CSR Involvement Research Articles

CSR and happiness: Indonesian study from banking sector revealed positive effect of CSR involvement on employee wellbeing

PurposeThis paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies.Design/methodology/approachThis briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context.FindingsA study from the financial sector in Indonesia showed that CrM (cause-related marketing) has a positive effect on employee happiness. This was especially the case when the employees were actively involved in the CrM.Originality/valueThe briefing saves busy executives, strategists and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.

CSR Performance of Listed Firms: Booster to Nigerian Economy (2012-2021)

This paper examines the relationship between corporate social responsibility and financial performance of listed companies in Nigeria. The study used correlational research designs within positive accounting theory. The study utilized secondary data collected from the annual report and accounts of twenty-three (23) sampled listed companies for a period of 10 years (2012-2021). The sample of the companies was arrived at using census sampling technique in which all the elements of the population were used for the study. The data were analyzed using regression analysis (GLS Fixed Effect) with the aid of Stata Version 14.0. The study concludes that the involvement in CSR is also one way of meeting the requirement for good citizenship where a company is expected to be socially responsible to the environment in which it operates. The study therefore recommends, among others, that regulatory authorities such as SEC and NSE should improve on their monitoring and supervisory functions to make listed companies in Nigeria to comply strictly with the code of CSR.

From Good Soldier to Bad Apple: The Dark Side of Corporation Social Responsibility

Corporate social responsibility has been broadly accepted as an effective way to maintain corporations’ sustainability. Many corporations have institutionalized CSR involvement and mobilized their employees to engage in CSR-related activities. However, little research has been done to examine the negative consequences when employees are mandated to engage in CSR activities, not to mention the mechanism connecting CSR mandate and negative consequences. In this research, I found that employees’ CSR engagement under organizational pressure will lead to psychological entitlement, subsequently leading to counterproductive work behaviors. Further, socially responsible human resource management policies and employees’ narcissism influence the effects of interest.

The impact of innovative work behavior, perceived Leadership 4.0, and corporate social responsibility on sustaining banking industry performance in Nigeria within the 4IR Era

Despite the increase in business performance research, only some studies have examined the combination of innovative work behavior, Leadership 4.0, and corporate social responsibility as performance factors in Nigeria’s banking industry in the current 4IR. This study aims to sustain performance in the banking industry of Nigeria. Four hundred (400) bank employees were randomly selected for this study from a sample of cooperating banks (Zenith Bank Plc, Guarantee Trust Bank Plc, United Bank for Africa Plc, and First Bank of Nigeria Plc) in the Nigerian states of Oyo and Lagos. One Hundred (100) participants were chosen from each bank. Additionally, the survey was given out to randomly chosen bank employees using structured questionnaires. Participants were selected using a simple random sampling technique; 386 of the 400 surveys were appropriate for analysis. To do the analysis, SPSS version 29 was used. According to the study’s findings, innovative work behavior had a 77% influence on performance variance within the banking industry in the current 4IR, Leadership 4.0 had an 88% influence, and corporate social responsibility had a 71% influence. Accordingly, the results show that more significant innovation in work behavior, adoption of Leadership 4.0, and involvement in CSR significantly predict the maintenance of performance in the Nigerian banking industry. Additionally, the findings indicate that adopting Leadership 4.0 predicts a more significant variance in performance in the banking business, followed by demonstrating innovative work behavior and involvement in corporate social responsibility. AcknowledgmentThe author thanks Professor Wilfred Ukpere and the Department of Industrial Psychology and People Management (University of Johannesburg) for funding and publishing this study.

Business Case for Corporate Social Responsibility in Small and Medium Enterprises—Employees’ Perspective

The aim of this paper is to define the business case for the involvement of SMEs in CSR from the perspective of employees. The work answers the following questions: (1) What socially responsible activities do SMEs undertake? (2) To what extent are SME employees involved in activities in the area of CSR? (3) How is the business rationale of CSR activities perceived by employees? On the basis of the conducted research, the authors decided to find out what and how socially responsible activities impact business performance. For this purpose, a structural model was estimated, using the maximum likelihood method. As a result of the research, it was found that small- and medium-sized enterprises engage in CSR activities, but their involvement is limited and focused on environmental, health-related initiatives, and social campaigns. This suggests the choice of activities that are related to the formation of responsible attitudes, which are universal but not very engaging for employees. The results also show that employees are not passive observers but are responsible for the implementation of the CSR initiatives, which may have positive and negative impacts on business performance. In the opinion of employees, the most important benefits of involvement in CSR are building trust, building relationships with clients, and image improvement. Motivators such as increased profitability or (surprisingly) sustainable development played a much smaller role. From the theory point of view, the research results define the scope and scale of SMEs involvement in corporate social responsibility activities and indicate the main benefits that result from this involvement for SMEs. The results of research allow for a more effective selection of CSR activities and areas in which companies can use CSR to support the achievement of business goals.

CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY (CSR) IN ACTION: ENGAGING MALAYSIAN SMEs TO INITIATE CSR CIRCLE MODEL

Corporate social responsibility urges businesses and companies to divert their courses of doing business from solely focusing on profit maximization to showing some consideration to others wellbeing as well. Most CSR involvements discussed either at the international level or national level are widely circling around multinational corporations, public listed companies and most of other large corporations. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) which are considered as ‘backbone’ of most world economies are often neglected. Overall, SMEs constitute more than 90% of businesses worldwide. In Malaysia more than 95% of the business establishments consist of SMEs that provide jobs for more than 7.3 million workers equivalent to 48.4% of Malaysian total employment. Majority of the SMEs are privately owned, run by their sole owner/entrepreneur or a few individuals who are, most probably, family related. The owners usually have the ultimate power to influence most of the strategic decisions. Therefore, the objectives of this conceptual paper is to discuss and propose the point of origin as to where and how the process of inculcating the CSR culture in Malaysia should actually spark. Thru thorough literature search this study managed to propose CSR Circle Model that shall guide SMEs involvement in CSR. SMEs’ visions and missions portray very much of their owner-managers’ beliefs. If the individual business’s owners strongly and sincerely believe in the concept of CSR, they will inspire their businesses and develop a culture of ‘caring society’ among employees, customers, suppliers and surrounding community. SMEs’ owners-managers can lead the initiation of CSR Circle that will tremendously spread the CR culture nationwide.

A two-path model of the impact of LGBTQ+ diversity CSR levels on public response

Since conflicting opinions and expectations of stakeholders about LGBTQ+ diversity coexist, companies contemplate how far to draw the line of CSR involvement in relation to LGBTQ+ diversity. This study examines how different levels of LGBTQ+ diversity CSR (i.e., proactive, passive, refusal) affect public responses. The proposed model investigates how public perceptions of corporate support for LGBTQ+ diversity (PCSL), influenced by CSR level, affects two dimensions of corporate associations differently (corporate ability and CSR association), and consequently CSR responses (supportive communication intent, purchase intent, and corporate evaluation in this study). The role of perceived value-driven motivation as a mediator was also examined. An online experiment was conducted with two Fortune 500 companies (Dell and Kellogg's). Overall, the results suggest that proactive CSR leads to higher PCS-L and better CSR outcomes among the general public than a passive or refusal approach. PCS-L, directly and indirectly, affects individuals’ CSR associations, which are mediated by value-driven motives. In turn, CSR associations positively influence publics’ supportive communication intent, purchase intent and corporate evaluations. As for CA associations, we found that they had a rather complicated relationship with PCS-L. Specifically, PCS-L had a direct negative effect on CA associations (Dell) or no effect (Kellogg), indicating possible backlash effects. However, higher PSC-L resulted in more favorable perceived motives of the CSR program, driven by the company's moral grounds and corporate values, consequently resulting in greater CA associations (positive indirect impact). Thus, perceived value-driven motives can offset potential backlash effects related to CA associations and corresponding CSR outcomes.

Measuring and evaluating CSR information and involvement strategies on corporate Facebook pages

Organizations are increasingly involving stakeholders in their CSR activities through social networks. Despite the growing interest by academics and practitioners in this field of research, empirical studies are still limited, highlighting a gap in the identification and the use of effective measurement tools for evaluating sustainable marketing performances on social networks. The study aims to develop a framework to measure and assess stakeholder engagement strategies, in terms of CSR information and involvement, on Facebook pages of sustainable organizations. The framework is based on a set of dimensions (macro-item, item and micro-item) and adopts different types of variables (dichotomous and indices) and techniques (manual detection, Facebook developers tools, content analysis through the NooJ, and Likealyzer). A pilot study on firms classified by the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index (2015) confirms the applicability of the framework, showing that organizations prefer a “one-way” communication approach (CSR information strategies), rather than a “two-way” communication approach (CSR involvement strategies). The framework constitutes a tool aimed at analyzing and measuring the CSR communication strategies on corporate Facebook pages. It provides managers and consultants of digital communication useful indications to improve sustainable marketing activities and stakeholder engagement strategies on Facebook.

Combining CSR and Community Involvement for Covid-19 Crises Response

Combining CSR and Community Involvement for Covid-19 Crises Response

How Well Are Manufacturing Companies in Transylvania, Romania Adapting to the Low-Carbon Economy in Order to Become Sustainable?

This paper addresses the degree of readiness of manufacturing companies in the well-defined area of Transylvania, Romania for tackling the challenges of the low-carbon economy (LCE) in view of the ambitious goals of the European Union. The presented survey aims to provide a better understanding about the management and reduction in the carbon footprint among production companies in Romania, as this sector is not usually included official strategies or studies. One hundred and three companies, selected based on voluntary sampling responses, were investigated using a 40-item questionnaire. The survey was applied to the manufacturing sector, including automotive, furniture production, and metal processing domains, which are locally representative and a good approximation of what small- and medium-sized firms look like across the EU, thus furnishing a good view of what takes place in other countries as well. The results obtained were analyzed using univariate descriptive statistics, multi-variate item analysis, and hypothesis testing to arrive at conclusions with a high degree of applicability. The purpose was to obtain an accurate overview about the actual situation and help companies find solutions in order to reduce the carbon footprint in the production field and achieve sustainable manufacturing. We arrive at the conclusion that manufacturing firms have a high degree of interest in decarbonization, but understand the efforts required to the same degree they understand the opportunities it brings. For example, 55% of respondents are interested in the benefits of LCE, while 90% of them observe at least one environmental standard, and ca. 70% implement at least common decarbonization measures, such as electricity savings or process optimization. While raising awareness and improving technological processes are accepted and embraced, other issues (i.e., involvement in RDI and CSR, change management, as well as financing investment efforts) should be addressed by proper policies.

Innovative Activity in SMEs: Critical Success Factors to Achieve Sustainable Business Growth

During the pandemic, the tourism and hospitality sector was one of the worst-hit sectors in Seychelles. Due to the uncertainties in the 'new normal' environment, businesses had to devise strategies and tactics to survive and emerge from the turmoil. This event or the new normal was unexpected, and there is a lack of studies on this phenomenon in Seychelles. This qualitative study aimed to ascertain the impact of the pandemic and, subsequently, the tactics and strategies to survive and sustain the growth of SMEs in Seychelles. This research was a qualitative study in which semi-structured open-ended interviews were conducted. The objective was to collect in-depth data from the target population who were owners or operators of SMEs engaged in the tourism sector in Seychelles. Judgemental sampling was utilized. The researcher's professional judgment was used to select the participants who could enable the researcher to address the research questions. A total of six business owners were interviewed. The thematic analysis identified the themes that emerged from collected through interviews and transcribed data. The key impact of the pandemic uncovered in this study encompass increased uncertainty, a drop in sales leading to cash flow shortage, changes in customers, and an increase in operating costs. The main strategies to deal with the effect of the pandemic include cost-cutting, managing cash on hand, CSR involvement, flexible pricing, and implementing intensive growth strategies. The results are expected to provide policymakers in Seychelles with additional information that could be useful in forming policies that would help ease the struggles that businesses are encountering. The study also suggested that SMEs be more innovative and search for new opportunities to sustain and grow. To the researcher's knowledge, this is among the first studies exploring the impact of the COVID-19 on SMEs in the tourism sector in Seychelles.

Influence of Communication Satisfaction and CSR Association on Job Satisfaction & Work Alienation

The Covid-19 pandemic has restricted mobility and made remote working a norm. Many scholars and practitioners have raised concerns that remote working can lead to feelings of isolation and alienation among employees. The study explores this issue by examining the influence of remote communication satisfaction and the organization’s CSR association on employee alienation and job satisfaction. Sensemaking theory serves as the basis for hypotheses formulation in this study. Primary data has been collected from 418 employees working in various Indian organizations and analyzed through AMOS and Hayes’ PROCESS macro for SPSS. Results indicate that remote communication satisfaction negatively influences work alienation, thereby improves employee satisfaction. Also, organizations that are perceived to have higher CSR association experience lesser work alienation than those who have a lower CSR association.This study extends the sensemaking theory by introducing new work-related (internal communication) and non-work-related (CSR associations) cues and explains how employees use them to ‘make sense’ of the organization’s philosophy and continuity. Secondly, this study is a pioneer in exploring the relationship between communication satisfaction and work alienation. The results of this study translate into two significant recommendations for organizations. One, organizations should adopt a proactive communication strategy and provide work-related information to employees expeditiously. Two, since the organization’s CSR involvement and its regular communication to employees bolsters their job satisfaction and reduces the development of negative attitudes (like alienation), organizations must ennunciate their position on CSR issues on a regular basis.

A Multidimensional Comparative Analysis of Involvement in CSR Activities of Energy Companies in the Context of Sustainable Development Challenges: Evidence from Poland

In recent years, corporate involvement in CSR has become increasingly important and appreciated in the context of the ideas and assumptions regarding sustainable development. Due to the specificity of the energy sector, its particular impact on the environment, the living conditions of the population, and the social involvement of energy companies is particularly desirable, therefore it is observed and assessed by many stakeholder groups. The aim of this article is to assess the CSR commitment of Polish energy companies listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange. The assessment was based on the proposed indicator model, based on the data published in the annual reports of the companies. The study uses data from the years 2016–2020. The main research question is as follows: What is the engagement in CSR activities of six Polish energy companies towards contractors, investors, employees, society, and the environment? The obtained results show that the investigated energy companies present a similar average level of engagement in CSR activities. The highest level of involvement concerns the area of contractors and the lowest levels relate to the donors of capital and the environment.

When doing good will not save us: Revisiting the buffering effect of CSR following service failures

AbstractPast research offers inconsistent evidence on whether CSR is an effective service recovery strategy. Current debates overlook the signals that service failures send about the company, and their interplay with CSR. We propose a moderated mediation model showing that CSR's effectiveness for service recovery depends upon failure type. For failures signaling a lack of skills and expertise, CSR enhances warmth which in turn lowers revenge. Warmth further increases perceived competence which influences conciliatory responses. CSR, however, does not help if the failure signals a lack of moral integrity. Both warmth and competence explain the CSR's buffering effect. Our study demonstrates that “doing good” helps only to the extent that service failures that do not raise doubts about the character of the company. Even in these circumstances, however, the buffering effect of CSR is observed only in case of customer–firm communal relationships. Consistent evidence from three experiments revisits more optimistic assessments of the ability of CSR to act as a recovery strategy and shows that CSR can help only under very circumscribed conditions. Managerially, we show how and when the CSR buffer applies in service contexts, offering insights on how managers can best reap the potential benefits of service brands' involvement in CSR.

Have banks been supportive during the COVID-19 pandemic?

The COVID-19 pandemic has had disrupting and negative effects on economies and society. Nevertheless, it seems that it has contributed to increased solidarity, and determined individuals and organizations to be more responsible, at least concerning health-related aspects. Companies around the world have been involved in supporting the health care system and minimizing the impact of the pandemic on economies around the world. During the COVID-19 pandemic, companies were motivated by utilitarianism and deontological factors to get involved in philanthropic CSR actions in the toughest moments of the pandemic. Banks seem to be no exception. Even more, during this pandemic, banks have done much to rehabilitate their reputations, tarnished during the previous financial and economic crises. This paper aims to analyze the perception of the involvement of Romanian banks during the pandemic, especially for overcoming the crises of the healthcare system. The findings could guide banks to be more consistent and better communicate their CSR activities and involvement for the benefit of society, and helps understand how people observe and evaluate the CSR efforts of banks.

Corporate Social Responsibility: Motives and Financial Performance

The relationship between companies and society has been questioned for a long time. However, the effect of the motives behind CSR regarding the companies’ actual engagement with CSR has received little attention, especially in emerging markets. This paper tackles this issue for the first time using a sample of Jordanian companies. We explore the effect of two types of motives on the level of engagement in CSR: extrinsic motive (financial) and intrinsic motives (ethical and altruistic). The relationship between the company’s actual financial performance and CSR is also investigated. Primary data were collected using a questionnaire, distributed to Jordanian company’s managers in five sectors: pharmaceutical, technology and telecommunication, construction, farming, and financial services. Multiple regression analysis was conducted to depict the relationships. Results show that the intrinsic motives have a significant effect on CSR, while the extrinsic motive has none. When intrinsic motives were tested separately, results showed that the ethical motive had a significant effect, while the altruistic had no effect. In both cases, CSR was shown to be more significantly driven by the company’s financial performance. Different stakeholders such as policymakers, entrepreneurs, researchers, and investors may use the results of this study to increase companies’ involvement in CSR.

Socioemotional Values as Reciprocal Exchanged Resources to Shape NFP/Companies Partnerships in CSR

This paper investigates how social exchange theory and, more particularly reciprocity, can help unveiling socioemotional determinants of partnerships between corporations and not-for-profit organizations on Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainable Development. As Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainable Development tend to become a market, huge discrepancies may exist between what an entity claims it does and what it actually does – and not-for-profit organizations usually speak up against greenwashing. Yet, the picture is not always so dark and in some circumstances, fruitful dialogues exist. Indeed, little has been said on CSR and SD involvement of small and medium enterprises, nor on their spontaneous, conversational speeches. We collected data during a focus-group which gathered company managers as well as not-for-profit representatives. A qualitative discourse analysis shows that partnerships usually starts on a transactional mode. Business entities start partnerships by contracting with not-for-profit, which they perceive as service providers. However, once socioeconomical resources are exchanged, they become significantly stronger and long lasting. In such a context, business entity managers increase their commitment in CSR, irrespective of audited indicators of reports; in turn, not-for-profit organizations highly value this involvement.

Sustainability for the Community by the Community: CSR and Community Involvement through Gamification

This paper explores the aspects of Gamifying the eight human core motivations for voluntary and continued involvement of the community in CSR activities. In these dynamic times communities are expecting diverse aspects in terms of value creation and delivery from the organizations. The organizations in turn have to devise robust CSR strategies that take sustainability as their foundation and create and implement resilient strategies that require a refurbishment of their CSR processes. Gamification is a craft where we derive all the fun and engaging elements found in games and apply the same to real world productive applications. Any process can be better implemented if we design the process for human motivation in a system as opposed to pure-efficiency designs. It should be more of a Human focusing design rather than a Functional focusing one. Sustainability is not an end game process. It is like taking a bath or brushing your teeth. It has to be worked upon every day, with the same vigor and with the objective of KAIZEN. It is not something that can be achieved, rather it is a process that can be developed and retained. This objective can only be achieved if the community voluntarily steps up and takes active and responsible steps towards a better future.

Can Political Ties Promote CSR Performance? Empirical Evidence from China

Since extant research about motivation of CSR involvement predominantly relied on the institution and resource dependence theory, this study investigates the effect of political ties on the corpora...

Is my company really doing good? Factors influencing employees' evaluation of the authenticity of their company's corporate social responsibility engagement

Based on persuasion knowledge theory, attribution theory, and a qualitative investigation of authenticity, this study investigates employees' CSR authenticity evaluation in four CSR domains (customer-, employee-, environment-, and philanthropy-oriented). Four antecedents of employees' CSR authenticity evaluation are examined: the evaluation of CSR advertising, the perceived fit between corporate culture and CSR engagement and two perceived CSR motives. Additionally, employees' involvement in CSR as an individual difference variable is analyzed. Results are reported from a study with the employees (n = 432) of a large European energy provider. Findings reveal that the evaluation of the CSR advertising and the perceived corporate culture fit have a higher impact on employees' CSR authenticity evaluation than do the perceived CSR motives. While CSR authenticity in the customer-, employee- and environment-oriented CSR domain are mainly influenced by perceived corporate culture fit, CSR authenticity in the philanthropy-oriented CSR domain is mainly affected by the evaluation of CSR advertising.