The Causal Effect of Corporate Governance on Corporate Social Responsibility

In this article, we examine the empirical association between corporate governance (CG) and corporate social responsibility (CSR) engagement by investigating their causal effects. Employing a large and extensive US sample, we first find that while the lag of CSR does not affect CG variables, the lag of CG variables positively affects firms’ CSR engagement, after controlling for various firm characteristics. In addition, to examine the relative importance of stakeholder theory and agency theory regarding the associations among CSR, CG, and corporate financial performance (CFP), we also examine the relation between CSR and CFP. After correcting for endogeneity bias, our results show that CSR engagement positively influences CFP, supporting the conflict-resolution hypothesis based on stakeholder theory, but not the CSR overinvestment argument based on agency theory. Furthermore, firms’ CSR engagement with the community, environment, diversity, and employees plays a significantly positive role in enhancing CFP.     

Corporate Governance and Corporate Social Responsibility Disclosures: Evidence from an Emerging Economy

We examine the relationship between corporate governance and the extent of corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosures in the annual reports of Bangladeshi companies. A legitimacy theory framework is adopted to understand the extent to which corporate governance characteristics, such as managerial ownership, public ownership, foreign ownership, board independence, CEO duality and presence of audit committee influence organisational response to various stakeholder groups. Our results suggest that although CSR disclosures generally have a negative association with managerial ownership, such relationship becomes significant and positive for export-oriented industries. We also find public ownership, foreign ownership, board independence and presence of audit committee to have positive significant impacts on CSR disclosures. However, we fail to find any significant impact of CEO duality. Thus, our results suggest that pressures exerted by external stakeholder groups and corporate governance mechanisms involving independent outsiders may allay some concerns relating to family influence on CSR disclosure practices. Overall, our study implies that corporate governance attributes play a vital role in ensuring organisational legitimacy through CSR disclosures. The findings of our study should be of interest to regulators and policy makers in countries which share similar corporate ownership and regulatory structures.     

Corporate Social Responsibility

In the context of some criticism about social responsibility education in business schools, the paper reports findings from a survey of CSR education (teaching and research) in Europe. It analyses the extent of CSR education, the different ways in which it is defined and the levels at which it is taught. The paper provides an account of the efforts that are being made to mainstream CSR teaching and of the teaching methods deployed. It considers drivers of CSR courses, particularly the historical role of motivated individuals and the anticipation of future success being dependent on more institutional drivers. Finally it considers main developments in CSR research both by business school faculty and PhD students, tomorrows researchers and the resources devoted to CSR research. The conclusion includes questions that arise and further research directions.     

浅论公司社会责任的地位

公司社会责任理论的产生是对传统公司囿于其营利性所导致的弊端进行反思的结果。对于对公司社会责任是否应当就其整体赋予独立的法律地位,学理上有不同的观点。我国公司社会责任的地位主要应当体现在学理和道德层面,而不应概括的反映在公司法律中。此外,相对于公司的营利性目标,它应当是补充和辅助性的。     

企业社会责任风险管理研究

企业面临着越来越多来自利益相关的压力．分析了企业由于承担的社会责任不合理所导致的社会责任风险,介绍了企业进行社会责任风险管理的一般流程,希望通过本文引起对社会责任风险研究的重视。     

企业信用与企业社会责任

企业社会责任的内涵目前在国际社会没有达成共识,它是根据企业在社会中面临的突出问题及与社会、利益相关者的博弈而不断变化的。从企业基本性质和利益相关者角度分析,其基本内涵是经济责任与法律责任。就目前我国企业面临的突出问题而言,应更强调经济责任与法律责任,也就是信用责任。企业信用是企业社会责任的基本内容,是落实企业社会责任的有效手段,我国建立信用机制必须大力发挥大众、政府、企业家和法制的力量。     

我国企业社会责任的现状分析及对策研究

<正>企业不仅是经济活动和市场运营的主体,在社会生活中同样扮演着重要角色。在加快自身发展的同时,自觉履行社会责任,已成为企业树立现代经营理念、推进社会     

The Legal Context of Corporate Social Responsibility

Social responsibility on the part of business has various meanings, to some of which English law is more favourable than others. But the law could be changed. The author is a Solicitor and Lecturer in Law in the University of Bristol. His Corporate Power and Responsibility: Issues in the Theory of Company Law has recently been published by Oxford University Press.     

The Political Roots of Corporate Social Responsibility

This article argues that whether and how a firm chooses to adopt Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives is conditional in part upon the domestic political institutional structures present in its home market. It demonstrates that economic globalization has increased the pressure applied to companies to develop CSR policies that might help overcome specific governance gaps associated with the globalization phenomenon. Drawing upon an examination of domestic institutions and overall political structure, it argues that the political conditions and expectations present in a company’s home market will condition whether a firm might pursue CSR activity. For home markets, it is posited that perceived electoral salience will be filtered through government type and ideology, and state/societal structures will influence if and how firms will use CSR. Specific arguments are developed from these categorizations. The article concludes with a discussion of how researchers might further explore links between CSR, domestic political structures, and corporate political activity.     

The Paradox of Corporate Social Responsibility Standards

The purpose of this paper is to provide a constructive criticism of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) standards. After pointing out a number of benefits and limitations in the effectiveness of CSR standards, both from a theoretical point of view and in the light of empirical evidence, we formulate and discuss a Paradox of CSR standards: despite being well-intended, CSR standards can favor the emergence of a thoughtless, blind and blinkered mindset which is counterproductive of their aim of enhancing the social responsibility of the organization. We analyze three problems that might underlie the Paradox—namely the problem of deceptive measurements; the problem of responsibility erosion and the problem of blinkered culture. We apply the philosophical tradition of American Pragmatism to reflect on these issues in relation to different types of existing standards, and conclude by suggesting a number of considerations that could help both CSR standards developers and users to address the Paradox.     

The Effect of R&;D Intensity on Corporate Social Responsibility

This study examines the impact that research and development (R&D) intensity has on corporate social responsibility (CSR). We base our research on the resource-based view (RBV) theory, which contributes to our analysis of R&D intensity and CSR because this perspective explicitly recognizes the importance of intangible resources. Both R&D and CSR activities can create assets that provide firms with competitive advantage. Furthermore, the employment of such activities can improve the welfare of the community and satisfy stakeholder expectations, which might vary according to their prevailing environment. As expressions of CSR and R&D vary throughout industries, we extend our research by analysing the impact that R&D intensity has on CSR across both manufacturing and non-manufacturing industries. Our results show that R&D intensity positively affects CSR and that this relationship is significant in manufacturing industries, while a non-significant result was obtained in non-manufacturing industries.     

企业社会责任的战略价值

企业社会责任的内涵与层次近年来,企业社会责任在政策法规、学术研究和企业实践中都得到了越来越多的关注。但迄今为止,无论是学术界还是企业界,对于企业社会责任的内涵理解,依然处于发展阶段,目前仍是宽泛和模糊的。不少人对于企业社会责任的理解,还停留在慈善捐款、捐物的简单阶段。     

Corporate Social Responsibility and Corporate Social Investment: The South African Case

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) and corporate social investment (CSI) have become terms that are used to examine some activities of businesses. With globalization pressures and increasing burdens on governments to provide comprehensive social services, the microscope has been trained on how firms play their part in sharing this burden. Views vary from those who believe that CSR and CSI are a distraction from profit maximization to those who argue that participation in such activities contributes to positive social transformation, while benefiting participating firms themselves. In this article, the author seeks to organize these debates within particular theoretical frameworks, positing CSR and CSI, together with the Socially Responsible Investment Index that has been used to evaluate corporate behavior in South Africa, as a novel way of addressing pressing development problems.     

The Benefit Corporation and Corporate Social Responsibility

In the wake of the most recent financial crisis, corporations have been criticized as being self-interested and unmindful of their relationship to society. Indeed, the blame is sometimes placed on the corporate legal form, which can exacerbate the tension between duties to shareholders and interests of stakeholders. In comparison, the Benefit Corporation (BC) is a new legal business entity that is obligated to pursue public benefit in addition to the responsibility to return profits to shareholders. It is legally a for-profit, socially obligated, corporate form of business, with all the traditional corporate characteristics combined with societal responsibilities. Considering the history and perception of shareholder primacy in United States law, it is argued that this new business structure is an ethical step toward empowering socially committed commercial entities. The contribution of this research is to provide a fundamental base of knowledge about the new legal form of business, the BC, upon which further study may rely. First, the legal history of the corporation is briefly reviewed in order to provide context to the relationship of the corporate form to society, including exploration of the premise that shareholder wealth maximization is its best and only purpose. Second, the BC is described in detail, and state statutes are compared. Third, the BC is placed within the context of corporate social responsibility. Finally, opportunities for future research are discussed.     

企业社会责任研究新探

企业社会责任是除企业经济责任和法律责任以外的、反映企业与社会之间关系的责任,可以划分为强制性社会责任和选择性(自愿性)社会责任.强制性社会责任以禁止损害和损害赔偿为原则,自愿性社会责任以福利增进为原则.强制性社会责任属于企业必须履行的最低责任要求,无论企业的规模、行业和性质怎样,都必须履行,其责任的实现程度与企业自身的经济绩效无关,一旦违反必须进行赔偿.并受到相关制裁.选择性社会责任是企业在履行强制性社会责任的基础上.可以由企业自愿选择的社会责任.强制性社会责任的内容会随着社会经济的发展、企业的成长和企业伦理的成熟而变化.从现阶段看,企业强制性社会责任的对象主要应当是企业的利益相关者,包括员工、消费者(客户)、环境和社区.在企业社会责任评价方面,是否履行强制性社会责任是普遍性的评判标准.     

公司治理与企业社会责任研究

<正>一、引言企业社会责任研究兴起于20世纪初,从20世纪50年代开始,西方学术界和企业界就对企业社会责任展开了热烈的讨论。目前对企业社会责任研究可分为两部分,第一部分是对企业社会责任概念的界定和完善     

Corporate Social Responsibility in the Blogosphere

This paper uses social network analysis to examine the interaction between corporate blogs devoted to sustainability issues and the blogosphere, a clustered online network of collaborative actors. By analyzing the structural embeddedness of a prototypical blog in a virtual community, we show the potential of online platforms to document corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities and to engage with an increasingly socially and ecologically aware stakeholder base. The results of this study show that stakeholder involvement via sustainability blogs is a valuable new practice for CSR communications and stakeholder engagement. It also opens new horizons for communicating CSR issues to key constituencies online.     

Corporate Social Responsibility Education in Europe

In the context of some criticism about social responsibility education in business schools, the paper reports findings from a survey of CSR education (teaching and research) in Europe. It analyses the extent of CSR education, the different ways in which it is defined and the levels at which it is taught. The paper provides an account of the efforts that are being made to ‘‘mainstream’’ CSR teaching and of the teaching methods deployed. It considers drivers of CSR courses, particularly the historical role of motivated individuals and the anticipation of future success being dependent on more institutional drivers. Finally it considers main developments in CSR research both by business school faculty and PhD students, tomorrow’s researchers and the resources devoted to CSR research. The conclusion includes questions that arise and further research directions.