Socio-emotional wealth and corporate responses to environmental hostility: Are family firms more stakeholder oriented?

Do family firms care more for different stakeholders than nonfamily firms when operating in a hostile business environment? This study addresses this question and fills the existing void in family business research. It shows that family-controlled firms adopt corporate social responsibility strategies and balance the demands of internal and external interest groups to preserve their socio-emotional wealth while facing fierce competition, resource scarcity, and penurious economic conditions. More specifically, our analysis of an international sample of 956 listed firms from 2006 to 2014 reveals that family firms show a higher level of corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance and better stakeholder orientation than nonfamily firms. Our findings are useful for managers, policymakers, and responsible investors.     

How Corporate Social Responsibility Engagement Strategy Moderates the CSR–Financial Performance Relationship

We propose that firm profits are shaped by how firms engage in corporate social responsibility. Recent research on the corporate social responsibility (CSR)–corporate financial performance (CFP) relationship proposes a variety of contextual and organizational factors to create a more robust link. However, few of these studies explore the role of the CSR engagement strategy. Drawing on absorptive capacity theory and related perspectives such as time compression diseconomies, asset mass efficiencies, and path dependence theory, we argue that when a firm engages in CSR slowly and consistently, focuses on related CSR dimensions, and starts with internal dimensions of CSR, CFP will be enhanced. With longitudinal data collected from 130 firms from 1995 to 2007, we find that firms benefit more when they adopt a CSR engagement strategy that is consistent, involves related dimensions of CSR, and begins with aspects of CSR that are more internal to the firm. The pace of the CSR engagement strategy, however, does not moderate the CSR–CFP relationship. This study helps fill the gap in CSR research by showing that, regardless of contextual factors, a firm can choose the proper strategy to enhance the financial benefits of the CSR engagement.     

Playing on Two Chessboards: Reputation Effects between Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Corporate Political Activity (CPA)

It has recently been argued that corporate social responsibility (CSR) is ‘political’. It has been neglected however, that firms also operate politically in a traditional sense, in seeking to secure favourable political conditions for their businesses. We argue that there are potential synergies between CSR and corporate political activity (CPA) that are often overlooked by firms and that recognition of these synergies will stimulate firms to align their CSR and CPA. We develop a conceptual model that specifies how various configurations of a firm's CSR and CPA – alignment, misalignment, and non‐alignment – affect the firm's reputation beyond the separate reputation effects of CSR and CPA. This model has important implications for understanding how and why firms should pay attention to their CPA and CSR configurations, and thereby contributes to the broader issue of why firms should make sure that they are consistent in terms of responding to stakeholder concerns.     

社会责任与企业价值创造机理:一个研究框架

目前对企业承担社会责任的经济后果还没有取得一致的结论,在社会责任对企业价值创造的具体影响机理、程度和计量方式等企业关心的重要问题上还缺乏系统的研究。通过构建社会责任对企业价值创造影响的社会责任、信誉资本与企业价值创造的规范性分析框架模型,可以揭示企业承担社会责任对企业长期价值影响的方向、影响机理和影响程度等亟待探索的关键问题。本文提出了社会责任与企业价值研究领域的研究内容与分析方法,为进一步研究社会责任与企业价值的内生决定关系提供了全新分析框架。     

Board internationalization and corporate social responsibility

This study examines the association between board internationalization and firms’ corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance in China during 2009–2019. Using a large dataset of director nationalities and CSR scores, we find that foreign directors promote CSR performance as evidenced by higher CSR scores. We further document that this relationship is more pronounced among government-controlled firms, firms with better corporate governance, and firms operating under stricter institutional environments. These findings remain valid after sequential robustness checks. Overall, our findings imply that foreign directors motivate the board of directors and their firms to actively pursue and practice social responsibility. Our study enriches the literature on the outcomes of board internationalization and determinants of CSR and provides the internationalization of corporate governance mechanisms a reasonable basis.     

企业社会责任报告评价体系的初步研究

目前国外对企业社会责任报告的评价模式有两个理论基础:利益相关者理论和可持续发展理论。前者着眼于企业的不同利益相关者对信息的需求,从外部对企业的社会责任报告进行评价;后者则着眼于企业战略,从企业可持续发展的角度评价企业社会责任报告,是从内部进行评价的模式。与此对应的具有代表性的两个国际标准是AA1000与G3。对比分析发现,这两种模式和两个标准各自都存在着优缺点。结合我国的实际状况,我们构建了企业社会责任报告的3R评价体系。该体系的建立将有助于我国企业社会责任报告准则的建立,并为企业社会责任信息质量的实证研究提供可行的框架。     

Corporate Social Responsibility in China: a Preferential Stakeholder Model and Effects

Research interest in examining corporate social responsibility (CSR) in developing economies is on the rise; however, our knowledge of the role of government in CSR remains limited. The aim of this paper is therefore to bridge this gap with an investigation into the specific CSR strategies that global firms have developed in the world's largest emerging economy and a nominally communist country, namely China. Drawing on institutional theory and a relational governance perspective, we posit that rather than adopting a canonical holistic CSR stakeholder model as typically observed in Western countries, these firms adopt a preferential stakeholder model using government‐aimed and consumer‐aimed CSR strategically. Our empirical study sampled 17 global retailers operating in China, with a dataset compiled to include their CSR web announcement data and firm performance data. The results of partial least squares modelling suggest that only government‐aimed CSR plays a salient role in enhancing retailers' performance. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment     

Components of CEO Transformational Leadership and Corporate Social Responsibility*

abstract We use transformational leadership theory to explore the role of CEOs in determining the extent to which their firms engage in corporate social responsibility (CSR). We test this theory using data from 56 US and Canadian firms. CEO intellectual stimulation (but not CEO charismatic leadership) is found to be significantly associated with the propensity of the firm to engage in ‘strategic’ CSR, or those CSR activities that are most likely to be related to the firm's corporate and business‐level strategies. Thus, studies that ignore the role of leadership in CSR may yield imprecise conclusions regarding the antecedents and consequences of these activities. We also critique transformational leadership theory, in terms of its overemphasis on charismatic forms of leadership. This leads to a reconceptualization of transformational leadership, which emphasizes the intellectual stimulation component in the context of CSR.     

The Financial Effects of Uniform and Mixed Corporate Social Performance

Firms typically present a mixed picture of corporate social performance (CSP), with positive and negative indicators exhibited by the same firm. Thus, stakeholders' judgments of corporate social responsibility (CSR) typically evaluate positives in the context of negatives, and vice versa. Building on social judgment theory, we present two alternative accounts of how stakeholders respond to such complexity, which provide differing implications for the financial effects of CSP: reciprocal dampening and rewarding uniformity. Echoing notable findings on strategic consistency, our US panel study finds that firms that exhibit uniformly positive or uniformly negative indicators in particular dimensions of CSP outperform firms that exhibit a mixed picture of positives and negatives, which supports the notion that stakeholders' judgments of CSR reward uniformity.     

Corporate social responsibility and public procurement: How supplying government affects managerial orientations

How does government drive the corporate social responsibility of firms that supply it with goods and services? This paper reviews relevant theory and practice to describe ways in which public procurement shapes corporate social responsibility, and it builds upon theory to develop testable propositions to describe these influences. Using the case of U.S. defense procurement, statistical analysis indicates a significant relationship between the extent to which firms engage in defense procurement and the corporate social responsibility orientations of their managers. The findings have application both for social responsibility theory and for public procurement policy and practice.     

What drives firms' commitment to fighting corruption? Evidence from the UK

The recent leak of the FinCEN files has highlighted the widespread presence of corruption in developing and developed economies, including the UK. Accordingly, this study aims to investigate the factors that drive companies to implement measures for preventing corruption in developed countries using FTSE 350 nonfinancial firms. Specifically, the research examines the influence of corporate social responsibility (CSR) commitments, board structure, and shareholding structure on adopting strategies, policies, and procedures aimed at countering corruption. Drawing upon agency, stakeholder, and legitimacy theories, our empirical evidence supports that CSR commitments and board independence positively influence firms' engagement in anticorruption measures. Conversely, institutional and managerial shareholdings are found to have a negative association with firms' efforts to combat corruption. In addition, the study shows that the effect of board characteristics became more pronounced following the enactment of the UK Bribery Act 2010, indicating risk-averse behavior. Various models, including cross-sectional and two-stage least squares (2SLS), are employed to analyze the data. Our findings have significant implications for understanding the complex relationship between CSR, corporate governance, and the ethical infrastructure of organizations. Ultimately, our results provide valuable insights for policymakers, companies, and other stakeholders in developing effective strategies, policies, and procedures to combat corruption activities.     

推进企业社会责任的路径探析

企业社会责任运动(CSR运动)是20世纪二三十年代在西方发达国家掀起,八九十年代推进至全球。从"企业社会责任"问题和原因入手,分析和研究了提升企业社会责任的路径,探讨完善企业社会责任问题理论体系,以有助于企业建立企业社会责任。     

An Empirical Analysis of the Strategic Use of Corporate Social Responsibility

Recent theories of the strategic use of corporate social responsibility (CSR) emphasize the role of information asymmetry and how CSR is likely to be incorporated into a firm's product differentiation strategy. A key empirical implication of these theories is that firms selling experience or credence goods are more likely to be socially responsible than firms selling search goods. Using firm-level data, we report evidence that is consistent with this hypothesis.     

基于多层面的企业社会责任行动实施动因的研究

企业是一个多层面系统，不同的因素会对其行为产生不同的影响，认识这些因素对于理解企业行动原因有一定帮助。基于此，文章从宏观环境、企业组织和管理者三个层面上分析了影响企业社会责任行动的因素。认为在这些影响因素共同作用下，企业开展社会责任行动存在不同的动因，并表现出不同的行动类型，这将有助于更好地理解该行动的实际意义。     

How Do Strengths and Weaknesses in Corporate Social Performance Across Different Stakeholder Domains Affect Company Performance?

The existing research on corporate social responsibility (CSR) has largely focused on the positive aspect of corporate social performance (CSP) and company performance (CP) and ignored the relationship between actions that would qualify as negative CSP (or weakness in CSP) towards a stakeholder group and company performance. Using data from the KLD collected over a three‐year period, this study examines the relationship between both CSP weaknesses and strengths and CP across individual stakeholder domains. Results of the study suggest that strengths in CSP related to primary stakeholder domains are associated with superior company performance. However, this relationship is tenuous, at best, in the case of the secondary stakeholder domain. As for weaknesses in CSP, the results suggest that if a firm performs poorly in meeting the expectations of one or more stakeholders it is penalized in the form of poor performance. This finding generally holds true for both primary and secondary stakeholders. Implications of these findings for public policy and businesses planning to address social issues are discussed. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment     

Stakeholder Governance for Responsible Innovation: A Theory of Value Creation,Appropriation, and Distribution

In the face of intractable societal grand challenges, organizations increasingly resort to responsible innovation – that is, they pledge to create value for multiple stakeholders through developing new products or services that avoid doing harm and improve conditions for people and the planet. While the link between responsible innovation and societal improvements has been established, organizations pursuing responsible innovation lack governance mechanisms to guide the allocation of the value created – both economic and social – among heterogeneous stakeholders, in line with their responsible intent. We combine the value-based strategy and stakeholder perspectives and infuse a deliberative process to design a three-stage model of value allocation that rests on three key organizational decisions: i) what value to create and for whom, ii) how to appropriate the value created vis-à-vis unintended value appropriators, and iii) how to distribute the value appropriated among intended stakeholders. We propose a framework of stakeholder governance comprised of four novel mechanisms by which organizations can allocate value among their multiple principal stakeholders as part of participative processes. Our study contributes to responsible innovation and corporate governance research by unpacking how new value is managed to solve societal grand challenges.     

Strategic stakeholder management,environmental corporate social responsibility engagement,and financial performance of stigmatized firms derived from Chinese special environmental policy

We draw upon the stigma literature and strategic stakeholder management model to develop a framework capable of explaining the link between environmental corporate social responsibility (ECSR) engagement and financial performance of stigmatized firms, taking stakeholder‐oriented governance and density of local stigmatized firms into consideration. Using a uniquely compiled dataset of Chinese firms specifically monitored by the Ministry of Environmental Protection of China, we conducted propensity score matching analysis to estimate the impact of stigma on corporate financial performance and corporate environmental responsibility. The result shows that the financial performance of stigmatized firms is negatively affected by the stigma label, spurring them to engage in more ECSR than their peers to improve their legitimacy. Though ECSR engagement of stigmatized firms is found to be negatively associated with their financial performance in current study. Our results also confirm that (a) the financial performance of stigmatized firms is positively affected by two proxies for corporate stakeholder‐oriented governance (i.e., institutional ownership and corporate transparency) and negatively affected by the density of local stigmatized firms; (b) corporate stakeholder‐oriented governance compensates for the negative effect of ECSR engagement; (c) high intensity of local stigmatized firms provides focal firms with an opportunity to improve their financial performance through ECSR engagement; and (d) the positive effects of corporate stakeholder‐oriented governance are diminished by the density of local stigmatized firms.     

Cross-national differences in stakeholder management: Applying institutional theory and comparative capitalism framework

Drawing upon the research in institutional theory and comparative capitalism, the present study investigates how cross-national differences in the political, business, and economic institutional contexts of the United States, Italy, and Japan are associated with the ways in which companies in each of these countries prioritize and engage in their stakeholder engagement activities (SEAs). Using Porter and Kramer's framework, which classifies corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities as falling into four categories (good citizenship, mitigating harm from value chain, transforming value chain activities, and strategic philanthropy), we investigate how companies in the United States, Japan, and Italy prioritize and engage in these four SEAs. An analysis of data collected from 340 companies across these countries reveals that while companies in each of these three countries undertake the four types of SEAs, the prioritization and prevalence of the four types of SEAs vary from one country to the other, in ways that align with the prevailing institutional contexts of each country. The results contribute to a more nuanced understanding of why and how companies' approaches to CSR differ across countries. From a practitioner's perspective, the findings highlight the cultural specificity of CSR, implying that despite the global nature of CSR, the implementation of CSR needs to be tailored to a country's context.     

Reputation and Corporate Social Responsibility Aberrations,Trends, and Hypocrisy: Reactions to Firm Choices in the Stock Option Backdating Scandal

Drawing on strategic corporate social responsibility (CSR) and reputation theory, this paper examines the market reaction to firm disclosures of involvement in the US stock option backdating scandal. We examine how a firm's prior signals regarding ethical behaviour and values, as demonstrated through CSR initiatives, may both ameliorate and exacerbate market reactions. CSR initiatives may buffer a firm against general wrong‐doing but expose it to greater scrutiny and sanction for related wrong‐doing. Our results show that firms with enhanced overall reputations for CSR are partially buffered from scandal revelations. However, we find that when firms possess an enhanced reputation for CSR associated with corporate governance, violations pertaining specifically to governance are viewed as hypocritical and more harshly sanctioned. We also find lower and negative market reactions for firms that delay but self‐disclose their involvement in the scandal. The study extends the emergent, related literatures on strategic CSR and reputation management, and documents dynamics in the relationship between corporate social and financial performance.     

Corporate performance patterns of Canadian listed firms: Balancing financial and corporate social responsibility outcomes

Based on stakeholder theory and considering the conflicting performance interests of a wide range of stakeholders, this research investigates corporate performance patterns using a cluster analysis of financial, social, and environmental performance dimensions. An analysis of a Canadian sample of 771 company-year observations for the period 2014–2018 reveals three types of corporate performance: financially focused performance, balanced performance, and corporate social responsibility (CSR)-focused performance. Firms in the largest cluster, financially focused performance, deliver poor sustainable performance and prioritize financial performance over social and environmental performance. The CSR-focused performance cluster scores low for financial performance and high for environmental and social performance. The balanced-performance cluster also has higher levels of sustainable performance but is the smallest cluster, accounting for a quarter of the sample. Overall, this study presents a portrait of corporate performance balancing financial and CSR objectives and the evolution of this activity over the research period.