet in emerging economies particularly in Africa, CSR is in a preparatory stage, because of both known and obscure reasons. This study researches drivers for CSR usage in the mining business in Ghana, a developing country in Africa. A few studies concentrated on CSR issues however were constrained to industrial points of view without considering multi-partners. This paper endeavors to bridge the gap by dissecting CSR drivers from the viewpoints of numerous stakeholders, including media, government and social organizations. The researchers propose a model system, showed with a contextual investigation from a Ghana Investments Promotion Center (GIPC). In light of these findings, businesses can build their chances of honing quality CSR in modern business behaviors. This research augments the extent of this issue through changing multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) apparatuses and distinctive situations, for example, dim, fluffy, and different methodologies. The extra drivers can likewise be accepted with statistical interpretations.

Walking and Talking Corporate Social Responsibility: Implications of Firm Size and Organizational Cost

AbstractIn this paper we address two interrelated research gaps in the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) literature. The first results from a lack of understanding of different patterns of CSR engagement with respect to CSR talk (impression management and the creation of symbolic images and documentation) and CSR walk (substantive implementation of CSR policies, structures and procedures). Related to this, the second gap concerns limited knowledge about the influence of firm size on CSR engagement. We develop a conceptual model that explains differences in CSR talk versus walk based on organizational cost and firm size. This allows us to theorize the antecedents of what we call the large firm implementation gap (large firms tend to focus on communicating CSR symbolically but do less to implement it into their core structures and procedures) and vice versa the small firm communication gap (less active communication and more emphasis on implementation). Our model expands a new theoretical understanding of CSR engagement based on as yet underemphasized firm‐level antecedents of CSR, and opens up several new avenues for future, and in particular comparative, research.

Mapping the Relationship Among Political Ideology, CSR Mindset, and CSR Strategy: A Contingency Perspective Applied to Chinese Managers

The literature on antecedents of corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategies of firms has been predominately content driven. Informed by the managerial sense-making process perspective, we develop a contingency theoretical framework explaining how political ideology of managers affects the choice of CSR strategy for their firms through their CSR mindset. We also explain to what extent the outcome of this process is shaped by the firm’s internal institutional arrangements and external factors impacting on the firm. We develop and test several hypotheses using data collected from 129 Chinese managers. The results show that managers with a stronger socialist ideology are likely to develop a mindset favouring CSR, which induces the adoption of a proactive CSR strategy. The CSR mindset mediates the link between socialist ideology and CSR strategy. The strength of the relationship between the CSR mindset and the choice of CSR strategy is moderated by customer response to CSR, industry competition, the role of government, and CSR-related managerial incentives.

"Nonlinear Relationships between R&D, Firm Size and Corporate Social Responsibility"

Although there are a number of studies exploring the antecedents of corporate social responsibility, few of them pay attention to the nonlinear relationship between them. To fill the theoretical ga...

Determining the antecedents for a strategy of corporate social responsibility by small- and medium-sized enterprises in the UK fashion apparel industry

This paper seeks to increase the understanding of the antecedents of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in small UK fashion garment manufacturing firms. A review of CSR practice is used to inform the theoretical development of the wider aspects of small business competitive advantage. A causal map of the antecedents of CSR in the context of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) is presented which will help guide the selection of the constructs to be used for measuring the existence of CSR in SMEs in the UK fashion garment manufacturing industry. Future research will gain a greater understanding of this phenomenon through evaluating the obstacles and drivers for the implementation of a CSR strategy in small garment manufacturing businesses.

Antecedents of CSR Practices in MNCs’ Subsidiaries: A Stakeholder and Institutional Perspective

This study investigates antecedents of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in multinational corporations’ (MNCs’) subsidiaries. Using stakeholder theory and institutional theory that identify internal and external pressures for legitimacy in MNCs’ subsidiaries, we integrate international business and CSR literatures to create a model depicting CSR practices in MNCs’ subsidiaries. We propose that MNCs’ subsidiaries will be likely to adapt to local practices to legitimize themselves if they operate in host countries with different institutional environments and demanding stakeholders. We also predict that MNCs’ subsidiaries will be likely to adapt to local practices to avoid spillover effects if their parent companies suffer major legitimacy problems at home or abroad. However, we speculate that MNCs’ subsidiaries will be less likely to adapt to local practices if they are strongly annexed to their parent companies and the benefit to gain internal legitimacy outweighs external legitimacy. This article contributes to the discourse on CSR across borders by exploring the antecedents of CSR practices in MNCs’ subsidiaries at social and organizational levels, and integrating institutional and stakeholder views. We provide a number of propositions for future studies and explore implications for practitioners.