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Corporate Philanthropic Responses to Emergent Human Needs: The Role of Organizational Attention Focus

Author

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  • Alan Muller

    (University of Amsterdam)

  • Gail Whiteman

    (Erasmus University)

Abstract

Research on corporate philanthropy typically focuses on organization-external pressures and aggregated donation behavior. Hence, our understanding of the organization-internal structures that determine whether a given organization will respond philanthropically to a specific human need remains underdeveloped. We explicate an attention-based framework in which specific dimensions of organization-level attention focus interact to predict philanthropic responses to an emergent human need. Exploring the response of Fortune Global 500 firms to the 2004 South Asian tsunami, we find that management attention focused on people inside the organization (employees) interacts with both attention for places (countries in the tsunami-stricken region) and attention for practices (corporate philanthropy in general) to predict the likelihood of charitable donations. Our research thus extends beyond the prevailing institutional perspective by highlighting the role of attention focus in corporate responsiveness to emergent societal issues.

Suggested Citation

  • Alan Muller & Gail Whiteman, 2016. "Corporate Philanthropic Responses to Emergent Human Needs: The Role of Organizational Attention Focus," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 137(2), pages 299-314, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:137:y:2016:i:2:d:10.1007_s10551-015-2556-x
    DOI: 10.1007/s10551-015-2556-x
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    4. Hanwen Chen & Siyi Liu & Xin Liu & Daoguang Yang, 2022. "Adversity Tries Friends: A Multilevel Analysis of Corporate Philanthropic Response to the Local Spread of COVID-19 in China," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 177(3), pages 585-612, May.
    5. Mingchuan Yu & Han Lin & Greg G. Wang & Yuan Liu & Xiaotao Zheng, 2022. "Is too much as bad as too little? The S-curve relationship between corporate philanthropy and employee performance," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 39(4), pages 1511-1534, December.
    6. Lourdes Arco-Castro & Maria Victoria López-Pérez & Maria Carmen Pérez-López & Lázaro Rodríguez-Ariza, 2020. "Corporate philanthropy and employee engagement," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 14(4), pages 705-725, August.
    7. Qamar Farooq & Peihua Fu & Xuan Liu & Yunhong Hao, 2021. "Basics of macro to microlevel corporate social responsibility and advancement in triple bottom line theory," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 28(3), pages 969-979, May.
    8. Ateeq ur Rehman Irshad & Nabeel Safdar & Wajiha Manzoor, 2023. "Predicting Efficiency of Innovative Disaster Response Practices: Case Study of China’s Corporate Philanthropy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(3), pages 1-15, January.

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