Corporate Social Responsibility Strategies Research Articles

Corporate Social Responsibility Strategy: Resource Conservation or Relationship Preservation?

Corporate Social Responsibility Strategy: Resource Conservation or Relationship Preservation?

Corporate social responsibility, business strategy and governance performance

PurposeThis study aims to examine the effect of corporate social responsibility (CSR) adoption on differentiation and cost leadership strategies and how governance structure moderates this CSR–strategy relationship.Design/methodology/approachThe study data were retrieved from Thomson Reuters for non-financial firms between 2013 and 2019, and a fixed-effects panel regression analysis was executed.FindingsThe results indicate that CSR fosters cost leadership strategy but weakens differentiation strategy. This result supports the value generation school for cost leaders but also confirms the agency theory perspective for differentiators. Moreover, the governance structure does not moderate the relationship between a firm's CSR engagement and its business strategy, which implies a lack of corporate policies that concurrently consider both its CSR investment and strategies.Research limitations/implicationsThe findings of this study imply that cost leaders can integrate CSR practices into their business strategy and use their CSR engagement to increase their competitive position by stimulating cost efficiency and creating greater turnover. On the contrary, for differentiators, there is a trade-off between environmental and social engagement and business strategies. Thus, they are advised to enrich their unique product development abilities through the integration of environmental and social practices and reinforce their competitive position by addressing stakeholders' interests. The practical implication of the moderation analysis is that there is no rooted corporate policy behind the connection between CSR and firm strategy for both cost leaders and differentiators, which constitutes a missing link.Originality/valueThe findings of this study are of critical importance for firms, offering justification for the integration of two vital perspectives: social and environmental sustainability and financial sustainability. The moderating effect of governance performance tests the upper echelon's role in maintaining both sustainability perspectives concurrently and strengthening the legitimacy of the firms in society. Although maintaining a business strategy is important for shareholders' interests, pursuing a social and environmental sustainability strategy is crucial for meeting the expectations of all stakeholders.

Luxury brands and corporate social responsibility (CSR): exploring the differences between traditional and new luxury

Purpose This study aims to comprehend luxury brands' corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategies. In addition to facing a demand for new CSR strategies (consumer-centric CSR), changes in CSR discourse among luxury brands are observed. This study examines how CSR-related and luxury-related agendas relate in the news media, especially concerning the difference between traditional and new luxury brands.Design/methodology/approach A total of 117,171 fashion-related news articles were collected from January 2016 to December 2020. The word2vec method was used to determine the relationship between CSR and luxury agendas.FindingsThe results indicate that company-centric CSR is more prominent with traditional luxury brands, while consumer-centric CSR is more relevant for new luxury brands. In addition, specific CSR attributes and luxury-related attributes are associated with media discourse, which means that CSR and luxury are compatible.Originality/valueStudies on CSR in the luxury industry are not extensive in the literature. This study addresses this gap through a unique framework that combines agenda-setting theory and existing CSR literature and applies them to the luxury industry. Specifically, this study captures the development of each construct (company-centric CSR to consumer-centric CSR and traditional luxury to new luxury) and identifies the specific relationships between them. This result provides a novel view of the luxury industry indicating that it has evolved to encompass CSR-related values. The empirical results also offer practical implications for luxury marketing.

Valuation Implications of Mandatory CSR Expenditure in India

We examine the value‐relevance of corporate social responsibility (CSR) expenditure utilizing the Indian setting of mandatory CSR spending regulation which commenced in 2014. India is the only country where regulators mandate both CSR reporting and spending. Our interest is in two types of firms that meet the minimum specified thresholds: firms that voluntarily made CSR expenditures pre‐regulation (voluntary spenders) and firms that did not (forced spenders). This separation in revealed preference allows researchers and investors to observe, at least on average, a firm's true CSR strategy type (proactive/leader versus reactive/follower) through their pre‐regulation expenditure strategy. This unique quasi‐experimental setting allows us to investigate whether CSR spending is positively associated with shareholders’ value, both when spending was voluntary pre‐regulation (for voluntary spenders) and after it became mandatory post‐regulation (for voluntary and forced spenders). We find that for voluntary spenders, the markets assess CSR expenditure as valuation‐enhancing pre‐regulation, but post‐regulation the valuation benefits are significantly weakened. The market's assessment is that a forced spender's (imposed) CSR expenditure is, on average, less valuable than that of voluntary spenders, consistent with such spending being viewed as a form of corporate taxation. Further, we find that shortfalls from the required spending amount are penalized by the market for voluntary spenders but rewarded for forced spenders. We also find that advertising appears to play an important communication role both pre‐ and post‐regulation. We view the results as being consistent with the notion that mandated expenditures are viewed differently than those made voluntarily.

A new insight on CEO characteristics and corporate social responsibility (CSR): A meta-analytical review

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has emerged as a strategic tool reflecting a competitive edge among firms. In addition, understanding CSR would be accomplished to a greater extent by exploring its micro-foundation. In this context, meta-analysis is carried out utilizing 54 empirical studies to explain the relationship between CEO characteristics and CSR practices. The present study uses a meta-analytical path model to observe the interaction effect among CEO characteristics and the meta-regression model to examine the moderation effect of firm characteristics. The bivariate meta-analysis and path analysis results revealed that CEO compensation, demographic, and personality constructs are consistent with the agency, upper echelon, and socio-cognitive theories, respectively. The findings also reflected the moderating effect of firm characteristics on the relationship between CEO characteristics and CSR. The findings will assist the policymakers in formulating CSR strategy, assuring the upliftment of CSR activities leading to the accomplishment of sustainable development goals (SDGs) 2030.

Social Responsibility of Construction Company as Strategy for Sustainability in Island Territories

In the last years, the increase in urbanization and the volume of construction has accelerated. This situation requires systematizing the use of limited resources, especially in island territories. The construction sector contributes to the depletion of these resources and has a significant impact on society, which is why it is necessary to change its strategy and decision-making. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) may be the strategy to develop a socio-environmentally responsible production model that replaces the traditional model. A socially responsible construction company closes the cycles of construction materials, gives value to the waste generated, minimizes the impact that buildings have on the environment, makes responsible use of energy and water, uses innovations to improve the process and adequately manages its human resources. The aim of this work is to analyze the socially responsible behavior of companies in the construction sector in a limited and fragmented territory as is the province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife and to compare the importance that companies give to actions (environmental, social and economic) of CSR depending on whether they have been implemented or there are plans to implement them in the future. Quantitative and qualitative tools are used. The results indicate that aspects related to environmental sensitivity and social contribution contribute to a greater extent to the implementation of a CSR strategy, while economic aspects have a negative influence. In the case of companies that plan to implement a CSR strategy in the future, the aspect related to social contribution is the most influential.

A Corpus-Based Study on the Identity Discourse of Chinese and American New Energy Vehicle Companies

This paper uses the 2020-2021 social responsibility reports and influence reports of BYD and Tesla respectively, two leading companies in the world’s electric vehicle production field, which rank among the world’s top 500 companies, as data. Starting from the identity of social constructivism, combined with the discourse-historical approach, and with the help of the corpus tool Wmatrix, the corporate responsibility reports and impacts of Chinese and American new energy vehicle companies are compared from the three dimensions of macro themes, meso communication strategies and micro language characteristics. Individuality and commonality in the construction of identity discourse in power reports. The study found that Chinese companies highlight themes such as industry rankings, development history, fairness and justice; they focus on corporate capability communication strategies, use quantitative markers and advanced adjectives to highlight the company’s strong strength, and actively construct industry leaders; while American companies emphasize employee care, global vision and sustainable development concepts, tend to communicate corporate social responsibility strategies, and use active verbs to present specific corporate activities and construct the identity of social contributors. This study has reference value for improving the ability of Chinese enterprises to construct international discourse.

Overseas Investment, Corporate Social Responsibility and Market Value: Based on the Host Country Heterogeneity Perspective

ABSTRACT Based on the quasi-experimental method of Difference in Difference with Propensity Score Matching (PSM-DID), this paper analyzed the relationship between overseas investment, host country characteristics, and corporate social responsibility (CSR) with the sample of Chinese A-share listed companies. We find that: (1) overseas investment strategies can improve the CSR performance. (2) the effect of corporate overseas investment on CSR is more pronounced for the host country located in Asia, or with more complete legal and economic systems and closer cultural backgrounds. (3) overseas investment can reduce the negative impact of the disadvantages of outsiders on the enterprise value by better fulfilling their employees and social responsibilities, thus helping enterprises to enhance the market value. The findings suggest that overseas investment enterprises implement differentiated CSR strategies to unleash development vitality and create market value.

Consumer perceptions of price increase by CSR: Focusing on construal level and consumer attribution

Product price increases caused by Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities can stifle sales. In this study, we investigate consumers’ perceptions of prices raised by CSR and ways to improve negative consumer viewpoints. This study presents consumers’ construal level and internal attribution as key variables. As a result of Study 1 applying 2 (price level) x 2 (construal level) between-subjects analysis, consumers with activated high-level construal perceived product price as a benefit derived from CSR, whereas those with activated low-level construal perceived product price as a cost. As a result of Study 2 examining the influence of intrinsic attribution, the negative effect of product price was mitigated when consumers’ intrinsic attribution was activated. Consumers with intrinsic attribution perceived product price as benefits of CSR regardless of their construal level. The results of this study are expected to provide important guidelines regarding the success of corporate CSR strategies. Finally, we propose the related academic and practical implications.

The curvilinear relationship between corporate social responsibility and competitive advantage: Empirical evidence from China

AbstractThe positive or negative impacts corporate social responsibility (CSR) may have on business performance have drawn research interest. In recent years, the focus of research has shifted toward the link between CSR and corporate competitive advantage. Corporate competitive advantage is a multifaceted and holistic concept that captures more than just corporate financial performance. Building on the resource‐based view (RBV), corporate competitive advantage construct theory, and CSR behavior theory, we explore how a firm's CSR engagement shapes its corporate competitive advantage. Our analysis of a panel dataset of 64 companies with a top‐100 CSR development index in China and 704 firm‐year observations over the sample period from 2009 to 2019 reveals an inverse U‐shaped relationship between CSR and corporate competitive advantage. This signifies that corporate competitive advantage first increases with CSR engagement but declines as it reaches a threshold level where CSR activities are beyond the affordability of the firm. We also examine how behaviors at various CSR engagement levels influence different dimensions of corporate competitive advantage. These results support a curvilinear relationship, explaining why many CSR strategies have been ineffective in the past. The findings may help guide corporate decisions and government policymaking on CSR.

Can CSR strategy mediate conflict over extraction? Evidence from two mines in Peru

We argue that corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategies can shape political contexts to mediate or exacerbate the resource curse. Using a relational pragmatic approach—one that recognizes actors are dynamic and focuses on the interactions that shape how they see their interests—we develop expectations about two ideal type CSR strategies: transformational and transactional and their relational implications. We demonstrate the usefulness of this approach through the examination of two mines in Peru. Drawing on fieldwork conducted in 2017 and 2018 and secondary research, we show how one mine’s transformational strategy connected the company to common, or public, concerns in ways that rearticulated politics to dampen curse dynamics. The second mine’s transactional strategy narrowed its local engagement in ways that reduced its influence and played into curse dynamics. This research illustrates both the value of pragmatic approaches for integrating CSR into governance and the way in which CSR strategies can help mitigate the resource curse.

Intelligent automation implementation and corporate sustainability performance: The enabling role of corporate social responsibility strategy

Although Intelligent Automation (IA) represents the future of business automation, the organizational implementation and sustainability performance of this emerging technological innovation is vastly understudied. Understanding the implications of IA for sustainability is critical since leveraging these technologies shapes operations and policies that can promote sustainable digitalization and automation practices. We study how firms' technological, organizational, environmental, and human resource contexts impact IA implementation. The study further explains how IA may associate with the firm's triple bottom line while accounting for the moderating role of corporate social responsibility strategy. The study surveyed 207 multinational firms in 2022 and used partial least square-structural equation modeling to test the hypothesized relationships. Results showed that IA implementation is mainly determined by the characteristics of the firm's internal environment, such as absorptive capacity, employee socio-behavioral concerns, and social capital competency. IA may offer valuable opportunities for boosting the firm's economic and environmental sustainability performance. Nonetheless, IA is a double-edged sword for social sustainability, harming social values in implementing firms with informal corporate social sustainability strategies. Conversely, firms with formal corporate social sustainability strategy have a significantly higher opportunity to transform the value of IA into social sustainability performance. Findings are expected to assist managers and decision-makers with streamlining an impartial and sustainable transition of organizations toward automation.

CEO behavior and CSR engagement: the moderating role of bank risk-taking

PurposeThe main purpose of this paper is to look at the link between chief executive officer (CEO) behavior and corporate social responsibility (CSR) engagement with the moderating role of bank risk-taking behavior.Design/methodology/approachBased on a 13-year data set (2007–2019), the authors applied the feasible generalized least squares with panel data to test the hypotheses.FindingsThe findings reveal a positive and significant link between CEO behavior and CSR engagement. Based on these findings, it can be argued that the characteristics of the CEO of the banks would improve the CSR strategies. Furthermore, the study suggests a moderating effect of bank risk-taking in the link between psychological bias and corporate social responsibility engagement (CSR engagement).Practical implicationsAs CEO behavioral characteristics are essential to understanding CSR practice, boards of directors should consider the behavioral traits of dominant and overconfident CEOs while designing CSR practices.Social implicationsIf the bank behaves in a socially responsible manner, direct and indirect stakeholders may be able to evaluate the level of risk-taking in more detail.Originality/valueThis research highlights the importance of CEO behavior characteristics for CSR, which is a crucial application that supports the upper echelons theory; and fills a gap in literature research. It is one of the few studies examining the interaction between risk-taking, CEO behavior and CSR engagement.

Examining the effects of CSR on organizational attractiveness: perception study of job seekers in India

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to study the effect of corporate social responsibility (CSR) effectiveness on job seekers’ organizational attractiveness (JSA). Deriving inspiration from Carroll’s theory, the study specifically tries to measure the impact of CSR on JSA with the four dimensions pertaining to economics (PECO), pertaining to legal compliance (PLCO), pertaining to ethics (PETH) and pertaining to philanthropic (PPH). Furthermore, the paper also tries to examine the moderating role of company selection (COM SEL) done based on high or low CSR reputation and JSA.Design/methodology/approachManagement and engineering students enrolled in premier institutions and universities of Western Odisha in India are surveyed for their perceptions of CSR and JSA. Purposive and convenience sampling are applied to collect data from 456 job seekers. Based on the analysis, the study proposes two main models (Models 1 and 2) wherein Model 1 tries to measure the effect of CSR on JSA and Model 2 checks the moderating effect of COM SEL on CSR and JSA. In addition, robustness of the study is tested using control variables (Models 3 and 4). Data is treated through SmartPLS 3.3 software. The structural equation modelling (partial least squares-SEM) method is applied to test the hypotheses and for further analysis.FindingsThe result reveals an interesting insight. There is a positive and significant effect of PECO, PLCO and PPH on JSA. Moreover, no such significant effect is observed between PETH and JSA. Further, the findings are contrary with respect to COM SEL, that partially moderates the effect of CSR on JSA. However, the results reveal that COM SEL has a substantial moderating effect on the PPH dimension of CSR and JSA.Practical implicationsThe results highlight that CSR positively and significantly affects JSA in terms of PECO, PLCO and PPH, thereby emphasizing that organizations must be more focused on these perspectives of CSR. Further, though the results did not exhibit any significance with PETH, it is essential that organizations should strengthen the ethical aspects of CSR as well and align them with the CSR strategic actions. The study also confirms the moderating effect of COM SEL on PPH dimension of CSR and JSA, thereby supporting the philanthropic approach in this domain. Further, the organizations should foresee the philanthropic factor of CSR as a competitive advantage to attract potential job seekers.Originality/valueThis research attempts to contribute to CSR and HR literature in two ways. First, it is the first attempt to use PLS-SEM with an attempt to understand job seekers’ perception of CSR and JSA with Indian data consisting of students belonging to premier business management and engineering institutes. Second, the study is an attempt to empirically measure the moderating effect of COM SEL on JSA. To sum up, the study will provide insights to organizations to help craft CSR strategies for attracting more job seekers.

Perceived corporate social responsibility and job satisfaction in grocery retail: A comparison between low- and high-productivity stores

The relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and job satisfaction is underexplored in the retail sector. We aim to fill this gap by unpacking these constructs to analyse their interrelationships. Moreover, conceptualising productivity as a contextual factor able to generate multiple stressors for retail employees, we compare the CSR-job satisfaction relationship between low- and high-productivity stores. We argue that CSR strategies effectively contribute to maintaining high job satisfaction in both retail contexts. Working on a sample of 708 grocery retail chain employees, we apply structural equation modelling and multigroup regressions to test our hypotheses. The results show that CSR positively influences job satisfaction. In detail, internal CSR benefits job satisfaction more than external CSR. CSR strategies effectively work to strengthen job satisfaction even in high-productivity stores. These findings contribute to the debate about the employees’ job satisfaction management in busyness and high-productive retail contexts.

Achieving sustainable business: The nexus between external sustainability assurance, CSR strategy and emission reduction

AbstractThis study investigates the relationship between firm's emissions reduction initiative and external assurance of sustainability performance, as well as the moderating effect of corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategy. The study uses a sample of non‐financial firms listed on the STOXX Europe 600 index from 2006 to 2021. The findings suggest that external assurance of sustainability has a positive and significant impact on a firm's emissions reduction initiative. Additionally, the study finds that CSR strategy positively moderates the relationship between firm's emissions reduction initiative and external assurance of sustainability. The study's results have implications for managers, regulators, and stakeholders, indicating that external auditing for sustainability can enhance a firm's legitimacy and reputation and that strong CSR strategies can enhance the effectiveness of environmental initiatives. Our results demonstrate resilience to various econometric methods, sub‐sample analyses, propensity score matching, and generalized method of moments (GMM).

CSR and stakeholder salience in MNE subsidiaries in emerging markets

The purpose of this study is to identify the key stakeholder groups pressuring multinational enterprises (MNEs) in emerging markets (EMs), also if the pressure is global or local, to develop corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategies. Drawing on stakeholder salience and institutional theories, all the stakeholder groups acknowledged and analysed in the literature were identified and examined to understand if they were perceived by MNEs in China as effective in pressuring them to engage in CSR strategies and activities. Results demonstrate that only stakeholder groups with power – government power or voting power – are perceived as having enough pressure to make MNEs’ Chinese subsidiaries engage in CSR, which is contrary to current theories. Our results allow us to theorise on an extension of the concept of utilitarian power and political power when analysing stakeholder salience in EMs. This research has important implications for managers as balancing and working with limited resources and correctly identifying and prioritising key stakeholders are vital to successfully improving performance.

Corporate social responsibility in China's airline industry: A longitudinal content analysis of related reports

As China has become the world's largest consumer market and leading exporter, researchers and practitioners urgently need to understand how corporate social responsibility (CSR) is socially constructed in the Chinese context, especially for international industries such as the airline sector. Building upon the triple bottom line model, this study offers a contextualized and dynamic understanding of Chinese airline CSR. Content analysis was performed to analyze 74 aggregate CSR reports (2007–2020) issued by different types of Chinese airlines. The findings reveal that in addition to the economic, social, and environmental responsibilities that are commonly seen in the West, Chinese airlines assume unique political responsibilities. This political dimension of CSR in China has become increasingly obvious in recent years. Driven by factors such as international pressure, industry competition, and more importantly, national policies, the focus of Chinese airline companies' CSR reporting has been changing over time. However, it has maintained a high level of content completeness over the years, and the social dimension of CSR has always been the aspect of greatest concern. This study contributes to the airline CSR literature by considering the particularity of airline companies and Chinese contextual factors and augmenting political CSR as a critical component of CSR in the Chinese context. Managerial implications are provided for international enterprises to cater more appropriately to the Chinese market and achieve cooperation with Chinese enterprises by implementing CSR strategies.

Corporate green innovation behaviour and investment efficiency: evidence from China

ABSTRACT Corporate green innovation has aroused attention from academics and practitioners in recent years, but the green innovation-investment decision nexus is less explored. Using Chinese-listed firms in the Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Exchange from 2007 to 2019 as a sample, our research finds that green innovation significantly improves investment efficiency by mitigating over-investment. This finding still holds after addressing endogeneity tests and conducting additional robustness checks. Channel analysis shows that research and development expenditure is an underlying mechanism. Further examinations reveal that green innovation’s influence is more significant in non-politically connected, low-financing-constrained firms and firms with many independent directors. Our paper offers new insights into the influence at firm-level of concrete corporate social responsibility strategies, and the green innovation-investment decision nexus, and presents important policy implications for sustainable development.

Effect of Green HRM & CSR Practices on Sustainable Performance: Mediating Role of Organizational Culture at Service Sector during Covid-19

In today’s world, corporate sustainability is a key part of a company’s vision and policy. It helps them gain a competitive edge by issuing sustainability reports based on various criteria and metrics. Therefore, the aim of this research was to examine how GHRM (Green Human Resource Management) & CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) practices affect sustainable performance in the service sector during covid-19 through Organizational Culture. The population of this study was individuals working on any hospital with a total sample of 550 employees. Quantitative Data was collected using questionnaire and SPSS and Smart PLS-SEM was used to analyze the results. The results of this study showed that GHRM and CSR practices had a significant positive effect on sustainable performance, results of this study were also showing organizational culture has a significant mediating impact in GHRM & CSR practices and sustainable performance. Therefore, it is suggested that organizations must implement CSR and GHRM strategies to protect the expertise of their employees. The recruitment and selection policies of an HR department should be based on the identification of the environmental knowledge of candidates. Training programmes for environmental protection must be established. This will assist workers to embrace green manufacturing methods that are designed to meet the needs of environmentally aware consumers.