Corporate Social Responsibility Issues Research Articles

Exploring the Effect of National Culture on Corporate Environmental Proactivity

The aim of the paper is to analyze if and in which way the national culture acts as a driver toward the implementation of corporate environmental strategy. An environmental proactive strategy seeks to reduce environmental impact and manage the interface between business and the nature beyond imposed compliance. It is recognized that the introduction of environmental protection can be used to develop successful strategy to reach a competitive advantage. The Organization and the natural environment literature identify several drivers able to push toward ecological engagement. One of the most important is the ethical attitude of organizations. Ethics could vary among different organizations because of different circumstance; in particular ethical values are strictly embedded to culture. The most of literature focused the analysis on the broader issue of Corporate Social Responsibility, analyzing the effect of national culture on Corporate Social Performance. Conversely, only few studies have analyzed the relationship that occurs between the national culture and the environmental proactivity, employing national environmental indicator rather than firms’ performance scores. Previous studies, which used Hofstede's framework, have found out that the national culture is able to influence the overall national environmental performances, missing to analyze cultural impact on company’s environmental behaviour. Does the national culture influence the company’s attitude to implement a proactive environmental strategy? Which cultural dimension is able to represent this pressure? The study is based on a quantitative analysis aimed at statistically measuring how national culture could influence corporate environmental proactivity, measured using the CDP Global 500 report.

Corporate social responsibility activities conducted by football clubs playing in the Polish top division – PKO Ekstraklasa

Abstract The main goal of this paper is to analyze how football clubs playing in the Polish top division approach the issue of corporate social responsibility (CSR). Professionalization processes in football clubs all over the world have led to the situation in which they are treated as companies and must follow the same rules. The goals of companies from all industries are no longer only about generating financial profits; they also want to meet the expectations of their shareholders, which can be done through CSR activities. Strong social bonds between football clubs and local societies indicate the CSR approach has massive potential for football clubs. The aim of this paper is to describe how PKO Ekstraklasa are approaching the concept of CSR and to answer the following questions: “To what extent were clubs playing in PKO Ekstraklasa during the 2020/2021 season active in the area of CSR? To what groups did they direct their activities?” The analysis was conducted based on data published by clubs on their websites. The results of the analysis show that PKO Ekstraklasa clubs are active in the field of CSR. However, they need to improve significantly in terms of the regularity of their activities and reporting in order to become truly socially responsible.

Are Founders More Socially Responsible? -An Empirical Research on Private Listed Companies in China.

Personal factors such as the founder's values and psychological characteristics will influence founder's vision, his perception and interpretation of the decision-making environment, and his strategic choice and decision-making. Based on the theory of entrepreneurial characteristics, combined with the founder's unique psychological characteristics, this paper takes Chinese private listed companies between 2010 and 2018 as a research sample to study the effect of the founder of private enterprises on corporate social responsibility. Furthermore, this study analyzes the impact of different management roles of the founder on corporate social responsibility. We demonstrate that the private enterprises have better social responsibility performance when there are founders; the founders have different management roles, and their corporate social responsibility performance has certain differences, and the higher the management level of the founders, the better the corporate social responsibility performance. This paper studies the issue of corporate social responsibility from the perspective of the characteristics of founders, which expands the current framework of corporate social responsibility research and provides an empirical basis for founders to effectively participate in corporate management in practice.

A Moral Consideration of Corporate-Social-Responsibility (CSR) on the Basis of the Conception of Stephen R. Perry’s Risk, Harm, and Responsibility

The goal is to develop a moral consideration of CSR. The nature of risk is examined and a distinction in epistemic conception of probability is introduced. The central question, namely if agent-imposed risk has to be regarded as a form of damage in its own right is introduced and applied to the issue of CSR. The modified question if corporation-imposed risk on society can be viewed as a form of damage comes into play. The terms of avoidability and foreseeability are added to the moral concept. The goal is to show that corporations hold a certain responsibility to society.

Intersectionality and Corporate Social Responsibility: Missing Voices in Global Value Chains

Despite increasing attention to corporate social responsibility (CSR) issues in global value chains (Gond & Moon, 2011), the complicity of multinational corporations in perpetuating global inequities is still on the sidelines in mainstream scholarship and practice (Banerjee, 2014). More recently, gendered inequities across global value chains have begun to be recognised in the CSR literature (e.g. Grosser, 2009; Karam & Jamali, 2013; McCarthy, 2017). However, intersectional voices continue to remain veiled or missing in this discourse (Ozkazanc-Pan, 2018). An intersectional approach to CSR acknowledges that the dominant hegemony erases the experiences of other less-privileged group members (Crenshaw, 1989; Liu, 2017). It enables us to understand GVCs and CSR in a different way, and that the inequalities therein are ‘the outcome of intersections of different social locations, power relations and experiences’ (Hankivsky, 2014: 1). Further, explorations of CSR in GVC contexts need to investigate not just women and children as oppressed, and men as oppressors, but to explicate the ‘multiple sources’ of actors’ privilege as well as their experiences of discrimination (Crenshaw, 1989; McCarthy, Soundararajan & Taylor, 2019). Privilege and discrimination; and agency and oppression are nested in power structures and present in complex multidimensional experiences (Crenshaw, 1989; Mohanty, 2003).

Research on the Impact of Social Responsibility of Tourism Listed Companies on Their Business Performance

In the process of tourism development, there are some problems that can not be ignored, such as the destruction of natural environment by scenic spot development, unfair competition in the industry, and infringement of employees' rights and interests by enterprises, which directly restrict the development of tourism industry. The issue of tourism corporate social responsibility has been in the sight of global scholars and practitioners. First of all, this paper will study and analyze the relevant theories made so far by scholars and practitioners at home and abroad, to understand the research status of social responsibility of tourism listed companies at home and abroad, as well as the status quo of corporate social responsibility. Secondly, this paper selects 23 domestic tourism listed companies to collect the panel data of their social responsibility reports from 2014 to 2018, and makes an empirical analysis on the sorted panel data through the statistical software Eviews, so as to explore the impact of social responsibility of tourism listed companies on their business performance, And draw the conclusion that tourism listed companies' business responsibility has a positive impact on their business performance, but there is a certain lag in this impact. Based on the research, this paper puts forward some feasible suggestions for tourism enterprises to take the initiative to undertake social responsibility, hoping to provide some help to scholars in related fields and practitioners in enterprises.

Impeding corporate social responsibility: Revisiting the role of government in shaping business — Marginalized local community relations

AbstractThis paper is based on a case study of the European space industry as it is organized in the postcolonial setting of French Guiana. It brings the state back into political corporate social responsibility (CSR) by showing how government shapes interactions between business and local communities, more specifically around CSR issues. The paper opens new research avenues in political CSR by making two significant contributions. First, it identifies postcolonial contexts as instances in which government, rather than stepping back, gets actively involved to impede the emergence of CSR. This demonstration is made by building on a conceptualization of the marginalized local community as comprising citizens—rather than mere stakeholders—who expect their government to defend their rights vis‐à‐vis business. Second, by using a longitudinal approach that provides access to dynamics of interactions over time, the paper develops a typology of mechanisms that support a government’s changing role in CSR. Over a 50‐year period, such government is shown to have played the roles of impeding the emergence of CSR, partnering for CSR, symbolically mandating CSR, and finally, disengaging from CSR.

An examination of the determining factors of users’ intentions to share corporate CSR content on Facebook

ABSTRACT Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has become an essential concept in the context of the hospitality industry, where it is considered as a significant factor in competition and firms’ survival. However, little is known about the factors that influence electronic word of mouth (eWOM) regarding CSR communication through social media in the hotel context. This research proposes a comprehensive model including expressive information sharing, environmental consciousness, homophily and attitude towards sharing firms’ content (both commercial information and about environmental CSR issues) as predictors of individuals’ intention to share firms’ content on a specific social networking site (SNS). To test the model empirically, Facebook users were surveyed in Spain. Empirical testing confirms most of the hypothesized effects except the influence of expressive information sharing on attitude towards sharing firms’ environmental CSR content, the impact of homophily on attitude towards sharing firms’ commercial content, and the influence of this variable on intentions to share content on Facebook.

The Idea of Corporate Social Responsibility in the Opinion of Future Managers—Comparative Research between Poland and Georgia

The article deals with the issue of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in the awareness of economics students as future managers responsible for the implementation of this idea in enterprises. Due to the fact that CSR is a source of many innovations today, the aim of the research was to learn about the awareness and opinions of students about CSR on such issues as: reasons for implementation, main activities, impact on profitability, and the need to explore and assess the usefulness of this knowledge. The research was conducted in 2019 among students from Poland and Georgia (as countries at various stages of advancement in the market economy). The results of the research were statistically analyzed in terms of obtaining answers to the hypotheses and research questions, checking the significance of differences in the answers due to nationality, and additionally, gender (chi-square test and test for two proportions). The primary contribution of this study is an exploration of the views of students on various issues of CSR and sustainability. The results showed that—according to students—ethical values, increased consumer awareness, and the desire to gain a competitive advantage are the most common reasons for the implementation of the CSR concept by companies. The vast majority of respondents indicated the need to enrich the knowledge of business ethics as an important aspect shaping the attitudes of employers and employees. The positive attitude of students regarding the impact of CSR on the company’s profitability was confirmed, although the authors expected more unambiguous results. Differences were also distinguished between the responses of students from both countries on some issues, such as: opinions on the developing ethical sensitivity, the need for the credibility of the EU economic policy, ecology and relations with the local community, as well as relations with the closest stakeholders of companies. The results of the conducted research suggest the need for intense activity in the field of public awareness and the requirement of personnel training for the skilful implementation of CSR principles in enterprises.

Framing Corporate Social Responsibility to Achieve Sustainability in Urban Industrialization: Case of Bangladesh Ready-Made Garments (RMG)

According to both scholars and society, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) plays a controversial role in terms of corporate management towards sustainability. The business has presently become an integrated with the society and takes in a complex form of global demand for sustainability management. Due to the globalization of business, it is difficult to form a common sustainability model for CSR while its approach could be an opportunity for achieving sustainability. Evidently, a strong connection is found between the CSR approach and achieving urban sustainability since a smart urbanization requires a well-planned industrialization process that could be accelerated by the proper application of CSR. However, the CSR concept has already been initiated and developed in Western developed countries. Nowadays, it is being widely practiced by the developing countries as well. The developing country Bangladesh takes CSR issues seriously. Therefore, the study seeks the sustainability prospects of CSR by considering sustainability challenges in the rapid development of the “Ready-made Garments (RMG)” industry and corporate sector in Bangladesh. Finally, this paper explores some strategic paths to initiate sustainable development by framing the conditions and challenges of CSR.

Transnational universities, host communities and local residents: social impacts, university social responsibility and campus sustainability

Purpose This paper aims to discuss how transnational universities create negative and positive social impacts on their host communities and what this means for campus sustainability and the expectation that universities contribute to sustainable development and to their local communities. Design/methodology/approach Using mixed methods, a multiple case study approach and qualitative meta-analysis, this study considers six transnational university campuses in China in terms of their relationship with local communities. Findings Because of the good reputation of universities generally, local residents tended to accord a social licence to operate (i.e. approval) to new university campuses. However, universities generally do not manage their social impacts, as well as many other industries and generally fail to consider the corporate social responsibility issues and the environmental, social and governance aspects of their activities. To improve their social licence to operate and grow and to meet expectations around “university social responsibility”, campus developments should observe key international principles and human rights standards: full disclosure of information; effective community engagement; appropriate resettlement and livelihood restoration; effective harm reduction procedures; provision of local benefits (benefit sharing); monitoring and adaptive management and implement a grievance redress mechanism. Originality/value This paper encourages broader thinking about sustainability in a higher education context and about what university social responsibility entails. Specifically, this study argues that the relationship between universities and their host communities also needs to be considered, especially during campus construction.

Does CFO accounting expertise matter to corporate social responsibility disclosure in 10-Ks?

PurposeThe study aims to understand the role of accountant in corporate social responsibility (CSR) practice.Design/methodology/approachIn this study, the authors examine whether and how chief financial officer (CFO) accounting expertise and previous work experience influence voluntary CSR disclosure, using textual analysis and natural language processing (NLP) techniques. The authors find that firms' CFOs with accounting expertise disclose more CSR issues in their 10-K reports. Overall, this study provides evidence of the impact of CFOs' professional and personal attributes on voluntary CSR disclosure in corporate annual reports. This study has important implications to investors and policy makers in the context of CSR disclosure regulations in annual reports.FindingsOverall, this study provides evidence of the impact of CFOs' professional and personal attributes on voluntary CSR disclosure in corporate annual reports. This study has important implications to practitioners and policy makers in the context of CSR disclosure regulations in annual reports.Research limitations/implicationsThere is an inherent limitation of textual analysis as the tool tries to read key words from the text.Practical implicationsThis finding is useful for policy maker and investors as CSR is known to have impact on the share price.Originality/valueThis paper is the first attempt to find out accountants' role in CSR activities, which has not been examined in the prior literature.

Effective Corporate Social Responsibility (Csr) Delivery as Panacea for Restiveness and Conflict in The Niger Delta: Role of The Mass Media

The Niger Delta has been a cauldron of restiveness and violent conflicts. Most of these conflicts result from the failure of the multinational corporations operating in the region to adequately discharge their Corporate Social Responsibility to the people. It is against this backdrop that this paper examines the issue of Corporate Social Responsibility as the panacea for the restiveness and conflict in the region as we as the crucial role the mass media have to play in assisting the corporate organisations to effectively discharge their obligations to the people. It is propounded here that failure to disseminate relevant information in this regard has led to mistrust and misunderstanding which eventually culminate in restiveness and conflict. The role of the media is therefore equally examined. The paper discovers that the media are constrained in the performance of this role. These constraints are presented and ways of tackling them are proffered.

MSI deliberations and context: The influence of Southeast Asian business systems on member justifications and approaches to anti‐corruption

AbstractMulti‐stakeholder initiatives (MSIs) convene stakeholders from different contexts to deliberate on corporate social responsibility (CSR) issues. Extant research focuses on the deliberative potential of internal governance structures yet neglects the influence of broader sociopolitical contexts on the members that participate in them. Anti‐corruption is one CSR issue that MSIs increasingly address which is particularly context dependent. Therefore, this study examines how different sociopolitical contexts influence members’ justifications and approaches to anti‐corruption during MSI deliberations and ultimately, how this impacts the MSI’s approach to anti‐corruption. Through a single case study of an MSI, the ASEAN CSR Network which is situated in Southeast Asia with members representing business and CSR organizations in six different countries, the findings show that the different National Business Systems clearly influence the member justifications and approaches to anti‐corruption. Further, the MSI reinforces and promotes the adoption of the different national business system‐related justifications and approaches ultimately, leading to an MSI approach to anti‐corruption which is a composite of the different national business system‐related approaches. This paper makes three contributions to the literature on MSI deliberations. First, it proposes a novel framework that links the influence of national business systems to member justifications and approaches to anti‐corruption during MSI deliberations by leveraging the orders of worth framework. Second, it shows that the concept of compromise may be more relevant to understanding and evaluating MSI deliberations than the notion of consensus. Third, it contributes through the empirical study of an MSI developed in Southeast Asia addressing anti‐corruption.

Understand corporate social responsibility from an agenda setting perspective: a cross-national analysis of newspaper using computer-assisted content analysis

PurposeThis study aims to explore multifaceted corporate social responsibility (CSR) covered in popular English newspapers in the UK, USA, mainland China and Hong Kong from 2000 to 2016 via a computer-assisted analytical approach. This study moves the understanding of CSR away from corporate self-reporting to the mass media and raises interesting questions about the role of the news media in presenting CSR as a multifaceted, socially constructed concept.Design/methodology/approachData were retrieved from CSR-related news articles from 2000 to 2016 that were archived in the LexisNexis database. Guided by the theoretical framework of agenda setting, a computer-assisted content analysis (Latent Dirichlet Allocation) was used to analyze 4,487 CSR-related articles from both business and non-business news sources. Analysis of variance was used to compare salient CSR topics in each country/region.FindingsThis study identifies newspapers as an alternate to corporations’ attempts to distribute CSR information and construct CSR meaning. The findings revealed that the news communicates a variety of CSR issues that are aligned or beyond what CSR was defined in corporate CSR reporting, as suggested in previous studies. In addition, CSR news coverages differ between the business and nonbusiness news sources. Furthermore, the media tone of CSR coverage significantly differed across the regions and between the business and nonbusiness newspapers.Social implicationsEmerging topics in CSR news coverage, such as business education, could help companies identify untapped CSR realms in the market.Originality/valueThis study contributes to CSR communication research by adding a non-corporate perspective regarding what CSR means and should be focused on. The news media presents CSR using a heterogeneous approach as they not only provide surface reports on corporations’ CSR activities but also offer in-depth discussions.

Does women's board representation affect non‐managerial gender inequality?

AbstractResearch examining gender and corporate boards has explored how women's representation impacts firm strategy and policy, particularly around corporate social responsibility (CSR) issues related to communities and other relevant stakeholders, the environment, and diversity and equity initiatives. However, fewer studies have examined how women's representation on boards affects gender inequality in firms. The studies that have been conducted generally focus on gender board diversity and the appointment of women executives. Yet, prior research has not sufficiently examined women's board representation and gender equality below executive level. Does women's representation have broader effects on gender equity beyond top leadership? And if so, is there a critical mass effect? In this article, we examine the relationship between women's board representation and non‐managerial gender segregation. Gender segregation is an ideal measure of gender equality given that it captures the evenness of the distribution of women and men across jobs within workplaces and its well‐known relationship to gender disparities in earnings and other job rewards. Drawing on Australian organization data (2014–2019) we find that the contemporaneous relationship between women's board representation and gender segregation is nonsignificant, but becomes significant and increases in magnitude with 1, 2, and 3‐year lags. Our critical mass analysis suggests that having one woman on a board may not be enough to promote change but rather two or more women directors, or holding 20% or more board seats, appears to be more effective in reducing gender segregation. These findings demonstrate that the appointment of more women to corporate boards has broader effects on workplace gender equity beyond top leadership teams.

CSR or social impression management? Tone management in CSR reports

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate to what extent corporate social responsibility (CSR) is used as a symbolic strategy of greenwashing. Analyses focus on the relationship between CSR and disclosure tone management practice in sustainable reports derived from social impression management incentives.Design/methodology/approachThis study is based on a sample of French listed firms (SBF 120) over a seven-year period (2010–2016), i.e. 539 firm-year observations.FindingsMultivariate analysis indicates a significant relationship between CSR and disclosure tone management. The obtained results show that firms that are less concerned with tone management in sustainable reporting process consider more socially responsible issues. Findings support the socially substantive initiatives and the transparency perspective of CSR.Research limitations/implicationsThe negative association between CSR and tone management highlights the firm’s transparency. However, there could be other discretionary practices which may determine impression management strategies. Thus, future research may consider other discretionary behavior associated with CSR to mislead users.Practical implicationsAll actors (government, green-association, investors, etc.) interested in CSR and greenwashing issues have to bring initiatives to reinforce the monitoring and reporting procedures.Originality/valueThis study investigates the association between CSR and disclosure tone management for the French context since the specificity of its regulatory framework of CSR disclosure. Thus, corporate narrative reporting users may be required to consider impression management practices (i.e. tone management) and read between the lines.

A MANAGEMENT PERSONNEL IS TAKING INTO ACCOUNT CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY OF ENTERPRISES

Every year the issues of corporate social responsibility (corporate social responsibility) become more relevant for Ukraine, which is due to the following groups of reasons: first, companies are increasingly influenced by the external environment and must respond to its challenges, in particular on social guidelines. ; secondly, as labor is intellectualized, the role of human capital increases, employees’ understanding of the concept of a decent job, fair remuneration for work, employment efficiency gradually changes, and their requirements for the employer’s company increase; thirdly, the dissemination of the principles of openness and transparency of companies makes available to employees and consumers any information about the operation of the company, therefore, the importance of a good image is growing; fourth, the interest of potential investors in information about the company’s competitiveness, concern for the environment, social responsibility, etc. is increasing. Therefore, the issue of personnel management on the basis of forming a strategy of corporate social responsibility is timely and relevant. Modern of approaches are investigational and authorial determination of essence of concept of «management a personnel» of is given. Basic of directions of activity are exposed in a management a personnel. Main of aspects are certain in a management a personnel, description is given to them. Properties of management a personnel are marked on the basis of complex decision of problems and their recreation. It of is distinguished objects, subjects of and objects in the management of enterprises a personnel. Effective of methods are certain of management a personnel which gives an opportunity to promote job performances as separate workers so whole enterprise on the whole. Reasonably of intercommunication of between the processes of management a personnel and corporate social responsibility. Expediency of conduct of socially responsible business is well – proven, that conditioned: by the improvement of reputation of enterprise and brand; by the decline of risks and fluidity of shots; by the increase of the labour productivity; adjusting of partner relationships with the state, partners and employees. Priority of directions of corporate social responsibility, which are the mortgage of successful and harmonious development of society, decision social economic and ecological problems, are distinguished.

Trust as a governance mechanism of the relationship between venture capitalists and managers of venture capital-backed firms in Morocco

Numerous theoretical and empirical studies have investigated the phenomenon of venture capitalists’ involvement in new ventures. However, there has been a lack of attention to the VCs’ involvement in corporate social responsibility (CSR) issues with respect to Moroccan venture-backed firms. The purpose of the study was to examine the dynamic behaviour of venture capitalists (VCs) and the mediating role of trust in the entrepreneur/VC relationship using the partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) approach. From the exploratory factor analysis, VCs involvement was determined to have three dimensions (strategic involvement, managerial involvement, and CSR involvement). The findings exhibited a significant positive impact of interaction frequency, trust, and VC involvement on performance. The study also concluded that the interaction frequency affected trust negatively. While the study has corroborated previous research, it has several recommendations to decision-makers in the venture capital industry in order to strengthen cooperation between the entrepreneurs and VCs. Implications for theory, limitations, and avenues for future research are discussed.

Environmental Corporate Social Responsibility Activities in Heating Industry—Case Study

The paper focuses on problems connected with Environmental Corporate Social responsibility in the energy industry. The objective behind this article is to analyse pro-environment activities within Environmental Corporate Social Responsibility (ECSR) that heating operators carry out, using the example of a Poland-based company called Miejska Energetyka Cieplna Spółka z o.o. with headquarters in Koszalin. In particular, this study focuses on pro-environment activities that the company has been involved in from 2017–2020. The data and information found in this study demonstrate that the company systematically devoted its financial resources to pro-environment efforts in terms of both ISO 14001 maintenance as well as educational/promotional activities. According to the findings, the company has been highly committed to Environmental Corporate social Responsibility issues. The implementation of its strategy in this field can lead to ecological innovation and help establish an effective business model that will be founded on ecological assumptions.