IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/corsem/v20y2013i2p81-94.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Examining the Link between Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility and Company Performance: An Analysis of the Best Corporate Citizens

Author

Listed:
  • Giovanna Michelon
  • Giacomo Boesso
  • Kamalesh Kumar

Abstract

Using KLD data on the performance of 188 companies over a three‐year period in seven areas of corporate social responsibility (CSR) – environment, community, corporate governance, diversity, employee relations, human rights, and product quality – this study examines whether CSR initiatives have a greater impact on company performance (CP) if the company prioritizes the CSR issues that matter most to it and approaches CSR initiatives in a strategic way, than if it approaches them based on generic rationale unrelated to the company's strategy. The results show that when a company pursues CSR initiatives that are linked to stakeholder preferences and allocates resources to these initiatives in a strategic way, the positive effect of its CSR initiatives on CP strengthens in terms of both market‐based and accounting‐based measures of performance. However, this relationship was not observed across the board for all of the seven areas of CSR. The main conclusion of this study is that companies need to link their CSR initiatives to the likely preferences of their stakeholders and undertake the corporate social actions that are relevant to the company's strategy. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

Suggested Citation

  • Giovanna Michelon & Giacomo Boesso & Kamalesh Kumar, 2013. "Examining the Link between Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility and Company Performance: An Analysis of the Best Corporate Citizens," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 20(2), pages 81-94, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:corsem:v:20:y:2013:i:2:p:81-94
    DOI: 10.1002/csr.1278
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/csr.1278
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/csr.1278?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
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Roy L. Simerly & Mingfang Li, 2000. "Environmental dynamism, capital structure and performance: a theoretical integration and an empirical test," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 21(1), pages 31-49, January.
    2. Giacomo Boesso & Kamalesh Kumar, 2007. "Drivers of corporate voluntary disclosure," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 20(2), pages 269-296, April.
    3. Beck, Nathaniel & Katz, Jonathan N., 1995. "What To Do (and Not to Do) with Time-Series Cross-Section Data," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 89(3), pages 634-647, September.
    4. Falck, Oliver & Heblich, Stephan, 2007. "Corporate social responsibility: Doing well by doing good," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 50(3), pages 247-254.
    5. Caroline D. Ditlev‐Simonsen & Atle Midttun, 2011. "What motivates managers to pursue corporate responsibility? a survey among key stakeholders," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 18(1), pages 25-38, January.
    6. David J. Collison & George Cobb & David M. Power & Lorna A. Stevenson, 2008. "The financial performance of the FTSE4Good indices," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 15(1), pages 14-28, January.
    7. Sandra A. Waddock & Samuel B. Graves, 1997. "The Corporate Social Performance–Financial Performance Link," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(4), pages 303-319, April.
    8. Jaepil Choi & Heli Wang, 2009. "Stakeholder relations and the persistence of corporate financial performance," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(8), pages 895-907, August.
    9. 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.
    10. Joseph E. Coombs & K. Matthew Gilley, 2005. "Stakeholder management as a predictor of CEO compensation: main effects and interactions with financial performance," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(9), pages 827-840, September.
    11. 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.
    12. Umit Alniacik & Esra Alniacik & Nurullah Genc, 2011. "How corporate social responsibility information influences stakeholders' intentions," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 18(4), pages 234-245, July.
    13. Scott J. Callan & Janet M. Thomas, 2009. "Corporate financial performance and corporate social performance: an update and reinvestigation," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 16(2), pages 61-78, March.
    14. Hayam Wahba, 2008. "Does the market value corporate environmental responsibility? An empirical examination," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 15(2), pages 89-99, March.
    15. Peter Dobers & Delyse Springett, 2010. "Corporate social responsibility: discourse, narratives and communication," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 17(2), pages 63-69, March.
    16. Amy J. Hillman & Gerald D. Keim, 2001. "Shareholder value, stakeholder management, and social issues: what's the bottom line?," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(2), pages 125-139, February.
    17. Christine A. Mallin & Giovanna Michelon, 2011. "Board reputation attributes and corporate social performance: an empirical investigation of the US Best Corporate Citizens," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 41(2), pages 119-144, June.
    18. Marilyn T. Lucas, 2010. "Understanding environmental management practices: integrating views from strategic management and ecological economics," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 19(8), pages 543-556, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Kamalesh Kumar & Giacomo Boesso & Giovanna Michelon, 2016. "How Do Strengths and Weaknesses in Corporate Social Performance Across Different Stakeholder Domains Affect Company Performance?," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(4), pages 277-292, May.
    2. Emmanuel Lawal & Gökan May & Bojan Stahl, 2017. "The Significance of Corporate Social Disclosure for High‐Tech Manufacturing Companies: Focus on Employee and Community Aspects of Sustainable Development," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 24(4), pages 295-311, July.
    3. Hajer Tebini & Bouchra M’Zali & Pascal Lang & Paz Méndez-Rodrı́guez, 2015. "Social Performance and Financial Performance: A Controversial Relationship," International Series in Operations Research & Management Science, in: Enrique Ballestero & Blanca Pérez-Gladish & Ana Garcia-Bernabeu (ed.), Socially Responsible Investment, edition 127, chapter 0, pages 53-73, Springer.
    4. Scott J. Callan & Janet M. Thomas, 2014. "Relating CEO Compensation to Social Performance and Financial Performance: Does the Measure of Compensation Matter?," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 21(4), pages 202-227, July.
    5. Elizabeth-Anne Thomas, 2019. "How Useful Is the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Reporting Framework to Identify the Non-financial Value of Corporate Social Performance (CSP)?," CSR, Sustainability, Ethics & Governance, in: Nicholas Capaldi & Samuel O. Idowu & René Schmidpeter & Martin Brueckner (ed.), Responsible Business in Uncertain Times and for a Sustainable Future, pages 37-87, Springer.
    6. Atle Blomgren, 2011. "Does corporate social responsibility influence profit margins? a case study of executive perceptions," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 18(5), pages 263-274, September.
    7. Saridakis, Charalampos & Angelidou, Sofia & Woodside, Arch G., 2023. "How historical and social aspirations reshape the relationship between corporate financial performance and corporate social responsibility," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 157(C).
    8. Scott J. Callan & Janet M. Thomas, 2011. "Executive compensation, corporate social responsibility, and corporate financial performance: a multi‐equation framework," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 18(6), pages 332-351, November.
    9. Woon Leong Lin & Jo Ann Ho & Chin Lee & Siew Imm Ng, 2020. "Impact of positive and negative corporate social responsibility on automotive firms' financial performance: A market‐based asset perspective," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(4), pages 1761-1773, July.
    10. Maria J. Charlo & Ismael Moya & Ana M. Muñoz, 2017. "Sustainable Development in Spanish Listed Companies: A Strategic Approach," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 24(3), pages 222-234, May.
    11. José‐Luis Godos‐Díez & Laura Cabeza‐García & Roberto Fernández‐Gago & Mariano Nieto‐Antolín, 2020. "Does CEO media exposure affect corporate social responsibility?," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(2), pages 825-840, March.
    12. Franck Brulhart & Sandrine Gherra & Bertrand V. Quelin, 2019. "Do Stakeholder Orientation and Environmental Proactivity Impact Firm Profitability?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 158(1), pages 25-46, August.
    13. Al-Shaer, Habiba & Uyar, Ali & Kuzey, Cemil & Karaman, Abdullah S., 2023. "Do shareholders punish or reward excessive CSR engagement? Moderating effect of cash flow and firm growth," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    14. Lee, Gilsoo & Cho, Sam Yul & Arthurs, Jonathan & Lee, Eun Kyung, 2020. "Celebrity CEO, identity threat, and impression management: Impact of celebrity status on corporate social responsibility," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 69-84.
    15. Shao‐Chi Chang & Heng‐Yu Chang, 2015. "Corporate Motivations of Product Recall Strategy: Exploring the Role of Corporate Social Responsibility in Stakeholder Engagement," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 22(6), pages 393-407, November.
    16. Hayam Wahba, 2010. "How do institutional shareholders manipulate corporate environmental strategy to protect their equity value? A study of the adoption of ISO 14001 by Egyptian firms," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 19(8), pages 495-511, December.
    17. Tai-Hsi Wu & Hsiang-Lin Chih & Mei-Chen Lin & Yi Hua Wu, 2020. "A Data Envelopment Analysis-Based Methodology Adopting Assurance Region Approach for Measuring Corporate Social Performance," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 148(3), pages 863-892, April.
    18. Shin, Jiyoung & Moon, Jon Jungbien & Kang, Jingoo, 2023. "Where does ESG pay? The role of national culture in moderating the relationship between ESG performance and financial performance," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 32(3).
    19. Hasan, Iftekhar & Karavitis, Panagiotis & Kazakis, Pantelis & Leung, Woon Sau, 2019. "Corporate Social Responsibility and Profit Shifting," MPRA Paper 91580, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    20. Carmen Pilar Marti & M. Rosa Rovira‐Val & Lisa G. J. Drescher, 2015. "Are Firms that Contribute to Sustainable Development Better Financially?," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 22(5), pages 305-319, September.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:wly:corsem:v:20:y:2013:i:2:p:81-94. 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: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://doi.org/10.1002/(ISSN)1535-3966 .

    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.