IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/jbuset/v132y2015i4p795-811.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Managerial Morality and Philanthropic Decision-Making: A Test of an Agency Model

Author

Listed:
  • Cheng-Li Huang
  • Ju-Lan Tsai

Abstract

While previous authors have broadly examined the motivations and outcomes of the philanthropic activities of organizations, the present study extends Miska et al.’s (J Bus Ethics 1–12, 2013 ) rationalistic approach to examine the degree to which managerial philanthropic decision-making behaviour is dominated by morality. This study also tackles the question of whether this relationship is moderated by the strength of the geographical proximity and amount of the donation within an agency framework. To probe the radical agency problem and the effect of intervention, an alternative heuristic scenario is also developed to provide evidence that managers under the same moral level show significant differences in donation intention under a variety of agency conditions. The results indicate a significant difference between the existence and non-existence of agency problems in charitable decision-making by managers high in idealism and relativism; however, at the same time, philanthropic behaviour is intertwined with various dilemma-related contexts. These findings bridge the gap in the literature on ethics and corporate social responsibility, and challenge current thinking on corporate governance mechanisms in this area by offering researchers and practitioners an integrated model that responds to a strong sceptical bias or a high premium placed on morality. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2015

Suggested Citation

  • Cheng-Li Huang & Ju-Lan Tsai, 2015. "Managerial Morality and Philanthropic Decision-Making: A Test of an Agency Model," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 132(4), pages 795-811, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:132:y:2015:i:4:p:795-811
    DOI: 10.1007/s10551-014-2338-x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s10551-014-2338-x
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10551-014-2338-x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. John Cherry, 2006. "The Impact of Normative Influence and Locus of Control on Ethical Judgments and Intentions: a Cross-Cultural Comparison," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 68(2), pages 113-132, October.
    2. James Andreoni & Eleanor Brown & Isaac Rischall, 2003. "Charitable Giving by Married Couples Who Decides and Why Does it Matter?," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 38(1).
    3. Cheng-Li Huang & Bao-Guang Chang, 2010. "The Effects of Managers’ Moral Philosophy on Project Decision Under Agency Problem Conditions," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 94(4), pages 595-611, July.
    4. Usha C. V. Haley, 1991. "Corporate Contributions As Managerial Masques: Reframing Corporate Contributions As Strategies to Influence Society," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(5), pages 485-510, September.
    5. Schwartz, Mark S. & Carroll, Archie B., 2003. "Corporate Social Responsibility: A Three-Domain Approach," Business Ethics Quarterly, Cambridge University Press, vol. 13(4), pages 503-530, October.
    6. James J. Cordeiro & Joseph Sarkis, 2008. "Does explicit contracting effectively link CEO compensation to environmental performance?," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 17(5), pages 304-317, July.
    7. Claus Frederiksen, 2010. "The Relation Between Policies Concerning Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Philosophical Moral Theories – An Empirical Investigation," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 93(3), pages 357-371, May.
    8. Dima Jamali & Ramez Mirshak, 2007. "Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR): Theory and Practice in a Developing Country Context," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 72(3), pages 243-262, May.
    9. Stephen Brammer & Andrew Millington, 2008. "Does it pay to be different? An analysis of the relationship between corporate social and financial performance," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(12), pages 1325-1343, December.
    10. Navarro, Peter, 1988. "Why Do Corporations Give to Charity?," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 61(1), pages 65-93, January.
    11. Louis Amato & Christie Amato, 2007. "The Effects of Firm Size and Industry on Corporate Giving," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 72(3), pages 229-241, May.
    12. Mary Crossan & Daina Mazutis & Gerard Seijts, 2013. "In Search of Virtue: The Role of Virtues, Values and Character Strengths in Ethical Decision Making," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 113(4), pages 567-581, April.
    13. Jensen, Michael C. & Meckling, William H., 1976. "Theory of the firm: Managerial behavior, agency costs and ownership structure," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 3(4), pages 305-360, October.
    14. B. Elango & Karen Paul & Sumit Kundu & Shishir Paudel, 2010. "Organizational Ethics, Individual Ethics, and Ethical Intentions in International Decision-Making," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 97(4), pages 543-561, December.
    15. Booth, Peter & Schulz, Axel K. -D., 2004. "The impact of an ethical environment on managers' project evaluation judgments under agency problem conditions," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 29(5-6), pages 473-488.
    16. Ailian Gan, 2006. "The Impact of Public Scrutiny on Corporate Philanthropy," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 69(3), pages 217-236, December.
    17. Abagail McWilliams & Donald Siegel, 2000. "Corporate social responsibility and financial performance: correlation or misspecification?," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 21(5), pages 603-609, May.
    18. Ross, Stephen A, 1973. "The Economic Theory of Agency: The Principal's Problem," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 63(2), pages 134-139, May.
    19. Logsdon, Jeanne M. & Wood, Donna J., 2002. "Business Citizenship: From Domestic to Global Level of Analysis," Business Ethics Quarterly, Cambridge University Press, vol. 12(2), pages 155-187, April.
    20. Kelly Martin & John Cullen, 2006. "Continuities and Extensions of Ethical Climate Theory: A Meta-Analytic Review," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 69(2), pages 175-194, December.
    21. Fama, Eugene F & Jensen, Michael C, 1983. "Separation of Ownership and Control," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 26(2), pages 301-325, June.
    22. Harrell, Adrian & Harrison, Paul, 1994. "An incentive to shirk, privately held information, and managers' project evaluation decisions," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 19(7), pages 569-577, October.
    23. Kanodia, C & Bushman, R & Dickhaut, J, 1989. "Escalation Errors And The Sunk Cost Effect - An Explanation Based On Reputation And Information Asymmetries," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(1), pages 59-77.
    24. Rutledge, Robert W. & Karim, Khondkar E., 1999. "The influence of self-interest and ethical considerations on managers' evaluation judgments," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 24(2), pages 173-184, April.
    25. Irene Van Staveren, 2007. "Beyond Utilitarianism and Deontology: Ethics in Economics," Review of Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(1), pages 21-35.
    26. Baruch Lev & Christine Petrovits & Suresh Radhakrishnan, 2010. "Is doing good good for you? how corporate charitable contributions enhance revenue growth," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(2), pages 182-200, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Awais Ur Rehman & Saqib Farid & Muhammad Abubakr Naeem, 2022. "The link between corporate governance, corporate social sustainability and credit risk of Islamic bonds," International Journal of Emerging Markets, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 18(12), pages 5990-6014, May.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Arthur Gautier & Anne-Claire Pache, 2015. "Research on Corporate Philanthropy: A Review and Assessment," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 126(3), pages 343-369, February.
    2. Kiyoung Chang & Hoje Jo & Ying Li, 2018. "Is there Informational Value in Corporate Giving?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 151(2), pages 473-496, August.
    3. Hongmin Chun & Jaeyon Chu & Yongsuk Yun, 2019. "The Impact of Corporate Charitable Contributions on Audit Hours," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-12, February.
    4. Leon Zolotoy & Don O’Sullivan & Jill Klein, 2019. "Character Cues and Contracting Costs: The Relationship Between Philanthropy and the Cost of Capital," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 154(2), pages 497-515, January.
    5. Jean Kabongo & Kiyoung Chang & Ying Li, 2013. "The Impact of Operational Diversity on Corporate Philanthropy: An Empirical Study of U.S. Companies," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 116(1), pages 49-65, August.
    6. Bongani Munkuli & Renee Horne, 2018. "Financial Markets Value Reputation for Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) – A Study of the South African Mining Sector," Africagrowth Agenda, Africagrowth Institute, vol. 15(2), pages 17-22.
    7. Kellie Liket & Ana Simaens, 2015. "Battling the Devolution in the Research on Corporate Philanthropy," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 126(2), pages 285-308, January.
    8. Hong-Min Chun & Sang-Yi Shin, 2018. "Does Analyst Coverage Enhance Firms’ Corporate Social Performance? Evidence from Korea," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(7), pages 1-16, July.
    9. Frederik Plewnia & Edeltraud Guenther, 2017. "The benefits of doing good: a meta-analysis of corporate philanthropy business outcomes and its implications for management control," Journal of Management Control: Zeitschrift für Planung und Unternehmenssteuerung, Springer, vol. 28(3), pages 347-376, October.
    10. Chai, D.H., 2010. "Firm Ownership and Philanthropy," Working Papers wp400, Centre for Business Research, University of Cambridge.
    11. Xueyan Dong & Jingyu Gao & Sunny Li Sun & Kangtao Ye, 2021. "Doing extreme by doing good," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 38(1), pages 291-315, March.
    12. Ferrell, Allen & Liang, Hao & Renneboog, Luc, 2016. "Socially responsible firms," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 122(3), pages 585-606.
    13. Ioannis Ioannou & George Serafeim, 2015. "The impact of corporate social responsibility on investment recommendations: Analysts' perceptions and shifting institutional logics," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(7), pages 1053-1081, July.
    14. Cowan, Adrian & Huang, Chia-Hsing & Padmanabhan, Prasad, 2016. "Why do some US manufacturing and service firms with international operations choose to give internationally whereas others opt to give only in the United States?," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 25(1), pages 408-418.
    15. Jean-Michel Sahut & Marta Peris-Ortiz & Frédéric Teulon, 2019. "Corporate social responsibility and governance," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 23(4), pages 901-912, December.
    16. Cowan, Adrian & Huang, Chia-Hsing & Padmanabhan, Prasad & Wang, Chi-Hui, 2013. "The determinants of foreign giving: An exploratory empirical investigation of US manufacturing firms," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 22(2), pages 407-420.
    17. Byungki Kim & Jinhan Pae & Choong-Yuel Yoo, 2019. "Business Groups and Tunneling: Evidence from Corporate Charitable Contributions by Korean Companies," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 154(3), pages 643-666, February.
    18. Haeyoung Ryu & Soo-Joon Chae, 2021. "Family Firms, Chaebol Affiliations, and Corporate Social Responsibility," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(6), pages 1-16, March.
    19. Chen, Donghua & Jiang, Dequan & Yu, Xin, 2015. "Corporate philanthropy and bank loans in China," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 35(PA), pages 402-424.
    20. Lei Xu & Xiaoning Guo & Yan Liu & Xiaochen Sun & Jie Ji, 2022. "How Does Corporate Charitable Giving Affect Enterprise Innovation? A Literature Review and Research Directions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(23), pages 1-21, November.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:132:y:2015:i:4:p:795-811. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.