Corporate Social Responsibility Issues Research Articles

Shedding light on the impact of financial literacy for corporate social responsibility during the COVID-19 crisis: managerial and financial perspectives

PurposeThe aim of this paper is to help management scholars and executives learn from the COVID-19 global crisis by analyzing if and how the level of financial literacy affected stakeholders' sensitivity to corporate social responsibility (CSR) issues during the pandemic, as well as identifying whether financial literacy is an important variable to account for in the postpandemic period. The authors test the relationship between objective (measurable) and subjective (self-assessed) financial literacy, as well as financial happiness (i.e. satisfaction with one's current financial situation) with CSR during the pandemic. High levels of financial literacy cause individuals to reward companies that implement CSR strategies and processes.Design/methodology/approachThe authors designed an online survey and obtained data on objective and subjective financial literacy, financial happiness and COVID-19 infections, as well as on the demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of a representative sample of 1,334 Italian respondents. From a methodological point of view, the authors perform a factor analysis on the CSR-related questions to extract the principal components (PCs) that were used as dependent variables in the regression models to analyze the effects of explanatory variables (financial literacy, financial happiness and COVID-19 infections) and consider the control variables (demographic and socioeconomic characteristics). The authors follow a theoretical approach merging stakeholder theory with CSR.FindingsRespondents with a high level of financial literacy and financial happiness are highly sensitive to all CSR components (ethical, philanthropic, economic and legal social responsibilities). Being infected by COVID-19 increased participants' sensitivity to ethical and philanthropic social responsibility (SR), but not to economic and legal SR. The more educated and employed respondents were, the more sensitive they were to CSR, especially compared to their less educated and unemployed counterparts.Research limitations/implicationsWhile the sample used is large and representative of the Italian population, Italy is an interesting and useful case to analyze, given that it was the first Western country to be severely hit by COVID-19; since the paper only refers to a specific country scenario, the results cannot be generalized to other countries. A cross-country comparison relating financial literacy and financial happiness to CSR during the COVID-19 pandemic period would be desirable. The research study has theoretical implications for management scholars since the authors show that, during the pandemic period, financial education and financial happiness are relevant in explaining stakeholders' greater sensitivity to CSR issues. The findings may thus help scholars to learn from the COVID-19 period, with the aim of further developing and enhancing stakeholders' theory.Practical implicationsThe research also has practical implications, both for corporate executives and for policymakers, helping them to learn from the COVID-19 global crisis concerning the role of financial literacy and financial happiness on CSR sensitivity and, consequently, how they may consider these important variables in the postpandemic era. On the one hand, executives may improve stakeholders' segmentation and eventually modify CSR policies, considering the higher sensitivity of their stakeholders' due to a higher degree of financial literacy. On the other hand, the findings suggest that policymakers should have a stronger role in supporting employment and education in general and in promoting programs to improve financial literacy to increase stakeholders' sensitivity to CSR, thus further stimulating the inclusion of CSR factors in companies' strategies. Increasing stakeholders' sensitivity to CSR will, in turn, increase the propensity of companies to include SR in their strategies. Thus, increasing financial literacy will have tangible positive effects of increasing CSR. Given the greater role played by companies during the COVID-19 period with respect to societal risk, the findings seem particularly useful.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study represents the first that links financial literacy and financial happiness with CSR during the COVID-19 crisis. The large and representative dataset, as well as the use of specific variables related to financial literacy, financial happiness and COVID-19 infections in the CSR assessment model, makes our analysis original, robust and significant by contributing to the CSR literature and to the financial literacy literature from a methodological point of view, as well as by informing corporate executives and policymakers about the role of financial literacy with regard to CSR during the pandemic, which may help them in learning how to improve their decisions and actions in the postpandemic era.

Towards a Sustainable Corporate Social Responsibility Discharge and Accountability in the Extractives Industry

The paper examines how Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities manifest and their respective discharge and accountabilities in the extractives industry. The study employs content analysis to examine the sustainability reports of two leading extractive firms in Ghana namely, AngloGold Ashanti and Tullow plc. Thereafter, it engages relevant stakeholders in interviews to probe deeper into the results of the content analysis to corroborate the evidence from the companies. The results indicate that the CSR discharge and accountability of the firms are inconsistent with society’s expectations and that the firms employ legitimation mechanisms in their CSR practices to obtain and retain social licenses to operate. Hence, CSR discharge and accountability of the firms are rather superficial and rhetoric in nature and performed just to keep themselves in a positive light, while enhancing corporate reputation and visibility. The study contributes to the CSR literature by specifically focusing on how CSR activities manifest and their respective accountability discharge in the extractives industry. The paper takes a holistic multidimensional methodological approach to resolve CSR and respective accountability issues, unlike existing studies that look at the substantive issue on a piecemeal basis, thus, either through interviews or content analysis. It provides useful information to policymakers and a reference point to industry on their CSR accountability strategies and subsequent implementation.
 Keywords: Accountability; Corporate Social Responsibility; Extractive Industry

A shift in corporate prioritization of CSR issues

PurposeThe purpose of this study is two-fold: (1) identify shifts in prioritization of corporate social responsibility (CSR) issues and (2) identify the CSR issues in which companies are currently involved, as indicated in their website communications. Corporate communications are also examined for possible variations of CSR focus between manufacturers, retailers and service firms.Design/methodology/approachIn order to identify the CSR issues in which companies are currently involved and detect any shifts, a content analysis was conducted of the 2021 Fortune 100 company websites, specifically cataloging CSR communications. This data was compared with CSR communications on Fortune 100 company websites in 2015. CSR issues are also examined within each industry categorization: manufacturing, retail and service.FindingsFindings indicate that companies have reduced the number of CSR issues prioritized in their website communications. In 2015, companies gave prominence to an average of seven CSR issues on their websites, today the average is three CSR issues. Today, the CSR issues prioritized most commonly are diversity and sustainability. However, these issues are prioritized by only half of the companies. Previously, the vast majority of Fortune 100 companies prioritized the same top issues. That is not the case today. This shift may suggest that companies are narrowing their focus to fewer CSR issues, perhaps those that align with company goals.Originality/valueThis study provides information to keep company executives and academicians abreast of prominent CSR issues and terminology found in the marketplace. As executives make choices about committing resources to social issues, knowledge of what the Fortune 100 is doing can help in that decision-making process.

Corporate social responsibility practices of forest companies in the Northern regions of Russia

Subject. The article addresses issues of corporate social responsibility. Objectives. The aim is to assess the development of corporate social responsibility principles at forestry enterprises. Methods. The study draws on methods of comparative analysis. Results. The activities of large Russian forest companies meet the world social standards of sustainable development. Meanwhile, medium-sized businesses, due to limited resources, comply with only part of requirements for sustainable development. Conclusions. The findings can be used to design tools and directions of regional economic policy.

Choosing Your Partners Wisely: Investigating the Role of CSR in Strategic Alliances

In the face of growing concerns over climate change and current COVID-19 crisis, interest in corporate social responsibility (CSR) issues has been growing significantly among academics and practitioners alike. However, the role of CSR in strategic alliances has yet to receive considerable attention from management scholars. This study investigates whether and how CSR of a partner in a strategic alliance, has an effect on the focal firm’s value. Drawing on the stakeholder-based view of strategic alliances and advancing relational capabilities perspective on CSR, we posit that, faced with information asymmetry and collaborative challenges, focal firm can rely on CSR performance or stakeholder relationships of a prospective partner firm to make judgements about value creation potentials of the alliance. We argue that CSR of a partner has a positive effect on the focal firm’s value by optimizing partner selection and embodying relational capabilities that focal firm can leverage on during the partnership. Empirical evidence is established by using a sample of bilateral alliances between publicly traded firms in the US during the period of 1999-2013. Our results show that CSR of a partner is positively associated with the focal firm’s announcement returns. The positive effect of partner’s CSR on the focal firm’s returns is found to be more salient when information asymmetry is high. In addition, the marginal effect of a partner's CSR on the announcement return is attenuated by the focal firm’s previous general alliance experience.

A Context Dependent Nature Effects on Choices of Corporate Social Responsibilities and Consumer Behaviors

Given that how consumers perceive a corporate social responsibility (CSR) marketing strategy will influence their responses, this study hence enriches the knowledge about CSR marketing strategy by proposing the relative effectiveness of philanthropic marketing, sponsorship-linked marketing, and purchase-triggered donation on consumer attitudes and behavioral responses. This research also proposes the highly context-dependent nature of CSR marketing strategy that may help explain such relative influences, including perceived severity and vulnerability of the CSR issue, contribution type, and type of CSR issue. Literature reviews linked with theories lead to propositions. In doing so not only is such research important in terms of filling literature gaps to the existing literature of CSR, but also for providing directions to practitioners when considering CSR as a marketing strategy, when a chosen CSR marketing strategy may ultimately shape images of the company.

Willingness to invest and the assurance of corporate social responsibility reports

AbstractRecent research has found that the effect of corporate social responsibility (CSR) information on investment decisions will be eliminated when it is explicitly assessed, especially when CSR is not related to core business activities (immaterial CSR issues). We thus extend prior research by investigating whether (1) CSR assurance increases investors' willingness to invest when CSR performance is material or immaterial to core business activities and (2) CSR assurance moderates the effect of explicit assessment and CSR information on investment judgment. A 2 × 2 × 2 between‐subjects experiment was conducted using 213 professional investors. Overall, our results suggest that investors' willingness to invest is greater when positive CSR is verified by third‐party assurance in both material and immaterial CSR conditions. In addition, CSR assurance has a significant effect on investment judgment when immaterial CSR performance is explicitly assessed. As the affect‐as‐information heuristic (i.e., heuristic processing) is likely to be removed when CSR performance is explicitly assessed, the results of this study indicate that the affect heuristic is only eliminated when immaterial CSR is not assured, suggesting that CSR assurance moderates the effect of explicit assessment on investment judgment. Consistent with systematic‐heuristic theory, our results thus confirm that the systematic processing of CSR information does not necessarily attenuate affect heuristic processing; rather, these two processing modes can co‐occur. Our results concerning the impact of CSR assurance on positive CSR information inform firms that third‐party assurance affects investment judgment, especially for parties who consider purchasing these services, for example, managers or audit committee members. As CSR assurance is not mandatory, the audit profession could also be interested in our findings, as they might encourage firms to assure their nonfinancial information to enhance disclosure credibility. The inconclusive results on how CSR assurance affects investment judgment warrant further investigation of this issue in other reporting environments in different countries. Nevertheless, our findings contribute to the CSR literature by identifying novel aspects of the value of CSR assurance in different contexts, that is, the moderating role of CSR assurance and the explicit assessment of CSR information during investment decisions.

Change in Financial Firms and Avoiding Harm to People and Environment

This paper explores issues of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Net Zero change in financial firms, with reference to top teams, employees, customers, citizens, and other stakeholders. It proposes a holistic approach to managing these problems of change, of reducing harm to people and environment, and contributing to social sustainability. Changes in financial firms and financial markets to become CSR and Net Zero oriented are being driven by major external change. There are increased demands to reduce harm to individuals, teams, and the environment, and to maintain social sustainability. The change pressures combine with problematic internal firm and external network predispositions. These exacerbate barriers to change and contribute to CSR and Net Zero problems. The paper uses a conceptual framework or “Behavioral theory of the financial firm” (BTTF) to think holistically about these problems and their impact on humans, their social systems, and physical systems. The BTFF is a basis for management and stakeholders to promote change based on credible organizational practices and prevention of exploitation of human capital and social conditions. These support social sustainability and occupational health and safety, or the ability of current and future generations to create healthy, living, and liveable communities in financial firms, and amongst external stakeholders. This holistic narrative and metaphor approach is a means for individuals and teams in the firm and externally to answer the question, “What is going on here?” when responding to uncertainty. The contribution of the paper focuses on firms, practitioners, and academics by closing knowledge and values gaps in fields of practice and academia. This has potential “to make a difference” in; researching, learning, thinking, and believing about desirable actions and responses to problems and harms, and to demands for Net Zero and CSR oriented change in financial firms and wider systems.

Sustainability (Is Not) in the Boardroom: Evidence and Implications of Attentional Voids

Strategic leadership and corporate governance scholars have long been interested in how boards of directors make decisions pertaining to important strategic issues that can have a material impact on their organizations. To date, however, research on board decision-making, especially as it relates to issues of corporate social responsibility (CSR), environmental management, or sustainability, has concentrated almost exclusively on structural, demographic, or ownership factors of boards and their impact on various aspects of corporate social or environmental performance. Even still, many reputable corporations with exemplary corporate governance structures continue to make questionable strategic decisions with regards to environmental sustainability. As such, this research seeks to look into the “black box” of corporate governance to understand exactly how boards of directors are dealing (or not) with issues related to environmental sustainability. To do so, we conducted a series of qualitative interviews with directors and were surprised to find that social and environmental sustainability was simply not debated in the boardroom. Using an attention-based view of the firms (ABV), we present a process-based model that explains this phenomenon and introduce the new construct of attentional voids so as to contribute to our understanding of governing for social and environmental sustainability.

CORRELATING THE CONCEPTS OF CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY (CSR) AND SUSTAINABILITY TOWARDS SUSTAINABLE PLASTIC WASTE MANAGEMENT IN LAGOS, NIGERIA

So far, many CSR studies have focused on developed countries, while little attention has been paid to CSR activities in developing countries. On the other hand, the increasing discussion on sustainable development in developing countries, especially in Nigeria, has made a significant difference and triggered a wide debate on the relationship between CSR and sustainable development. CSR is arguably a dynamic concept that promotes sustainable development irrespective of the motivations and approaches of business organizations. The CSR components implemented by companies should lead to high levels of moral sustainability. The productivity scope of manufacturers and producers in the Nigerian plastics and packaging industry has been limited to economic growth and profit maximization, neglecting product life cycle management. This negligence has resulted in the indiscriminate dumping of empty plastic waste on the streets, leading to environmental degradation. However, it is important to explore how the concepts of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and sustainable development can enable the reduction of plastic waste. The aim of this review paper is to link the concepts of corporate social responsibility and sustainable development to advance the management of plastic waste. The paper is important because it addresses the issues of corporate social responsibility, sustainable development and social well-being of the environment.

An Empirical Study on the Impact of Corporate Greenwashing Behaviours on Financial Performance

In the context of sustainable development, governments, consumers and other external institutions have become increasingly concerned about corporate social responsibility (CSR) issues. The behavior of companies attempting to improve their corporate image with social responsibility investment, but not actually implementing or exaggerating the effect is called greenwashing. Such behavior is extremely harmful to consumers, companies and the development of green markets. This paper explores the relationship between corporate greenwashing and financial performance. In this paper, the degree of corporate greenwashing is measured by the company's peer-relative greenwashing score. Based on this, we examined the negative relationship between corporate greenwashing behaviors and financial performance using a sample of 349 A-share listed companies in China from 2017 to 2020, and made suggestions to enterprises, government departments and regulators to reduce the occurrence of corporate greenwashing.

Assessing the Influencing Factors of Electronic Word-of-Mouth on CSR Issues. A Case of Hospotality Service Industry of China.

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) information can be effectively disseminated via social media in a variety of industries, including the hospitality sector. In the same way, the media has a significant impact on CSR because the news media helps companies achieve their CSR goals. Prior research has not examined the main factors that influence electronic word of mouth (eWOM) on media coverage of CSR issues via social networking websites. For the purpose of examining the most significant predictors of intention to share or comment on negative CSR news reported by one media outlet on a specific social networking site (SNS). 677 Wechat users in China were surveyed in order to test the proposed model empirically. According to the findings of the study, eWOM intentions are positively influenced by environmental CSR content, and advertisement related CSR content. It also confirmed that the value of information is positively influenced by the credibility of the source. The variables interpersonal influencer impact and privacy concerns had no significant relationship, nor did they have any significant relationship with the intentions to share and comment on Wechat. Further the study findings suggest the theoretical and managerial policy recommendation for decision makers.

From Reactionary to Revelatory: CSR Reporting in Response to the Global Refugee Crisis

Refugee concerns may be perceived as controversial or outside the business domain, yet some corporations publicly engage these issues in corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives. This article relies on institutional and constitutive approaches to CSR to explore why organizations might declare their engagement in refugee issues, and utilizes decoupling to explore the relationship between reported CSR policy and CSR activity. We utilize a mixed-method, content analysis approach to draw on Fortune Global 500 CSR reports between 2012 and 2019, a period in which refugee activity increased around the world. Our research suggests that few corporations offer refugee programming and fewer still feature programs that are “coupled” with either CSR policies or impacts. We introduce a typology that depicts these corporations as reactionary, recurring, relevant, or revelatory, and offer constitutive implications for CSR programming in response to other emerging social issues.

Board attributes and corporate social responsibility performance: evidence from Vietnam

Nowadays, there is increasing attention on corporate social responsibility (CSR) matters after some serious CSR-related scandals happening around the world. However, most of the research is carried out in developed countries, but not developing countries where environmental issues and firms’ unethical behaviors are always serious problems. Therefore, the aim of this study is to understand and contribute more about the CSR issues in Vietnam, focusing on the effect of board attributes, particularly, board size, board independence, CEO duality, and board gender diversity, on CSR performance under the support of agency and stakeholder theories. The data is taken from CSRHub and companies’ reports. Based on the sample of 68 companies at the beginning of October 2019, board size and board independence are found to positively affect CSR performance while CEO duality and board gender diversity exhibit a non-significant relationship with CSR performance.

Kinerja Perusahaan dan Corporate Social Responsibility: Peran Moderasi dari Perusahaan Keluarga

Purpose - Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) can be defined as a commitment and form of action taken by a company regarding social responsibility and the surrounding environment with the aim of improving the welfare of people's lives and strengthening relationships between stakeholders. The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between firm performance and CSR moderated by family firm variables and firm size, leverage, and equity ownership concentration as control variables.
 Research Method - The sample used in this research is quantitative data with a purposive sampling technique. Based on the criteria, the number of samples collected is 240 samples from 48 companies in the period 2016-2020. The sample data is tested using panel data regression.
 Findings - The result of this study indicates that there is a significant negative relationship between the firm performance variable on CSR. The moderating variable, family firm, strengthens the relationship between firm performance and CSR.
 Implication - The findings of this study imply that the higher the firm performance and profits obtained from stakeholders, the company must also be more serious in paying attention to CSR issues, implement and disclose them following the demands of stakeholders instead of exploiting them more. Stakeholders must pay more attention, especially to family companies. Policymakers to evaluate existing regulations of CSR. They should encourage the implementation and disclosure of CSR in Indonesia, which will be beneficial for stakeholders and the company itself.

Stakeholder influence, government power, and new opportunities for Chinese Internet companies: A multilevel network analysis of cross-sector networks

In recent decades, Chinese Internet companies have experienced exponential growth. As the Internet industry increasingly commends tremendous financial resources, they also face growing stakeholder expectations for corporate social responsibility (CSR) actions. One way through which Chinese Internet companies conduct CSR is by building cross-sectoral collaborations with nonprofit and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and governmental agencies. Aiming to understand Internet companies’ strategic relationship building on CSR issues, the researchers drew from stakeholder influence theory and research on a network approach to stakeholder influence, and applied multilevel network analysis to model three networks related to Chinese Internet companies’ CSR collaborations. Specifically, we found that power and urgency are significant predictors of the structure of Internet companies’ cross-sector CSR alliance network. Organizations affiliated or endorsed by the central Chinese government are the most desirable CSR stakeholders. Additionally, the study also revealed that for Internet companies, devoting their attention to Internet-related social issues could increase their desirability as strategic stakeholders from other sectors and among Internet companies.

Issues of corporate social responsibility in the mining industry: The case of China

Socially responsible production and consumption have become a hot debate in recent years with the introduction of sustainable development goals. Regardless of sectors, each company needs to be more focused on integrating such responsible activities into their activities. This intention is supported by several stakeholders (including shareholders, media, customers, authorities, etc.), who bring the sensitive sectors (which are more prone to society) to be more focused than ever on such responsible activities. Due to this pressure, in recent years there may be more evidence to integrate corporate social responsibility (CSR) into such sensitive sectors, including mining. Mining sectors often come under pressure from criticism from various activists because of their operational nature. Several studies attempted to integrate the elements of CSR into the mining sector through different perspectives. In a row, this study focused on issues of CSR in the mining sector with evidence of the Chinese case context. DEMATEL has been used to analyze the relationship between the collected common CSR problems. The survey results revealed that '' Dangerous working conditions '' (C8) and '' Non-disclosure of confidential information '' (C11) are the main most influential issues with CSR, which need to be addressed first and foremost to achieve effective CSR integration in the Chinese mining sector. As a groundbreaking work, this study focused exclusively on the human dimensions of CSR, which could help industrial leaders with more focus on human-related responsible practices in their mining sectors.

Critical analysis of corporate social responsibility projects developed by Brazilian companies: Providing new insights for debates

The purpose of this study is to carry out a critical analysis on Corporate Social Responsibility projects developed by Brazilian companies considering the perceptions of experienced professionals. Brazil is an emerging economy and this study can contribute to improving projects of Corporate Social Responsibility developed by companies in emerging countries. Using this information, a SWOT matrix was structured. The research strategies used were bibliographic research (to establish the theoretical foundation) and semi-structured interviews with 18 experienced professionals on Corporate Social Responsibility projects. Data analysis was performed using a content analysis approach and the findings were used to structure the SWOT matrix. Despite some “Strengths” practices mentioned by professionals, many “Weaknesses” were highlighted regarding Corporate Social Responsibility projects developed by Brazilian companies and they may be improved to obtain better results. Interesting “Opportunities” were mentioned, for example, new business possibilities when companies are recognized as socially responsible. Return of branding and marketing due to sustainable positioning of companies are other possible opportunities to be explored. Finally, related to “Threats”, professionals mentioned aspects that may lead to devaluation of Corporate Social Responsibility practices in the Brazilian context, such as prejudices and political polarization. Despite the exploratory nature of the study, the information presented here can greatly contribute to the expansion of debates on Corporate Social Responsibility practices developed by Brazilian companies. It may be used to address public policies and motivate future studies aligned with United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Researchers can use the findings presented here as a starting point to develop studies on Corporate Social Responsibility issues. • A SWOT matrix was used to analyze CSR projects in Brazil. • CSR projects developed by Brazilian companies present several weaknesses. • Brazilians predisposition to volunteer may benefit CSR projects.

Collaborative corporate social responsibility praxis: case studies from India

PurposeThis study aims to explore how corporate social responsibility (CSR) has assumed a new meaning today, with the COVID-19 pandemic. This, in turn, has changed the way companies now view the impact of their activities on the environment, customers, employees, community and other stakeholders.Design/methodology/approachThis paper uses a qualitative case study approach and draws a critical lens to document the complex interplay between dimensions of CSR, business sustainability and social issues, applying theoretical tools such as social capital theory and stakeholder theory to elucidate the nature of collaborative managerial responses to the organisation’s challenges during the pandemic. This is a case study paper. This paper applies multi method approach to develop a case study analysis through participant observation and report analysis to investigate the CSR approaches undertaken in India by Infosys Genesis, a global leader in technology services and consulting, and Akshaya Patra Foundation, a non-governmental organisation (NGO), which operates the world’s largest lunch school program. This was an appropriate methodology since the focus was on an area that was little understood, while the analysis required an in-depth understanding of a complex phenomenon through observation and a case study. In addition, case study research has been recommended for how, why and what type of research questions that focus on contemporary events (Saunders et al., 2003; Yin, 1994), such as CSR participation in the existing business environment. Furthermore, the issue under investigation is a real-life situation where the limitations between the phenomenon and the body of knowledge are unclear (Yin, 1994). This was the case because CSR has been probed by numerous disciplines through the application of various theoretical frameworks, each interpreting the context from their own perspective. Leximancer was used for the analysis (a text-mining software for visualising the structure of concepts and themes across case studies). This process differs from the traditional content analysis in that specific word strings are not needed; instead, Leximancer recognises what concepts are present in a set of texts, permitting concepts to be automatically coded in a grounded fashion (Cretchley et al., 2010, p. 2). The paper will be looked at from three levels comprising themes, concepts and concept profiling to create rich and reliable dimensions of a theoretical model (Myers, 2008). The themes are created in Leximancer software and are built on an algorithm that looks for hidden repeated patterns in interactions. The concepts add a layer and discover which concepts are shared by actors. The concept profiling allows to discover additional concepts and allows to do a discriminant analysis on prior concepts (Cretchley et al., 2010). Words that come up frequently are treated as concepts. Although the limited number of cases does not represent the entire sector, it enabled collection of rich data through quotes revealing some of the most crucial aspects of large organisations and non-profits in India.FindingsThe findings demonstrate how these robust, innovative, collaborative CSR initiatives between a multinational firm and an NGO have been leveraged to combat manifold issues of education, employment and hunger during the pandemic.Research limitations/implicationsDespite significant implications, this study has limitations. A response from only two companies is investigated to the COVID-19 pandemic. The scope of this study is only India, a developing nation, thereby, cross country research is recommended. A comparative study between developed and developing countries may be conducted. A quantitative approach may be used to get empirical findings of the COVID-19 pandemic and post-pandemic policies of companies from an international perspective. Hence, there is ample opportunity to research organisations’ response to the pandemic and CSR as a strong arm to deal with critical disasters.Practical implicationsThe paper offers new insights into exploring research and praxis agenda for collaborative potentials towards the evolution of CSR and sustainability.Social implicationsThe findings develop new initiatives and combat manifold issues of education, employment and hunger during the pandemic to provide quick relief.Originality/valueThe paper offers new insights into how companies are considering issues related to the crisis, including avoidance of layoffs and maintaining wage payments, and may be in a better position to access fresh capital, relief programs and emergency funds. Taking proactive health and safety measures may avert legal risks to the company. It is likely that the way in which companies are responding to the crises is a real-life test on resilience and adaptation.

Board co-option and employee welfare

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between corporate board co-option and employee welfare practices.Design/methodology/approachThe authors employ several analysis techniques including univariate analysis, OLS regressions, Poisson regressions, and propensity score matching methodology. The sample consists of US public firms for the period of 1996–2017. The variables of interest are the employee welfare index (EWI) proposed by Ghaly et al. (2015) and the co-option ratio proposed by Coles et al. (2014).FindingsThe authors find that firms with a higher fraction of co-opted directors on their boards are less committed to the firms' employee well-being. The empirical results support the argument that the interests of co-opted directors are more closely aligned with the interests of the CEO who had an influence on selecting them to the board, which compromises their monitoring role.Originality/valueThis paper contributes in several ways to the literature on corporate governance and corporate social responsibility (CSR) by linking board co-option to employee welfare. By focusing on board co-option to explain the degree of firms' involvement in employee welfare, which is one of the crucial components of CSR performance, the authors provide pinpointed and detailed findings on a timely issue of CSR.