Corporate Social Responsibility In Times Research Articles

Social Responsibility and Financial Performance in The Covid-19 era: Support for the Experience of Moroccan SMB

Objective: The objective seems to be to explore the importance of the concept of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) as a means of crisis management and performance lever allowing companies to withstand current financial and economic shocks. Theoretical Framework: The text mentions the intention to provide a historical overview of CSR, define CSR, financial performance, SMB, the role of SMB on economic growth, and cite organizational theories related to the importance of CSR in times of crisis. This section constitutes the theoretical framework by linking CSR to different economic concepts and organizational theories. Method: this article suggests a theoretical and descriptive approach, analyzing the economic impact of health measures and proposing recommendations, which involves documentary and theoretical analysis. Results and Discussion: The text focuses on presenting the topic and theoretical framework without providing specific results or data analyses. Research Implications: e research aims to highlight the importance of CSR for crisis management and financial performance of companies, particularly in the context of the COVID-19 crisis. The implications could concern strategies business, public policy, and managerial theory. Originality/Value: The originality of this research could lie in its analysis of the impact of CSR during the COVID-19 crisis, a relatively new and current topic. The combination of crisis management, financial performance and health measures from the perspective of CSR can constitute an original contribution to the existing literature on the subject.

Insights from the COVID-19 perspective on the necessity of corporate social responsibility in times of crisis in the context of Pakistan.

In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a notable increase in global awareness among businesses and consumers regarding environmental preservation and health concerns. The degree to which individuals identify with an organization is influenced by the appeal of its organizational identity, which aids in fulfilling important self-definitional needs. Nevertheless, there remains a limited understanding regarding the underlying factors that contribute to the phenomenon of firm identity attraction (IA) within the framework of consumer-business interactions. This study presents a validated framework that examines the antecedents of identity attraction, with COVID-19 being considered as a moderator. The framework is developed based on established theories of social identity and organizational identification. The study in Pakistan's cities utilized a questionnaire survey as its primary research method, while the findings were evaluated through the application of structural equation modelling. The results of our study indicate that the impact of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on firm Identity Attraction (IA) is significantly more pronounced. Although the impact of COVID-19 on the intention to purchase remains unaffected, it does play a favorable role in moderating the influence of CSR on the attraction towards brand.

Corporate social responsibility in times of social distancing: Evidence from China

AbstractThis study investigates whether and how the intensity of social distancing from the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) pandemic influences the corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure index. An empirical examination is carried out based on data from the Shanghai Stock Exchange from 2020 to 2022. CSR disclosure index is measured by the percentage of CSR‐related press releases from the total press releases published on a certain day. The intensity of the COVID‐19 pandemic is measured by the daily confirmed cases among the population in China. This research uses the two‐stage least squares regression model to alleviate the endogeneity issues. Findings reveal a reverse correlation between the intensity of the COVID‐19 pandemic and the CSR disclosure. The results are consistent and robust to endogeneity tests and sensitivity analyses. Findings support the stakeholder–agency theory and indicate that Chinese managers tend to satisfy the shareholders' interests rather than those of other broad stakeholders. Moreover, Chinese managers tend to choose short‐term survival rather than long‐term development in times of social distancing.

Internal corporate social responsibility in times of uncertainty: does working from home harm the creativity link?

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to investigate how working from home (WFH) affects the relationship between internal corporate social responsibility (ICSR) and employee creativity in times of uncertainty when employees’ occupational stress increases and their identification with their company decreases.Design/methodology/approachApplying social identity theory, the authors derive and test the hypotheses presented in this study regarding ICSR’s direct effects on employee creativity, given the amount of time they spent on WFH and the role of threat in this relationship. The authors use partial least squares structural equation modeling to analyze the various effects. Via an online questionnaire and using the snowball technique, the authors collected data from 158 participants in different industries in Germany.FindingsThe empirical results of this study show that ICSR activities increase employee creativity, partly by reducing one harmful aspect of stress, namely, threat. In addition, the authors find that WFH moderates this effect, such that the higher the degree of WFH, the weaker the ICSR activities’ effects are.Research limitations/implicationsThis study focused on the respondents’ WFH situation during the global COVID-19 pandemic. As such, this research contributes to understanding the roles that modern work practices, human resource management (HRM) and ICSR actions play in respect of employee creativity. The authors expand the theoretical understanding, which is based on social identity theory, by showing that the greater the amount of time spent on WFH, the more it reduces ICSR’s positive effect on employee creativity. The findings of this study open avenues for future research and longitudinal studies that compare the ICSR effects during and after the pandemic, as well as for those that compare WFH and its effects on organizational creativity.Practical implicationsThis study shows that managers should encourage appropriate ICSR measures in their organizations and should specifically consider the work setting (i.e. WFH or at the office) as a boundary factor for these measures’ effectiveness. However, ICSR actions, such as anti-discrimination measures, are less effective in respect of building the employee–employer relationship and supporting employees’ identification with and commitment to the company when they work from home. Given the economic benefit of decreased turnover rates and the societal benefit of a company output with higher creativity levels, this study has an impact from both an economic and a societal perspective.Originality/valueThis study sheds light on employee creativity and ICSR’s roles in current HRM practice, which is still underexplored. More importantly, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study provides the first empirical evidence of a hitherto overlooked mechanism explaining ICSR activities’ effects on, or their perceived threat to, employee creativity.

Corporate Social Responsibility and Customer Satisfaction: Role of Artificial Intelligence

Every corporation for maintaining long- term customer relationships in terms of customer retention and loyalty, certainly considers customer satisfaction as one of its major objective as it not results into retaining the customers who generate the revenues but also supports the business firms to relieve their social obligations towards the customer segment of the society. To remain economically and socially viable, every firm is looking forward to incorporate the customer satisfaction in its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) agenda so as to achieve the objective of enhanced customer satisfaction. The rapid advancement in Artificial Intelligence (AI) has opened the new ways to perform CSR in times of competitive environment to bring increased customer satisfaction for several firms. Many companies are using AI strategically to enhance CSR efficiency to widen the scope for improved customer satisfaction. But the question arises here how companies can make use of AI techniques for increasing the customer satisfaction through CSR in this competitive environment? The objective of the present research paper is to address this question by proposing that applicability of AI techniques such as machine learning, neural networks, predictive analysis ,visual searching ,chatbots ,sentiment analysis etc., will help the corporations to deliver the abundant benefits to customers and target increased customer satisfaction. This research throws light on that how AI driven CSR will result into augmented customer satisfaction in this competitive environment. This study is carried out by with the help of secondary sources like conceptual and empirical papers, books and websites to explore the concept.

Corporate Social Responsibility policies and practices on unvaccinated employees during the COVID-19 pandemic: case studies of Israel and United States

PurposeThe article addresses the tension between Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and the right to work in times of the COVID-19 pandemic. Accordingly, it explores the operation of corporations in adopting policies of mandatory vaccination and the role of the courts regarding these CSR patterns.Design/methodology/approachThe article examines court case studies of CSR practices regarding unvaccinated employees during the COVID-19 pandemic in Israel and the United States.FindingsThe findings show that the Israeli system adopted the regulating for individual discretionary CSR approach, whereas the American system adopted the regulating for ethical-public CSR approach. Adopting the latter infringes upon the right to work of unvaccinated employees. While in Israel, the possibility of compelling employees to vaccinate is denied, in the American model, mandatory vaccination is possible. As opposed to the American model, in the Israeli model, there is an obligation to consider proportionate measures to isolate the employees while allowing them to continue working.Originality/valueThe article introduces two possible notions of regulating CSR in times of the pandemic – regulating for individual discretionary CSR which is labor-oriented and regulating for ethical-public CSR which is focused on public aspects. While the former posits that corporations should advance individual interests of employees and their right to work, the latter claims that corporations should advance the public interest in health. Following the problems resulting from the Israeli and American cases, the article draws on the lines for a suggested approach that courts should embrace.

Corporate social responsibility in times of need: Community support during the COVID-19 pandemics.

Since the outbreak of COVID-19, the hotel sector has engaged in various corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives to show solidarity with local communities. Our research examines the impact of such initiatives on tourists' intentions to spread positive word-of-mouth (WOM) and their intentions to visit when the current pandemic ends. Our experimental results suggest community support in the form of providing free accommodation to homeless people increases tourists' intentions to spread positive WOM, bringing reputational benefits. But such initiatives reduce tourists' intentions to visit, presenting potential business risks. Our results further suggest that community support in the form of providing free accommodation to medical professionals has little impact, as it shows no significant difference to control (no CSR initiatives).

Corporate Social Responsibility In Times Of Covid-19-Some Indian Business Case Studies

Corporate social responsibility has been voluntary for companies wishing to improve their public image and something nice to do to show their good corporate citizenship. But the COVID 19 pandemic has disrupted the business in unprecedented ways. Now the companies are seeing their relationship with their stakeholders has changed very suddenly and drastically. The coronavirus pandemic has expanded the financial strain on the government, businesses and individuals as well. So, this research paper moves around developing an understanding about the corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities performed by various business houses in India during COVID 19 pandemic. Various business case studies have been examined to find out the initiatives taken by the companies for benefit of the nation, society and individual as well.

A purpose-action framework for Corporate Social Responsibility in times of shock

Extreme events undermine progress towards social sustainability and urge an immediate and broad response from the private sector. Nevertheless, corporate interventions in the face of a shock differ from traditional Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) actions in some essential aspects not addressed by the literature. To solve this gap, we propose a purpose-action framework to examine and categorize 218 post-shock CSR interventions from 111 companies operating in Spain during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. The framework allows assessing their heterogeneous social sustainability impact. We identify a set of firm dynamic sustainability capabilities -leadership, intentionality, prior stakeholder engagement, and partnership building-underpinning corporate purpose and action to develop an effective and efficient post-shock CSR. This exploratory study extends the literature on the company–society interface and provides a guide to foster social sustainability through CSR in times of shock.

Corporate social responsibility in times of crisis: business actions during the COVID-19 pandemic

Between the years 2019 and 2020, humanity was affected by one of the most serious pandemics in recent history, caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome virus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The socioeconomic tragedy required the complete mobilization of governments, companies, and other organizations to contain and combat the disease. Shedding light on the role of companies, this article set out to analyze, through descriptive, qualitative and documentary research, the various manifestations of Corporate Social Responsibility in Brazilian companies during the pandemic, with the Agenda 2030 as a backdrop for Sustainable Development and related initiatives. It became evident that, while on the one hand, organizations are strongly invited to act in the containment of world events harmful to human life, by extension, socially responsible companies must bear the commitment to work together to mitigate the impacts of climate change and to eradicating hunger and poverty, equally urgent and necessary demands.

Organizations’ Management of the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Scoping Review of Business Articles

The objective of this study was to analyze the early COVID-19 crisis management practices implemented in organizations based on a scoping review of relevant business articles published on this issue in newspapers and magazines between March and May 2020. In total, after applying inclusion and exclusion criteria on 2707 potentially relevant articles, 246 articles describing organizational initiatives to manage COVID-19 were selected and analyzed in detail. The results of this study highlight the opportunities and threats arising from the pandemic as well as the most innovative measures put in place, particularly in the areas of health, human resources management (HRM), work organization, social and environmental responsibility, and crisis management. The description of the main practices identified and their illustration through various examples show the importance of corporate sustainability in managing the pandemic and demonstrate the cross-cutting nature of this crisis, which affects most corporate functions simultaneously. This study also makes it possible to identify certain leaders’ approaches that can be considered exemplary or, in contrast, that should be avoided, while highlighting the paradoxes and difficulties of assessing corporate social responsibility in times of crisis.

CSR in Times of Crisis: Evidence from the COVID-19 Pandemic

The debate over how firm stakeholder engagement is tied to preserving shareholder wealth has received growing attention in recent years, especially in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis. Against this backdrop, we examine the relation between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and stock market returns during the COVID-19 pandemic-induced market crash and the post-crash recovery. Using a sample of 1,750 U.S. firms and two major sources of CSR ratings, we find no evidence that CSR affected stock returns during the crash period. This result is robust to various sensitivity tests. In additional cross-sectional analysis, we find some supporting evidence, albeit weak, that the relation between CSR and stock returns during the pandemic-related crisis is more positive when CSR is congruent with a firm’s institutional environment. We also find that Business Roundtable companies, which committed to protecting stakeholder interests prior to the pandemic, do not outperform during the pandemic crisis. We conclude that pre-crisis CSR is not effective at shielding shareholder wealth from the adverse effects of a crisis, suggesting a potential disconnect between firms’ CSR orientation (ratings) and actual actions. Our evidence suggests that investors can distinguish between genuine CSR and firms engaging in cheap talk.

Corporate Social Responsibility in Times of the COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused various disruptions in the production chains of Multinational Enterprises (MNEs). Among other disruptions there is a drop of product sales, often due to lock-down measures, which resulted in last-minute order cancellations, non-payment of the already purchased resources and already made products, and hence terminations of employment contracts. International organisations and nongovernmental organisations have called upon MNEs to take their corporate social responsibility (CSR) and honour the contracts. The aim of this article is to analyse to what extend this moral appeal is also a (quasi-)legal appeal following from international norms on CSR. After an assessment of the main labour law problems caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, an analysis follows on each of the identified problems. The conclusion of the analysis is that MNEs indeed are not only morally obliged to take their responsibility, but also based on the (quasi-)legal international CSR norms.

The role of customers and employees in the buffer effect of corporate social responsibility in times of crisis

PurposeThe purpose of the paper is to investigate the role of customers and employees in the buffer effect of CSR around the 2008 financial crisis in the European context.Design/methodology/approachUsing a sample of 323 European firms listed in STOXX Europe 600 Index, different models are estimated to test whether the effect of CSR ratings on firms' relationships with their customers and employees could be different during the 2008 financial crisis relative to the pre-crisis and post-crisis periods.FindingsThe paper shows that CSR rating has a significantly negative impact on firms' accounts receivable and a significantly positive effect on employee productivity during the crisis period (from 2007 to 2009). However, there is no significant effect of CSR rating during the non-crisis periods. These results suggest that during negative events, customers are willing to continue supporting high-CSR firms by paying their invoices faster. Furthermore, these firms benefit from higher productivity of their employees who are willing to work harder in periods of uncertainty.Research limitations/implicationsFirms should invest in CSR practices to maintain strong and cooperative relationships with their customers and employees. Also, investors should choose firms engaging in more social capital. Moreover, policymakers should encourage implementing CSR practices which act as an insurance-like protection in times of negative events.Originality/valueThis paper adds to the previous studies by investigating whether the cooperative role of customers and employees can explain the buffer role of CSR around the crisis. Furthermore, it considers companies located in several European countries for a long period (from 2004 to 2012) to compare periods of crisis and non-crisis.

CSR and ownership interrelation: evidence from Estonia

With time Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) attracts has become a matter of high attention and it is obvious that its influence on companies is increasing. More and more organizations both in Estonia and worldwide are voluntarily implementing non-financial reporting as a part of their business strategy. These initiatives seem to have high impact on the reputation and recognition of the company by stakeholders. The aim of the present research is to investigate whether the type of ownerships is related to the way the company presents CSR related information and the focus of these disclosures. Authors studied the available information of top100 Estonian most successful companies to find out the type of ownership and the type of CSR-related disclosures (web-site or non-financial report) as well as the focus of the reporting about the most popular and commonly used certificates related (health, safety, environment and quality). The findings of the present research clearly demonstrate that Estonian companies have implemented CSR reporting practices with website being the main channel of presentation of CSR related information. It is also important, that the leading issue of CSR disclosure for all types of companies are environmental performance as well as environmental and quality management certification. Results indicated that in case of individual ownership CSR disclosures are less frequent and less aspects are reported, while in case of corporate and institutional ownership, CSR reporting is widely adopted and the wide scope of aspects is reported. In general, it may be concluded that the type of ownership has impact of the type and focus of CSR reporting.

Challenging corporate commitment to CSR

Purpose In times of crisis, the fundamental principles of companies erode, leading to strategy shifts. This paper aims to examine whether corporate social responsibility (CSR) is on management’s agenda in times of crisis, indicating CSR embeddedness into corporate strategy. The focus is on the four pillars of CSR: social, environment, economy and governance. Design/methodology/approach Starting points are competing hypotheses based on shareholder and stakeholder theory. Chief executive officer (CEO) letters to shareholders of German HDAX firms from 2003 to 2012 are analyzed by means of computer-aided text analysis. Findings The authors find that CEOs talk less about CSR in times of crisis, especially about social and governance issues, indicating that CSR is not fully embedded into corporate strategy, and that, in times of crisis, other aspects gain more importance on management’s agenda. Research limitations/implications CEO communication is an indicator for management’s attention. Less talk about CSR in times of crisis does not automatically indicate less real CSR activity. This study is a starting point for analyses of the discrepancy between both, if any exists. Practical implications Managers should regard CSR as a strategic and trust enhancing element and stick to CSR even when under pressure from market distortions. Social implications Environment issues – exposed to companies’ attention for a long time – are embedded into corporate strategy. More research and management attention is essential to get the other CSR aspects woven into company DNA as well. Originality/value The paper is the first to research CSR in times of crisis in depth: CSR as umbrella covers social, environment, economy and governance issues. The institutional level of analysis ensures that implications for the business-society link are central.

CSR in Times of Neoliberal Hegemony

For decades technological and economic progress under the capitalist model has placed social norms and the natural environment under great pressure, imposing a particularly heavy burden on the poor and underprivileged. Recognising the role of corporations in these developments, the emergence of corporate social responsibility (CSR) has been hailed as the metaphorical beacon of light to tackle the dark side of capitalism. Despite high expectations, corporate integration of socially responsible norms and practices has been slow and partial, limited to a small number of corporate leaders. Many commentators have voiced the need for harder forms of law to enforce CSR norms, but there has been little political interest to answer this call. The traditional academic response to the sluggish embrace of CSR has been to simply re-emphasise the need for hard law as a prerequisite to accelerate change, but this approach has had little success. This thesis expands the debate and discusses why the emergence of hard law to tackle pressing social and environmental issues has remained hidden within the hopeful mind of a vocal civil society and the writings of academics. By examining the broader context within which CSR has developed, this paper identifies neoliberalism, the dominant free-market oriented socio-political theory of our time, as an overlooked factor undermining the success of CSR. Free markets, as conceptualised by neoliberalism, have resulted in a close-minded discussion of regulatory options and an overemphasis on the business case of CSR. This has precluded the legal inclusion of strict social and environmental standards in corporate activities and dimmed the potential of corporate social responsibility.

Corporate social responsibility in times of recession: Changing discourses and implications for policy and practice

ABSTRACTIn UK environmental, social, and economic policy‐making sustainable development (SD) is discussed in a corporate‐centric manner, with corporate social responsibility (CSR) seen as an extension of SD. The CSR and SD agendas have, to some extent, been confined to ones which are ‘safe’ in the current economic system. This paper examines whether the way corporations ‘talk about’ CSR has changed during the recession.Using document analysis and interviews with key informants, this paper contributes to the debate around whether change in language leads to change in action and whether this affects agenda‐setting and policy‐making. This paper contributes to the debate linking CSR and corporate activity and investigates how robust CSR activity is when economic prosperity is threatened. Initial findings suggest that CSR is seemingly recession‐proof, at least in part because corporate commitment to CSR remains conservative and securely grounded in the safe area of efficiency. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

The Impact of Chinese Culture on Corporate Social Responsibility: The Harmony Approach

Although the history of adopting the Western Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) concept in China spans less than 20 years, the core principles of CSR are not new and can be legitimately interpreted within traditional Chinese culture. We find that the Western CSR concepts do not adapt well to the Chinese market, because they have rarely defined the primary reason for CSR well, and the etic approach to CSR concepts does not take the Chinese reality and culture into consideration. This article resolves these problems and contributes a new definition of CSR, called here – the Harmony Approach to CSR. Simply, the Chinese harmony approach to CSR means ‘respecting nature and loving people’. It is the first time CSR has been defined in relation to Confucian interpersonal harmony and Taoist harmony between man and nature. Conceptually, this definition will broaden our understanding and will fit the characteristics of the Chinese market better. The idea of incorporating cultural contexts into CSR concepts could also contribute to future CSR studies. In business practice, it will help corporations to adopt CSR on their own initiative. The proposed virtues of traditional Chinese wisdom, in particular, will guide corporations to a new way of improving their CSR performance.