Growing environmental deterioration and pressure on natural resources have increased expectations for firms to adopt socially responsible practices. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is increasingly viewed as a strategic approach through which firms align economic objectives with social and environmental accountability. Business success today depends heavily on relationships with stakeholders, including customers, employees, suppliers, communities, and other stakeholders, both internal and external. This study examines the role of CSR in shaping financial development, firm reputation, and managers' perceptions of environmental well-being. Specifically, it investigates (i) the importance of CSR for organizations, (ii) the relationship between CSR and financial development, and (iii) the competitive advantage gained through CSR-driven reputational capital. A quantitative survey was conducted among managers and CEOs across 100 organizations in New Delhi, yielding 218 usable responses. Data were analyzed using regression, correlation, ANOVA, and descriptive statistics in SPSS 23.0. Findings indicate that CSR practices are positively associated with perceived financial performance, market share growth, and brand reputation. Managers also reported that CSR initiatives contribute to better environmental responsibility practices within firms. However, as data are perception-based and multiple respondents may represent the same organization, results should be interpreted with caution. The study contributes empirical evidence from an emerging economy context and highlights CSR as both a financial and reputational asset. Implications and directions for further research are discussed.

This study explores how corporate social responsibility (CSR) of a partner in an alliance shapes the governance choice between an equity and non-equity structure. Conceptually, we propose that CSR of a partner contributes to its reputation among stakeholders and the intent to preserve this reputation serves as an external governance over its behaviors within an alliance. This reduces the concerns over exchange hazards within the collaboration and, thereby, the need for equity governance. Empirical evidence consistently supports that a partner’s CSR significantly lowers the likelihood of an equity structure for an alliance. This negative effect is strengthened when the partners have richer past collaboration experience but weakened when they come from industries with greater dissimilarity. It remains stable whether partners differ in nationality. This study extends the knowledge on determinants of alliance governance, strategic benefits of CSR, and alliance-specific contingencies to the reputational implications of CSR.

Are Restaurant Health-Related Corporate Social Responsibility Commitments Associated With Nutritional Changes to Menu Offerings?

Examining the Impact of Ethical Corporate Social Responsibility and Training–Development on Employer Brand Loyalty: The Mediating Role of Organizational Commitment

Purpose This paper aims to examine the relationship between accruals quality (AQ) and investment efficiency, with a particular focus on the moderating role of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and the influence of country-level enforcement strength. Design/methodology/approach Using a cross-country data set comprising firms from 21 countries, the study uses regression analyses to assess the effect of AQ on investment efficiency and the moderating impact of CSR and the influence of country-level enforcement strength. Robustness checks are conducted using CSR pillars, the Heckman two-stage model and two-stage least squares (2SLS) estimation. Findings The results indicate that higher AQ significantly enhances investment efficiency by mitigating information asymmetry and facilitating optimal capital allocation. Moreover, CSR strengthens this positive relationship by enhancing stakeholder trust and improving access to capital, yielding an additional improvement of approximately 5% in investment efficiency. The interaction between AQ and CSR is particularly pronounced in countries with weaker enforcement environments, where CSR serves as a compensatory mechanism for institutional deficiencies. Originality/value This study contributes to the literature on financial reporting quality, CSR and investment efficiency by emphasizing the complementary roles of financial (i.e. AQ) and non-financial (i.e. CSR) information. It offers valuable insights for corporate managers, investors and policymakers, particularly in jurisdictions with weak regulatory institutions, highlighting the role of CSR in enhancing the credibility of financial reporting and promoting sustainable investment practices.

Purpose This study aims to examine the transformative potential of strategic corporate sustainability responsibility (SCSR) as a profit-enhancing strategy for businesses, in contrast to traditional corporate social responsibility, which predominantly emphasises reputation management. Design/methodology/approach To achieve the aim of this study, a qualitative case study analysis method was adopted, grounded in stakeholder and shared value theory. The research examines partnership dynamics between leading corporations, such as Unilever, Microsoft and Coca-Cola, and organisations like Oxfam and the World Wildlife Fund. It uses case studies and annual reports to assess the impact of socially responsible corporate sustainability initiatives. Findings Key findings reveal that SCSR initiatives align closely with corporate objectives, fostering stronger stakeholder relationships, uncovering new revenue streams and enhancing profitability while integrating social responsibility. Moreover, partnerships between the private sector and the voluntary sector are identified as a critical strategy essential for achieving these outcomes. Research limitations/implications The limitations of the study include its focus on specific case studies, indicating that further research could improve the generalisability of the findings across diverse industries. Originality/value This research not only reinforces the profitability of SCSR but also highlights its transformative potential in addressing pressing global challenges. It establishes a clear roadmap for businesses seeking to lead in social impact, sustainability and profitability, and emphasises the importance of partnerships with the voluntary sector as integral to the success of SCSR initiatives.

Purpose Gender inequality is a significant objective and obstacle to achieving sustainable development. Indonesia is encountering a comparable problem. The dilemma is rooted in a lack of education and awareness regarding gender equality. In addition to that, since 2004, firms worldwide have been consistently embracing femvertising, an advertising approach that seeks to empower women. Some companies use femvertising into their corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives. Moreover, favorable customer perceptions of companies that endorse women's empowerment can result in positive consumer behavioral intentions, such as purchase intention, but only when there is a robust interaction between the companies and consumers. This study investigates the impact of CSR femvertising on women's empowerment and its influence on customer purchase intention and evaluates how the gender may influence the attitude toward femvertising. Design/methodology/approach This research was conducted with multivariate structural equation modeling (SEM) and eight hypotheses were tested. This study successfully recruited participants virtually from a sample of 264 participants to investigate the relationship between a company's female empowerment program, brand-cause alignment, CSR association, organizational-public relationship (OPR), brand loyalty and purchase intention. Findings A positive and significant influence was found on attitude toward femvertising on purchase intention, femvertising is notably linked with brand-cause. The analysis found that brand–cause fit shows a significant connection with CSR association. Other results prove that CSR association is significantly tied to OPR. Finally, OPR is significantly associated with brand loyalty and brand loyalty significantly impacts purchase intention. Further theoretical and practical implications were described. Originality/value This study enriches CSR, advertising and consumer behavior research by investigating the impact of CSR femvertising on women's empowerment and its influence on customer purchase intention in the context of developing countries. It also elaborates on the influence of gender on femvertising toward attitude and evaluates the company commitment, which can be demonstrated through the consistent incorporation of feminist values, diversity and inclusivity in its advertisements.

Purpose This study examines how top management characteristics and social capital shape corporate social responsibility (CSR) commitment in SMEs, and how this, in turn influences firm performance through business model innovation (BMI). Focusing on post-transition economies, it explores BMI as a mechanism linking top management intent to competitive outcomes. Design/methodology/approach Grounded in Upper Echelons Theory (UET), the study develops and tests a conceptual model using survey data from 200 internationally active Polish manufacturing SMEs. Structural equation modeling is used to assess the relationships among managerial traits, CSR, external networks, BMI and firm performance. Findings Managerial experience positively predicts both social and environmental sustainability commitments, while higher education and general experience show negative effects on environmental commitment. External networks strengthen the link between experience and social commitment, but not environmental commitment. Social commitment improves performance indirectly through BMI, whereas environmental commitment has only a direct effect. BMI thus emerges as a key mechanism for translating leadership-driven social sustainability into firm-level value. Research limitations/implications The study is limited to Polish manufacturing SMEs and cross-sectional data; future research should broaden sectoral and regional scope. Originality/value This study contributes to SME and emerging market research by integrating leadership traits, social capital and BMI into a unified framework. It identifies BMI as a central mechanism within UET and reveals asymmetries in how social vs. environmental commitments translate into performance in post-transition settings.

ABSTRACT How to enhance high‐quality development efficiency (HQDE) through the synergy of internal and external factors remains a critical question for listed logistics enterprises. Drawing on panel data from 44 Chinese enterprises from 2020 to 2022, we adopt a configurational approach by integrating the Three‐stage DEA model with Dynamic QCA to explore the driving configurations and their evolution. Guided by the Resource‐Based View, Stakeholder Theory, and Dynamic Capabilities Theory, we identify three configurations that lead to high HQDE: ESG‐led responsible transformation, digital‐driven competitiveness, and policy‐oriented development. The results reveal a shift from digital‐driven and policy‐oriented models toward ESG‐led transformation, highlighting the strategic role of ESG performance and corporate social responsibility. These findings demonstrate that internal capabilities and institutional conditions interact through multiple configurations, and that high HQDE results from dynamic alignment rather than isolated resource advantages.

Purpose Based on the current problems of serious homogenization of social responsibility reports and poor quality of information disclosure, this study aims to explore whether specificity disclosure of social responsibility reports can effectively reduce the cost of debt financing. Design/methodology/approach This study examines the impact of specificity disclosure in social responsibility reports on the cost of corporate debt financing, using machine learning text analytics on a sample of social responsibility reports of China’s A-share listed companies from 2009 to 2021. Findings This study finds that the specificity of disclosure in corporate social responsibility reports can significantly reduce the cost of corporate debt financing, and the results remain robust across various robustness tests. The effect is more pronounced under conditions of higher corporate risk, such as excessive leverage or intense product market competition. Further analysis suggests that the effect is stronger when industry disclosure is homogeneous, firms’ disclosure environments are better and information dissemination is more intense. Originality/value This study provides empirical evidence for optimizing corporate disclosure strategies, improving regulatory frameworks and creditor risk assessment.

ABSTRACT This study examines the impact of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on sustainability performance dimensions in the hospitality sector by proposing a moderated‐mediation model grounded in the resource‐based view (RBV) theory. Specifically, we investigate (i) the direct effect of CSR on sustainability‐oriented commitment (SOC), sustainable operational efficiency (SOE), and sustainable competitive advantage (SCA), (ii) the mediating role of sustainable human resource management (SHRM), and (iii) the moderating role of organizational cynicism in the CSR‐SHRM relationship. Data were collected from 141 hotels in China using a time‐lagged survey design and analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS‐SEM). Results indicate that CSR positively and significantly influences all three sustainability performance dimensions and SHRM. In addition, SHRM partially mediates the CSR‐sustainability performance relationship, while organizational cynicism negatively moderates the CSR‐SHRM link. Moderated‐mediation results further show that the indirect effect of CSR on SOC, SOE, and SCA through SHRM is weaker when cynicism is higher. These findings advance theoretical understanding of the mechanisms through which CSR translates into sustainability outcomes and emphasize the importance of addressing employee perceptions. Practical implications highlight the need for hotel managers to embed CSR into HRM systems and to mitigate cynicism through transparent and authentic CSR initiatives to achieve long‐term sustainability and competitive advantage.

ABSTRACT While corporate social responsibility (CSR) scholarship assumes that organizational consistency signals effectiveness, there remains a knowledge gap about how MNCs navigate competing institutional logics between headquarters and subsidiaries. This study investigates how managerial sensemaking mediates the effects of institutional pressures on CSR character. Using a qualitative case study design with thematic analysis techniques, we conducted 21 semistructured interviews across 13 MNCs (headquarters in Western developed economies; subsidiaries in the UAE). CSR character emerges as an organizational construct shaped by cognitive frames, strategic narratives, and behavioral enactment. Headquarters construct CSR through compliance and performance logics; subsidiaries through stakeholder relationships and cultural embeddedness, representing strategic coherence under institutional duality, not dysfunction. This study extends institutional and sensemaking theory by demonstrating that organizational effectiveness under institutional duality emerges through strategic divergence, mediated by managerial sensemaking, rather than consistency. We recommend that practitioners design modular CSR governance that grants subsidiaries strategic discretion to operationalize core principles locally.

BackgroundFor any organization, it is crucial to understand that its internal CSR practices should be perceived positively and enhance satisfaction and happiness, ultimately leading to its employees' long-term intention to stay and improved job performance.ObjectiveDrawing on social exchange theory and social identity theory, the study examines the role of internal CSR in promoting employee happiness, intention to stay, and job performance through top management support.MethodsThe data were collected using a self-administered survey and convenience sampling. Initially, 450 questionnaires were distributed among hotel staff at various levels; however, only 293 questionnaires were used for further analysis. Notably, 70.30% of the respondents were male and 29.70% female, with the majority being young adults aged 20-30 (53.24%) and 30-40 (25.94%). PLS-SEM using Smart PLS (4.0) was used to test the proposed hypotheses.ResultsTop management support moderates the relationship between internal CSR and happiness at work. The findings also show that happiness at work mediates the relationship between internal CSR and employee intention to stay. Intention to stay mediates the relationship between happiness at work and employee job performance. Finally, the study results indicate that happiness at work and intention to stay sequentially mediate the relationship between internal CSR and employee job performance.ConclusionsInternal CSR practices such as work-life balance initiatives, fair treatment, employee development, and inclusive policies are essential for promoting well-being. Organizations that focus on these practices are better able to improve employee satisfaction, happiness, their long-term stay, and job performance.

With the advent of globalization and the passage of time, the concept of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has expanded significantly. It is now a mandatory function for companies in India. According to Section 135(1) of the Companies Act, CSR is a statutory requirement for all eligible companies, including those in the public sector. Additionally, Section 8 of the CSR Act mandates that every qualifying company establish a CSR committee and adhere to specified provisions. This study examines CSR practices and their effectiveness in Telangana, focusing on areas around company locations in Bhadradri Kothagudem District, an area with diverse experiences and perceptions regarding CSR. The research concentrates on three major companies that have been operational since their inception and have undertaken numerous CSR initiatives aimed at improving local communities. A qualitative approach was employed to gather firsthand information, complemented by descriptive and analytical research methods. To ensure representative sampling, a stratified proportionate random sampling technique was used to select participants from the identified companies. Data were collected from 375 CSR beneficiaries and 56 CSR officials. The analysis aimed to identify significant relationships between CSR practices and their effectiveness.

Carbon-intensive industries, particularly aviation, encounter great challenges in reconciling profitability with environmental accountability in their corporate social responsibility (CSR) reporting. Care ethics provides an apt framework for navigating diverse stakeholder interests. This study advances a novel perspective on the linguistic construal of care values in CSR discourse to explore how they address diverse needs at a linguistic level. We analyse four-word lexical bundles in two corpora of airline CSR reports (China: 71,109 tokens; US: 150,127 tokens), representing two key aviation markets globally. From each corpus, the top 5% of four-word lexical bundles were coded deductively and inductively in their immediate sentence-level contexts for care values based on six categories: attentiveness, responsibility, competence, responsiveness, emotional connection, and human voice. In parallel, these lexical bundles were classified according to their discourse function: referential, discourse organiser, and stance marker. The findings reveal that all six care values are employed to reconcile diverse interests, but with cross-cultural variation. In the Chinese corpus, care is enacted by uniting stakeholders predominantly through the responsibility strategy, with referential bundles indicating alignment with national policies and collective obligations. In contrast, care in the US corpus is conveyed by reassuring stakeholders mainly through competence strategy, employing referential bundles to highlight statistical evidence and discourse organisers to establish causal relationships. By systematically linking lexical bundles to care values, this study demonstrates how the lexico-grammatical construction of care is used to address conflicting stakeholder relationships across cultures.

In an increasingly dynamic and globalized business environment, competitiveness has become a key factor for achieving success and ensuring organizational sustainability. In response to this challenge, companies must focus on strategic areas such as technological innovation, product and service quality, responsible human capital management, and the integration of ethical and sustainable practices. This article aims to analyze the main factors that influence business competitiveness and how they can be effectively managed to generate market value. Key elements are examined, including industry competition, internal and external communication, customer knowledge management, organizational culture, and corporate social responsibility. It is argued that these factors not only impact a company’s competitive positioning but also affect its organizational performance and adaptability to ongoing environmental changes. Furthermore, practical strategies are presented to enhance competitiveness, such as the adoption of emerging technologies, market diversification, the strengthening of business collaboration networks, and the implementation of innovation-based management models. In conclusion, competitiveness should not be regarded merely as an objective, but rather as a continuous process of improvement and innovation, that enables organizations to successfully face the challenges of an increasingly demanding market, while maintaining their commitment to social and environmental development.

Corporate social responsibility research often emphasizes the commissive effects of corporate discourse, ignoring silence or considering it a deliberate strategy to evade stakeholder pressure. From this perspective, only corporate discourse commits, and silence is the absence of discourse. This paper challenges this approach. Drawing on ventriloquial theory (Cooren, 2010) and the notion of metaventriloquism (Castor, 2020), this paper develops the concept of corporate commissive silence (CCS) to theorize how corporate silence on commitments operates as a malleable sign and a contested semiotic space. Specifically, it interprets CCS as an absence of message that different agents identify, attribute to a company, and imbue with meaning to promote their own opinions about what animates and/or should animate that company. As this concept highlights, not only words but also silence can generate commissive dynamics for corporations. The communicative force of this type of silence does not depend on corporate intentionality, but rather on the operations of appropriation and reinterpretation executed by other agents. To illustrate the utility of this concept, I describe several metaventriloquial practices executed by various agents in a recent controversy surrounding Disney’s silence on Florida’s HB 1557 law.

Purpose This study investigates the role of employee positive deviance (PD) defined as voluntary behaviors that deviate from the standard norms but intends to achieve favorable outcomes in corporate social responsibility (CSR) outcomes. The study addresses a gap in literature by modeling bottom-up, employee driven initiatives to CSR. Design/methodology/approach The study uses Interpretive Structural Modeling (ISM) to identify and hierarchically structure twelve key variables. The variables were then applied through Matrice d‘Impacts Croisés-Multiplication Appliquée á un Classment or Cross-Impact Matrix Multiplication Applied to Classification (MICMAC) analysis and classified into four quadrants (driving, linkage, dependence and autonomous). Findings ISM produced a five-level hierarchy with organizational culture and leadership support as foundations (level 5), six PD behaviors as intermediate levels (level 2–4) and three CSR outcomes (corporate transparency, community engagement and sustainable resource management) as top level outcomes. Establishing that employee PD behaviors collectively influence CSR outcomes. Further, the mapping in MICMAC shows how foundational enables propagate through PD behaviors to achieve organizational CSR aspirations. Practical implications Our study offers valuable insights for the top management, policymakers, and HR practitioners. The study encourages organizations to foster a conducive environment to reinforce employee PD behaviors through leadership training, flexible role structures, and technology-enabled platforms for idea sharing. Originality/value This study integrates PD and CSR literature to model their micro-to-macro linkage through ISM-MICMAC. The findings also offer practical and actionable recommendations for organizations seeking better employee engagement toward CSR initiatives.

ABSTRACT Despite the increasing importance of corporate social responsibility (CSR), traditional ethics’ influence on CSR implementation in international business remains unclear. To fill this gap, this study investigates how the CSR initiatives of restaurant firms from Taiwan and the US embody the traditional ethics underlying the cultural influence of Confucianism and liberalism, respectively. Analyzing CSR reports with a focus on traditional ethics, we used a multiple case study approach to compare the CSR practices of one Taiwanese and two US restaurant firms that are well known for their CSR accomplishments. These findings suggest that international restaurant firms tend to follow the traditional norms of their main markets and have different CSR foci. Furthermore, some variations exist between the two US firms because they differ in their degree of internationalism. Finally, we discuss the theoretical and practical implications of our findings.

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) theory emphasizes both CSR characteristics in products and CSR activities to enhance relationships with buyers. However, there are theoretical gaps regarding the factors that influence firms' CSR strategy choices in a competitive setting. This study develops a biform game model to study the trade-off between product-oriented strategies and relationship-oriented CSR strategies. The model demonstrates that factors such as information asymmetry, product value, market segment size, transaction costs, bargaining power, and other market conditions significantly influence firms' CSR strategies. It identifies conditions under which strategic heterogeneity, strategic homogeneity, and a parameter space with multiple strategic heterogeneity equilibria can exist. When the value derived from product- and relationship-oriented strategies is significantly high, firms tend to adopt these respective strategies. In a low information asymmetry context, firms with lower bargaining power are more likely to choose a relationship-oriented strategy, whereas in a high information asymmetry context, these firms are inclined to adopt a product-oriented strategy. Regardless of the level of information asymmetry, firms with larger market scales tend to favor a product-oriented strategy. Additionally, the model integrates the synergy between business strategy and CSR strategy, which further shapes the trade-offs firms encounter in their CSR strategy choices. This study offers new insights into CSR strategy choices and the resulting market outcomes in competitive environments.