Corporate Social Irresponsibility Research Articles

Corporate social irresponsibility: What we know and what we need to know

AbstractCorporate social irresponsibility (CSI) is a critical issue for managers and researchers. In fact, the number of studies on this subject from diverse literature is rapidly increasing, seeking to answer questions regarding the core elements of CSI, its antecedents, and consequences. This paper offers a comprehensive literature review of this topic, identifying and assessing previous studies, synthesizing their findings, and highlighting knowledge gaps. Additionally, it offers recommendations regarding how to move forward. Our review identified 155 studies published from 1962 to 2020 that describe the antecedents, outcomes, mediators, and moderators of CSI according to different levels of analysis. We contribute to the social issues in management literature in that we analyze the facilitators and inhibitors of CSI and the consequences for firms using a multilevel approach. Finally, we provide guidance for future research by assessing the core elements that define the level of irresponsibility—harm to others and intentionality.

Linking corporate social irresponsibility with workplace deviant behaviour: mediated by moral outrage

PurposeThis study aims to examine the effects of external corporate social irresponsibility on organisational workplace deviant behaviours through the mediation of moral outrage (MO) among non-managerial employees.Design/methodology/approachThe primary quantitative data was collected from a sample of 328 non-managerial employees working in banking, refinery, petroleum and power distribution companies in Pakistan. Partial least square-structural equation modelling was used to estimate the modelled relationships.FindingsResults confirmed that external corporate social irresponsibility has a positive effect on organisational workplace deviant behaviours. MO mediated relationships between external corporate social irresponsibility and organisational workplace deviant behaviours positively.Research limitations/implicationsTheoretically, the findings indicate that moral values are also close to the hearts of non-managerial employees, as external corporate social irresponsibility has proved to be one of the significant predictors of organisational deviance.Practical implicationsThis study provides a new, substantial pathway for the executive management of organisations and evidence that eliminating social irresponsibility is equally important as pursuing sustainability initiatives for addressing workplace deviant behaviour.Originality/valueThe originality of this study is twofold. Firstly, it has confirmed the impact of external corporate social irresponsibility on employees’ deviant behaviours targeted at the organisation. Secondly, it has extended the scope of expectancy violation theory into the field of human resource management.

Independent and joint effects of CSR and CSI on the effectiveness of digital transformation for transition economy firms

This study examines how digital transformation affects the short-term performance and long-term value of transition economy firms as well as the moderating role of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and corporate social irresponsibility (CSI) in these relationships. We believe that digital transformation inhibits the short-term performance but increases the long-term value of transition economy firms. Furthermore, CSR and CSI have important contingency roles in the effectiveness of digital transformation. While CSR enhances the effectiveness of digital transformation, CSI weakens it. Finally, we believe that the enhancement role of CSR is weaker than the weakening role of CSI in the effectiveness of digital transformation. Using empirical data of Chinese listed companies from 2008 to 2020, we obtain empirical evidence confirming most of these theoretical views. This study provides new insights into the literature on digital transformation and firm ethical practices and presents important practical implications.

Consumer Response to Food Corporate Social Irresponsibility: Food Performance and Company Ethics Irresponsibility.

Corporate social irresponsibility (CSI) seriously damages the rights and interests of stakeholders, particularly consumers. This study analyzes the consumer response to food performance irresponsibility and food corporate ethics irresponsibility by moral emotions. A situational simulation experiment was conducted with the following results: (1) Food performance irresponsibility has the greatest impact on consumer boycotts, while corporate ethics irresponsibility more often leads to consumers' negative word of mouth (NWOM). (2) Moral emotions play a strong mediating role between CSI and consumers' NWOM and boycott behavior. (3) Gender significantly moderates the propagation path from moral emotions to NWOM, and female consumers react more strongly to food performance irresponsibility. In conclusion, the paper offers empirical evidence of the effect food corporate social irresponsibility has on consumers' different responses. Furthermore, it can help food enterprises to identify different CSI types and develop corresponding governance strategies.

THE ROLE OF A FIRM’S NEGATIVE MEDIA COVERAGE OF CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY PRACTICES IN PREDICTING THE SUPPLY OF CASH FLOW FORECASTS

Analysts seek to provide investors with an accurate picture of firm value using tangible and intangible criteria. Researchers use one intangible measure, corporate social responsibility (CSR), to proxy for the firm’s relationship with its stakeholders. The purpose of this paper is to advance research in two ways. First, we examine cash flow forecasts because they are less subjective than earnings forecasts. Second, we focus on a firm’s corporate social irresponsibility (CSIR) reputation formed through negative media coverage of environmental, social, and governance practices. Our paper posits that analysts are less likely to provide cash flow forecasts for a firm with a poor CSIR reputation. We conducted a study with 50,365 firm-year observations over twelve years. We support our hypothesis after controlling for endogeneity: The likelihood of analyst cash flow forecast issuance is associated negatively with firm negative media coverage. Additional analyses show that numerous firm and industry-related variables moderate this effect. This decrease in cash flow forecast issuance likelihood occurs, even if the poor CSIR reputation is from as long ago as three years prior or is due to environmental, social, or governance issues. Furthermore, increases in cash flow volatility and capital intensity positively moderate the likelihood of issuing a cash flow forecast, while increases in ROA and Tobin’s q negatively moderate the likelihood of issuing a cash flow.

Trade-off among stakeholders: CEO political orientation and corporate social irresponsibility

We draw on the Upper Echelons theory to investigate the effect of CEO liberalism—as reflected by core beliefs on the liberal-conservative spectrum—on firm engagement in corporate social irresponsibility (CSI). We argue that CEO liberalism is related to an asymmetric treatment of shareholders and other non-shareholding stakeholders. Specifically, we distinguish CSI behavior toward shareholders from CSI behavior toward non-shareholding stakeholders and predict that while CEO liberalism reduces CSI behavior toward non-shareholding stakeholders, it also increases CSI behavior toward shareholders. We further identify governance contingency factors, such as institutional ownership, board composition, and compensation mechanisms, that moderate the predicted main relationships. We test our predictions with a sample of S&P 500 firms between 2000 and 2009 and find support for most of our hypotheses.

Corporate social irresponsibility and stakeholders’ support: evidence from a case study

Stakeholders’ decisions regarding whether to continue to support a firm after it has been perceived as culpable for socially irresponsible behaviour is “coin of the realm” in selecting which firms (or which parts of a firm) will be able to survive a corporate social irresponsibility (CSI) scandal. Our empirical setting is an embedded polar case of audience support, the Parmalat case, following a severe CSI scandal. The scandal represented a “trigger event” that ignited an active reevaluation of the firm on behalf of its stakeholders. We show that, while the firm’s cognitive legitimacy was not harmed by the CSI scandal, two dimensions of legitimacy played a key role in stakeholder evaluations: moral and pragmatic legitimacy. The capacity to manage the interplay between these two dimensions emerged as a key factor underlying stakeholders' support. Finally, we argue that if pragmatic legitimacy is feeble it is unlikely that the firm is able to maintain stakeholders' support. Our study suggests that possessing a sound source of competitive advantage in one (or more) of the businesses in which the firm operates is decisive to maintain the support of independent stakeholders following CSI scandal.

An Exploratory Study of The Relationship Among Corporate Social Irresponsibilities, Reputation of The Firm and Social Media Communication

A case of Indian real estate sector has been taken to examine the relation among corporate social irresponsibility and reputation of the firm. A self-constructed questionnaire, named “Employees Respondent Measurement Scale” was administered on the employees working in real estate sector to collect primary data. Various architects, engineers, project in charges, technical and non-technical staff were taken as respondents. The total sample size was 350. Post reliability and validity check, regression analysis was done to interpret the relationship. It was found that corporate social irresponsibility harms the reputation of the firm. Thus, firms in order to create a good reputation must be engaged in activities that depict responsible behavior and should avoid irresponsibility.

Differentiated consumer forgiveness for different corporate social irresponsibility domains: The moderating role of corporate reputation and patriotism

The extant literature has generally overlooked the differentiated consumer forgiveness regarding corporate social irresponsibility (CSI). Motivated by this, we introduce the construct of patriotism and propose a model (applicable to domestic enterprises in China) to investigate the moderating effect of patriotism and corporate reputation on the relationship between CSI domains (must-be and attractive) and consumer forgiveness; and such effect is mediated by moral judgment. An experiment that uses 483 actual consumers in China as participants was conducted. We find that the must-be CSI has a greater negative impact on consumers than the attractive CSI, and consumers are less likely to forgive the must-be CSI. Meanwhile, moral judgment plays a mediating role in the differential effects of different CSI domains on consumer forgiveness. In addition, high corporate reputation has a buffer effect on both CSI domains for consumers with high patriotism, and has a boomerang effect on the must-be CSI and a buffer effect on the attractive CSI for consumers with low patriotism.

The social regulation of corporate social irresponsibility: Reviewing the contribution of corporate reputation

AbstractWhilst it is assumed that stakeholders penalize and deter corporate social irresponsibility (CSI), instances of CSI persist. Correspondingly, the literature on social regulation—which describes how non‐governmental stakeholders exert their regulatory influence on organizations—remains fragmented. To act as a springboard for future studies, this review examines the contribution of corporate reputation to our understanding of how CSI is socially regulated. Our analysis of a large (n = 448 studies) multidisciplinary body of literature unearths a set of nuanced relationships between CSI and corporate reputation. We synthesize a conceptual framework in order to map the diverse landscape of literature and its contributions. We then highlight important gaps among—as well as between—research streams to present a future research agenda. Accordingly, this review contributes to closing ‘the loop’ between CSI, corporate reputation and social regulation, thereby opening up new pathways for future research.

It Leaves a Bad Taste in Your Mouth: How Corporate Social Irresponsibility Impacts Consumption Experiences

AbstractAcross three experiments, we examined the impact of both corporate social responsibility (CSR) and corporate social irresponsibility (CSIR) on consumer taste evaluations. The current research demonstrates that CSIR information consistently negatively impacts perceptions of taste across both hedonic and utilitarian food products. Specifically, it translates to perceptions of inferior taste in food products, an effect mediated by both guilt and quality perceptions. Notably, the majority of CSR research focuses on attitudes toward the firm versus actual product experiences. Accordingly, firms should consider how information related to CSR/CSIR can impact not only attitudes toward the firm but the consumption experiences with specific products.

TMT experience and corporate social (ir)responsibility: the moderating effects of faultlines

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to examine how the experience of the top management team (TMT), such as industrial experience and functional experience heterogeneity, affect corporate social performance (CSP) and whether TMT faultlines act as a moderator.Design/methodology/approachTo examine the effect of TMT experience on CSP, this study uses upper echelons theory as theoretical background, and data are selected from 212 Chinese high-polluting companies with A-shares from 2012 to 2016. The dependent variable is lagged by one year from 2013 to 2017.FindingsIndustrial experience both positively influenced CSR and negatively influenced corporate social irresponsibility. Functional experience heterogeneity had an inverted U-shaped effect on responsible behaviors and a U-shaped effect on irresponsible behaviors. Meanwhile, TMT faultlines played a moderating roles in the relationship between TMT experience and CSP, in which faultlines reinforces the non-linear relationship between functional experience heterogeneity and CSP.Research limitations/implicationsThe existence of impact paths between TMT experience and corporate social performances must still be examined. Other moderators need to be verified.Practical implicationsThe important ways to promote more corporate responsible behavior and reduce irresponsible corporate behavior is to choose the right team members. During team formation, it is important to have experience in related industries and select team members with different functional experiences. Companies can consider hiring executives who tend to work together and have relevant experience, which can reduce the time cost of unnecessary conflicts.Originality/valueThis study combined the upper echelons theory with some attention perspectives to study the impacts of TMT experience on CSP.

Corporate Social Irresponsibility in Host Countries: The Interplay of Home and Host Institutions

Corporate social irresponsibility (CSI) by multinational enterprises (MNEs) has been attracting increasing attention by policy makers as well as scholars. Building on institutional perspectives and the ‘distance’ research in the international business (IB) field, our study examines how the institutional characteristics of home and host countries, their interplay, as well as cross-national institutional distances affect MNEs’ CSI in host countries. We test our hypotheses using panel data of 1,087 listed firms based in 48 countries, with CSI incidents occurring in 150 host countries during 2007-2018. We find that both stronger home and host institutions are negatively associated with CSI occurring in the host markets, but the mitigating effect of host (home) institutions on CSI will be weaker when home (host) institutions are stronger. We further find that as institutional distance between home and host countries increases, MNEs’ involvement in CSI incidents in the host countries grows. We contribute to CSI research and ‘distance’ literatures by offering theoretical mechanisms and empirical evidence on whether and when MNEs respond to varied stakeholder and institutional pressures in their CSI engagements.

Bibliometric and Topic Modeling Analysis of Corporate Social Irresponsibility

This study investigates the intellectual structure of corporate social irresponsibility (CSiR) by identifying past developments, current areas, emerging topics, and suggesting future research directions. Complementing bibliometric analysis through the VOSviewer technique with topic modeling exercise, we map CSiR intellectual structure from 1990 to mid-2021. We discuss the foundation of CSiR literature by identifying the most relevant studies, journals, and authors based on their citations, links, and importance. Further, we inspect relevant and emerging themes and examine their development. We also discuss reasons for slow progress in CSiR. Underdeveloped CSiR conceptualization and operationalization impedes the growth of CSiR literature. We find that there is less collaboration among authors for CSiR research. Although there are intensifying investigations into research on the CSiR-corporate social responsibility (CSR) connection, there is comparatively less attention towards issues, problems, complications in the CSiR domain. We conclude by presenting potential areas for future research.

When Disaster Strikes: Corporate Social Irresponsibility and Social Blaming

Studies on corporate social irresponsibility (CSI) and the social theory of ignorance have attracted considerable attention from organizational researchers. Notably, most of the studies on CSI have explored ambiguities around the concept and understanding of the phenomenon as the opposite of CSR. On the other hand, studies on ignorance have emphasized how corporations strategically promote ignorance and doubt to achieve their interests. However, little is known regarding how companies and actors that are at risk of being held responsible may strategically mobilize misinformation about an event of CSI. Drawing upon these theories and adding a discursive dimension of ignorance in CSI events, we state that willful ignorance arguments might prevent attributions of culpability and blame in the context of organizational disasters. We highlighted that in CSI incidents, ignorance plays an important role by creating powerful rhetoric of misinformation. Organizational actors may do so using three tactics of ignorance: (1) denying responsibility, (2) concealing information, and (3) persuading the audience. We used a qualitative single-case study to explore a CSI case, namely, the Samarco dam collapse. Our contribution extends the work on CSI and the social theory of ignorance, including the notion of ignorance as a discursive process. The results of this study show that organizations can use willful ignorance to manage their culpability in industrial accidents or unethical management actions.

Acquirer’s Corporate Social Irresponsibility, Deal Rumor and Cross-Border Acquisition Completion

We draw on signaling theory to examine how foreign acquirers’ corporate social irresponsibility (CSI) affects the outcomes of cross-border acquisition completion and how this impact varies according to the existence of deal rumor. We argue that foreign acquirers’ CSI is a negative signal that not only makes firms more likely to be rejected when they seek foreign acquisitions but also leads to longer times to completion even if they are approved. Deal rumor has warming-up effects that amplify the signaling effects of CSI, thereby putting foreign acquirers with CSI in a more unfavorable position. Analyzing a sample of 939 manufacturing sector cross-border acquisitions by firms from European developed countries in the United States during 2000–2019, we find strong support for our arguments.

What Do We Mean by Corporate Social Irresponsibility? Examining the Concept in the Literature

In this paper, we examine the ontological and epistemological properties of Corporate Social Irresponsibility (CSiR), in order to provide an evaluation of its current status as a concept. More specifically, we analyze CSiR definitions, operationalization, related concepts, and empirical evidence in the business and management literature. We find that scholars adopt three different approaches to define CSiR: the stakeholder-based approach, the typification approach, and the reductionist approach. Moreover, our analysis shows that the field of CSiR is being developed with a strong quantitative orientation, and that the phenomenon is explored mostly on the context of large and multinational companies. Based on our findings, we provide a definition of CSiR and recommendations for future research in three main areas: (1) CSiR conceptualization and theory development; (2) methodology and measurement enhancements and (3) exploration of new contexts.

Risky Reputations: The Role of CSI in Cross-Border Acquisitions

This study examines the influence of reputation risk on ownership choice in cross-border acquisitions (CBAs). Building on internalization theory and the reputation literature, we argue that acquirers with higher reputation risk through involvement in corporate social irresponsibility (CSI) obtain lower levels of ownership in foreign targets, as CSI implies damage to their firm- specific advantages (FSAs). We suggest that in a cross-border context acquirers obtain lower levels of ownership to take advantage of the target firm’s legitimacy in the host market and reduce the likelihood of regulatory scrutiny and stakeholder resistance. However, the negative effects of acquirer reputation risk on the level of ownership in CBAs are contingent on characteristics of the target firm’s country. We find support for our hypotheses in a sample of 17,362 CBAs by 11,136 unique acquirers from 84 countries of target firms located in 67 countries.

Turning Bright to Dark: CEO Charisma, Dark Triad Traits, and Corporate Social Irresponsibility

Many of the numerous corporate scandals and business failures over the past few decades seem to have occurred under the leadership of charismatic CEOs: apparently, charisma has a “dark side”. Yet, the extant academic literature on CEO charisma has been silent to date on the potential dark side of CEO charisma—prior theory and research has taken an explicitly “bright” view of the phenomenon that presumes that CEOs use their charismatic power to lead in an empowering manner that aligns and commits their stakeholders toward their organizations’ missions and values, and to presumably beneficial organizational and social outcomes. The very limited past research that has considered this issue has been conceptual in nature and has largely attributed the dark side of CEO charisma to leaders’ followership and/or the context. Therefore, we lack a systematic understanding of the characteristics of leaders that result in charismatic CEOs using their charismatic power in dark and harmful ways. We draw upon and integrate past notions of personalized leadership and research on dark personality traits to suggest that the dark triad (DT) traits—Narcissism, Machiavellianism, and Psychopathy—equip charismatic CEOs with the disinhibited, domineering, exploitative, and leader-focused orientation needed to turn charisma from bright to dark. In particular, we hypothesize that firms run by dark charismatic CEOs—i.e., those CEOs high in charisma and DT traits—will be associated with corporate socially irresponsible activities, both toward internal (employees) and external (customers) stakeholders, in ways that differ from charismatic CEOs. We develop and test our hypotheses on a sample of Fortune 500 CEOs using a video-metric approach to assessing each CEO’s charisma and DT traits. Given our highly supportive findings, we call for future research on CEO charisma to delve more deeply into the dark side of charisma.

Understanding Event Stigma: A Configurational Approach

Stigma is not fair. While some firms get permanently stigmatized, others emerge untarnished by the same or a similar event. However, such unfairness may not necessarily be a bad thing for firms. This study claims that repeated media coverage of a negative event over time is symptomatic of organizational stigma, and pathways exist to encourage the development or avoidance of this stigma. Using a fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis, I navigate the configurations of stigma for an event of corporate social irresponsibility in the global supply chain. The findings of the study suggest the confluence of multiple factors around a stigmatizing event, the media and the firm on stigmatization of a negative event. Most importantly, to effectively avoid stigma, the firm’s immediate response to a negative incident should be strategically directed based on the understanding of the other factors. The main purpose of this study is to address a gap in the event stigma literature where there is a paucity of research on what contributes to its development. This study has important implications for practitioners as it offers concrete suggestions on how to avert event stigma.