Positive Effect Of Corporate Social Responsibility Research Articles

The Effects of FC and CSR on Bilateral Quality Efforts of Agricultural Products Supply Chain

The aim of this study was to analyze the effect of fairness concern (FC) and corporate social responsibility (CSR) on the quality improvement of the agricultural product supply chain (APSC) composed of an agricultural product processor (processor) and an agricultural product supermarket (supermarket) so as to ensure the stable supply of high-quality agricultural products. This paper considered both FC and CSR, established four Stackelberg game models, and obtained the effects of FC and CSR on bilateral quality efforts in APSC through comparative analysis and numerical analysis. We prove that the supermarket’s FC can take the role of “profit distribution mechanism”, but it is not conducive to improving all bilateral quality efforts, the utility of the whole supply chain system, and consumer surplus. Additionally, APSC members sharing CSR can not only both improve the quality of agricultural products and promote the expansion of market demand, but they also can improve both the profit of all members and the supply chain. The CSR shared by both members has a greater impact on bilateral quality efforts than the supermarket’s FC, and thus the positive effect of CSR can overcome the negative effect of the supermarket’s FC.

Corporate social responsibility and bank liquidity creation

AbstractUnder the stakeholder theory hypothesis, reputable corporate social responsibility (CSR) banks are expected to attract more loans and deposits, which in turn strengthens their ability to create liquidity. Our findings support this view. Further analyses reveal that the positive effect of CSR on liquidity creation differs depending on bank size, bank capital, and type of financial crisis. In addition, deposit growth, loan growth, lending rate, and funding rate are potential channels through which CSR influences bank liquidity creation. The findings are not driven by an endogeneity issue.

Consumers' willingness to pay for corporate social responsibility: Theory and evidence

AbstractIn an era when consumers believe that businesses should engage in corporate social responsibility (CSR), it is vital to understand how it affects consumers' willingness to pay (WTP) for the goods and services offered by such businesses. There is a need for an in‐depth study into the relationship between CSR and WTP, and to identify the mediators and the moderators affecting this relationship. To investigate this, we conducted a systematic literature review based on a preliminary search result of 116 unique articles indexed on this topic in four bibliographic databases—Scopus, Google Scholar, Dimensions and Web of Science—published over the previous seven decades. The findings confirm the overall positive effect of CSR on WTP. This study also reveals the indirect effect between CSR and WTP, mediated by variables like Brand Trust, Brand Loyalty, Brand Love, Customer Satisfaction, Brand Attitude, Purchase Intention and Brand Equity. The relationship is impacted by moderators, including demographics, cause‐based aspects, company characteristics, personal aspects and types of products. The theory explaining the evidence of each of these aspects provides a deeper understanding of the relationship between CSR and WTP, and the intervening variables. Based on these, a conceptual framework of this relationship involving all the variables is developed. The Theory, Context and Method (TCM) framework is employed to identify gaps and systematically make recommendations for future research. The findings of this study will aid marketers in developing pricing strategies based on a thorough understanding of consumer behaviour in terms of CSR perceptions. Scholars can use this study's conceptual framework to examine previously unexplored relationships. As the literature on CSR and its influence on consumers' purchase behaviour grows, this comprehensive systematic literature review on the effects of CSR on WTP fills an important gap.

Does Heterogeneous CSR Affect Corporate Performance?

The market rivalry and China’s ongoing economic expansion are both contributing to a gradual rise in shareholder influence over businesses. Fulfilling corporate social responsibility (CSR) is becoming more and more important to improve corporate performance, gain long-term competitive advantage and achieve sustainable development. Based on panel data of 514 listed Chinese A-share companies from 2015-2019, this study applies a two-way fixed effect model to examine the effect of CSR on corporate performance from stakeholders’ perspectives. And it also examines the mediating effect played by green technological innovation and the moderating effect of two basic corporate competitive strategies on the role of CSR in corporate performance. The study’s findings indicate that: (1) the fulfillment of CSR has a significant positive impact on corporate performance. (2) Green technology innovation plays a part in mediating the process of fulfilling CSR in promoting corporate performance. Internal CSR fulfillment enhances corporate performance by boosting investment in green technology innovation, but external CSR fulfillment enhances corporate performance by decreasing investment in green technology innovation. (3) The positive effect of CSR on corporate performance is weakened by an increase in the level of low-cost strategies, while the positive relationship between CSR and corporate performance is strengthened by an increase in the level of differentiation strategies.

Do stockholders appreciate CSR? The role of firm visibility, financial slack, and monitoring

Although numerous past studies have examined the association between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and firm value, the findings have been inconsistent. This study examines how firm visibility, financial slack, and monitoring affected the relationship between CSR and firm value. We find that CSR performance and its three dimensions, that is, environmental, social, and governance—have positive effects on firm value. The results also show that under slack resources and strong corporate governance, the positive effect of CSR on firm value is strongly supported. These results suggest that managers should be aware that they can also attract shareholders’ interests in the stock market while addressing stakeholders’ concerns, especially when the firm has available financial slack and strong board monitoring.

Corporate responsibility towards employees and innovation: Evidence from an emerging market

Against a background of rising labor costs and the need to build a harmonious labor–capital relationship in China, this paper focuses on non-pecuniary incentives for employees and discusses the impact of corporate social responsibility (CSR) towards employees on innovation performance. The empirical results show that CSR towards employees significantly promotes corporate innovation, and that this effect remains robust after accounting for alternative proxies and endogeneity issues. In addition, the positive effect of CSR towards employees on innovation is more significant for firms in high-tech industries, with high levels of R&D inputs and high valuation of employee collaboration. Further analysis indicates that CSR towards employees does not promote R&D investment, but does significantly improve innovation efficiency and the marginal output of R&D investment and reduces the turnover rate of management-level staff with production and R&D backgrounds, which is conducive to stability of the innovation team. In addition, this paper also finds that for companies with high R&D expenditures, CSR towards employees significantly eases the sensitivity between executive turnover and performance, which helps executives resist pressure arising from a decline in short-term performance. The findings of this paper have implications for improving labor–capital relations and enhancing firm innovation capabilities.

Real effects of social trust on firm performance during COVID-19.

This study uses a difference‐in‐differences estimation method to address potential endogeneity between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and firm performance using a natural experiment of COVID‐19, with a cross‐country sample of 80,454 firm‐quarter observations across 51 countries. We find that high‐CSR firms show better performance, raise more debt, and invest more during COVID‐19. The positive effect of CSR on firm performance is more pronounced in countries with better governance and among non‐ International Financial Reporting Standards adopters. Our findings suggest that when trust in firms and markets falls during an economic crisis, the trust established between a firm and its stakeholders via socially responsible behavior pays off.

Employee perception of corporate social responsibility authenticity: A multilevel approach.

Stakeholder interest in the accuracy of Environment Social and Governance (ESG) data and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) authenticity has increased, as more companies are disclosing their ESG data. Employees are one of the most important stakeholders of a company, and they have access to more CSR information than other external stakeholders. Employees have a dual role of observing and participating in CSR. Employee perceptions of CSR authenticity play a key role in the positive effects of CSR. In this study, the research model was analyzed through multilevel analysis to contribute to the literature on the mechanism by which CSR affects employees’ job attitudes and perceptions of CSR authenticity. First, hypothesis testing confirmed that external CSR is positively associated with employees’ perceptions of CSR authenticity. Second, CSR authenticity mediates a positive relationship between external CSR and emotional commitment. As the direct effect of external CSR on emotional commitment was not statistically significant, it could be confirmed that the full mediation relationship was significant through CSR authenticity. This study makes three theoretical contributions to the literature on employees’ perceptions of CSR. First, it examines the mechanism of the impact of CSR on employees. By examining the mechanism by which employees recognize and interpret CSR, this study attempts to uncover the black box that CSR affects employees. Second, this study contributes to the literature on CSR authenticity by explaining the mediating role of CSR authenticity in the relationship between CSR and employee job attitudes through construal level theory. Finally, this study contributes to the employee-based CSR literature by analyzing the effect of CSR as an organizational-level variable on emotional commitment as an individual-level variable through multilevel structural equation modeling (MSEM).

Corporate Opacity, Corporate Social Responsibility, and Financial Performance

This study investigates the impact of corporate opacity on a firm's corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance and the relationship between CSR and financial performance. Corporate opacity reflects the different levels of the market scrutiny and the possible entrenchment problem toward investors. By applying regression analysis, we find that corporate opacity is negatively associated with a firm's CSR performance and that the positive effect of CSR on long-term profitability weakens as opacity increases. Our findings contribute to the introduction of a new mediator, corporate opacity, to explain the mixed results on the relationship between CSR and financial performance. We suggest the consideration of corporate opacity to evaluate the effectiveness of CSR activities on a firm's financial performance.

Corporate social responsibility & firm efficiency: evidence from endogenous cost inefficiency stochastic frontier analysis

ABSTRACT This paper investigates the relationship between firms’ performance in corporate social responsibility (CSR) and cost efficiency. We use a newly developed panel data model of stochastic frontier analysis that endogenizes cost efficiency. The dataset consists of 1,673 firms from ten provinces in Vietnam over three years: 2009, 2011 and 2013. Our results suggest that CSR can enhance cost efficiency of firms. This positive effect of CSR on efficiency can be masked if cost efficiency is treated as exogenous or endogeneity is not handled appropriately. The upshot is that our results challenge the widely held view of the existence of a trade-off between CSR and firm efficiency.

Is the corporate social responsibility–innovation link homogeneous?: Looking for sustainable innovation in the Spanish context

AbstractThis study examines if the relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and innovation is homogeneous or depends on the type of CSR practice and/or the type of innovation. The paper focuses on the three dimensions of the “three bottom line” of CSR (economic, social, and environmental) and on the so‐called “fateful triangle” of innovation, which together with studied product and process innovation types also considers organizational innovation. The theoretical framework is based on the resource‐based view and the knowledge‐based view approaches. In analysing sustainable innovation in the Spanish context, we look at a set of firms taking data for the 2009–2014 Spanish Community Innovation Survey. The empirical study uses random effect probit panel data methodology. The results show that, although the positive effect of CSR on innovation is confirmed for the majority of the cases, there are differences depending on the innovation type and the CSR dimension.

Strategic orientation, CSR and operational performance: Mediation and moderation effects in the Polish food-manufacturing industry

The aim of the study is to investigate relationships between strategic orientation (SO), involvement in corporate social responsibility (CSR) and operational performance (OP). It tests the proposition that SO is not linked with OP directly but through CSR serving as the mediator. In addition, SO is hypothesized to moderate the association between CSR and OP. The research involves a representative cross-sectional survey of 400 managers of SMEs operating in the Polish food manufacturing industry. Statistical methods include confirmatory factor analysis with AMOS 24 and multiple linear regression using SPSS 24.The study reveals a complete mediation effect by CSR of the links from three aspects of SO to OP. Specifically, aggressiveness, proactiveness and defensiveness are positively associated with CSR, while analysis, future orientation and risk propensity show no relationship. Also, aggressiveness moderates the link from CSR to OP, so that firms with higher aggressiveness display a stronger connection between CSR and OP.The outcomes suggest that part of the positive effects of CSR may come from more general strategic stances and attitudes. Moreover, it seems that certain aspects of strategic orientation might be more effective when implemented in an organizational environment with strong CSR values. In particular, strategies based on aggressiveness and proactiveness appear to be more effective when complemented by heightened social sensitivity.This research validates the role of CSR as a viable managerial approach contributing to greater operational performance of companies. This could help build a stronger case to promote socially responsible business practices not only through its beneficial social impacts but also due to its effects on firms’ performance. To the author’s knowledge, this is the first research focused on associations between SO, CSR and OP, using a large, representative sample of SMEs.

Corporate social responsibility and strategic company behaviour: CVS Health's discontinuation of tobacco products

AbstractThe elimination of tobacco products by CVS Health represents a special case of corporate social responsibility (CSR) with substantial costs—about $2 billion revenue loss in tobacco annually. This paper examines how CVS Health's stock market performance was affected by two events: the announcement (5 February 2014) and the implementation (1 October 2014) of the elimination of tobacco products. The study event approach and regression models are used to examine both short‐ and long‐term effects. The results show positive and significant abnormal returns during both events, with effects being much stronger during the implementation event period. In the long term, the net effects become neutral, most likely because the positive effects of CSR and the negative effects of the revenue loss offset each other. The results have important implications for both the retail pharmacy industry and companies in other industries. Socially responsible actions, such as the elimination of harmful products could impose substantial revenue losses or extra expenses, but more importantly, they can have a positive and significant impact on corporate financial performance. Thus, such actions benefit not only the stakeholders, but also the shareholders, and are consistent with both stakeholder theory and shareholder theory.

Corporate Social Responsibility and Leverage Speed of Adjustment

This research outlines and tests two corporate social responsibility (CSR) views of the corporate leverage speed of adjustment (SOA). The first view (stakeholder value maximization) implies that socially responsible firms commit to ethical behavior and provide transparent and reliable financial information, which is helpful to external finance, and thus they gain faster adjustments. The second view (overinvestment) predicts that if managers over-invest in CSR to cover up their misconduct, then CSR is related to slower adjustments. Our findings strongly support the first view. We further find that the positive effect of CSR on SOA is more pronounced for firms with high information asymmetry, high financial constraints, and high adjustment costs. Taken together, this study generates important insight that CSR can reduce the costs of adjustments stemming from information asymmetry, thereby leading to faster SOA.

Corporate Social Responsibility Motive Attribution by Service Employees in the Parcel Logistics Industry as a Moderator between CSR Perception and Organizational Effectiveness

With sustainability and corporate social responsibility (CSR) emerging as urgent issues in the logistics service industry, the effects of CSR on employee work behavior is receiving increasing attention. This study explores this issue by considering intrinsic and extrinsic CSR motive attributions as moderating variables between CSR perception and organizational commitment and organizational citizenship behavior. The results of a cross-sectional survey and hierarchical regression analyses of 241 survey responses from parcel delivery logistics employees indicate that their perception of CSR strongly enhances their organizational commitment and organizational citizenship behavior. This study also presents evidence that the positive effect of CSR on organizational commitment is weakened when employees attribute CSR practices to intrinsic motives. This study provides guidance for managers in the logistics sector and for academics who wish to address sustainability and CSR issues and to enhance employees’ organizational commitment.

Corporate social responsibility: Findings from the Chinese hospitality industry

The study investigates the impact of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on consumers’ attitudinal and behavioral responses, factors closely related to a firm's social and economic performance, using data from 451 customers of three hotels. We also test the universality of such impact across various consumer groups. Results show that CSR positively affects perceived corporate reputation and customer satisfaction, which in turn, significantly affect customer commitment and behavioral responses (i.e., loyalty intentions and word-of-mouth). Perhaps more importantly, the role of CSR is not universal across consumer groups. Particularly, consumer income seems to moderate the relationship between CSR and perceived reputation. Specifically, the positive effect of CSR on perceived corporate reputation is more salient among people with a higher income. Managerial implications are discussed.

The Impact of Corporate Communication on Company Evaluation: Examining the Message Effects of CSR, Corporate Ability, and Hybrid Strategies

ABSTRACTThis experiment examines how three corporate communication strategies (i.e., corporate ability (CA) strategy, corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategy, and hybrid strategy) positively affect consumers’ evaluation of a company. It also tests whether consumers’ involvement with the company’s products moderates these effects. Additionally, in the context of hybrid strategy, the order effect of receiving CA and CSR messages is discussed. Results of the experiment support the value of all three strategies in cultivating positive company evaluation. Findings pertaining to hybrid strategy scenarios generally show that a single CSR message performs as well as hybrid strategies because of the transferring effect of CSR. In addition, CSR was found to have an additive effect on CA when CA is the first message. However, the positive effect of CSR is discounted when CSR is the first message. Meanwhile, the moderating effect of product involvement is not supported. This study contributes to current strategic communication scholarship on corporate communication through proposing and empirically testing an interdisciplinary model that articulates the contingent relationship of corporate messages to consumer reactions. Its findings can aid in future theory building efforts and assist strategic communication professionals in determining the types of corporate communication messages, as well as the order in which they are presented, that will have an impact on consumers’ perceptions.

Corporate Social Responsibility

This research builds on the halo effect of corporate social responsibility (CSR) literature in marketing to provide insight into the positive effect of CSR in a service encounter. Using a company’s green practices as CSR, this research examines how customers’ perceptions of CSR might spill over into their evaluations of the company and behavioral intentions in a service recovery context. The results, from 418 participants of the scenario-based role-playing experiment, indicate that CSR and service recovery have a significant effect on customer satisfaction, trust, word-of-mouth recommendations, and repeat patronage intentions in a casual-dining restaurant setting. Also, an interaction effect suggests that the CSR effect is more pronounced in a positive service recovery compared to a negative service recovery. The findings of this research provide researchers and practitioners with a better understanding of CSR and the positive influence it has on customer responses in a service encounter.

Corporate social responsibility and corporate cash holdings

We identify three channels and the corresponding mechanisms through which corporate social responsibility (CSR) may affect corporate cash holdings. CSR firms are expected to have relatively low cash holdings because they tend to have low idiosyncratic risk due to their higher social capital with stakeholders. CSR firms also tend to have low systematic risk due to greater loyalty from CSR investors and/or customers. Lower systematic risk may increase or decrease cash holdings. Although low systematic risk induces firms to reduce their cash holdings, it also induces firms to hold a short debt maturity structure, with higher refinancing risks that higher cash holdings may mitigate. The agency view of CSR argues that entrenched managers in a firm with strong corporate governance may use CSR activities to collude with stakeholders in order to get higher managerial discretion (including cash) to extract private benefits. However, the corporate governance role of CSR implies that CSR is also effective in reducing the agency problems associated with the cash holdings decision. Using 2364 firms with 14,206 firm-year observations over the period 1991–2011, we establish that the positive effect of CSR on cash holdings via the systematic risk channel is robust, while the effects of CSR via the other two channels are not. Our findings are robust to different estimation methods and alternative measures of cash holdings, CSR, risks and corporate governance.

Interactive effects of corporate social responsibility and other value-creating investments on corporate financial performance

Research on the financial benefits of corporate social responsibility (CSR) has proliferated in recent years but generated mixed results. Rather than asking if CSR helps or hinders firm performance, it might be more worthwhile to explore conditions impacting relations between CSR and firm performance. That is, given the potential trade-offs between investments in CSR and those in other value-creating activities, it is necessary to examine their interactive impacts on corporate financial performance (CFP). Toward this end, this study explores if, and how, investments in innovation capabilities, branding capabilities and managerial capabilities moderate the effect of CSR on CFP. Testing the hypotheses with a sample of 579 US firms from 1991 to 2010, we found that the positive effect of CSR on CFP is weaker in firms that are more innovative and better at branding, and stronger in firms that spend more on acquiring managerial capabilities.