Most theorizing on the relationship between corporate social/environmental performance (CSP) and corporate financial performance (CFP) assumes that the current evidence is too fractured or too variable to draw any generalizable conclusions. With this integrative, quantitative study, we intend to show that the mainstream claim that we have little generalizable knowledge about CSP and CFP is built on shaky grounds. Providing a methodologically more rigorous review than previous efforts, we conduct a meta-analysis of 52 studies (which represent the population of prior quantitative inquiry) yielding a total sample size of 33,878 observations. The meta-analytic findings suggest that corporate virtue in the form of social responsibility and, to a lesser extent, environmental responsibility is likely to pay off, although the operationalizations of CSP and CFP also moderate the positive association. For example, CSP appears to be more highly correlated with accounting-based measures of CFP than with market-based ...

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Corporate Social and Financial Performance: A Meta-Analysis

We outline a supply and demand model of corporate social responsibility (CSR). Based on this framework, we hypothesize that a firm's level of CSR will depend on its size, level of diversification, research and development, advertising, government sales, consumer income, labor market conditions, and stage in the industry life cycle. From these hypotheses, we conclude that there is an “ideal” level of CSR, which managers can determine via cost-benefit analysis, and that there is a neutral relationship between CSR and financial performance.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/259398.pdf

Corporate Social Responsibility: a Theory of the Firm Perspective

Companies are increasingly asked to provide innovative solutions to deep-seated problems of human misery, even as economic theory instructs managers to focus on maximizing their shareholders' wealt

Misery Loves Companies: Rethinking Social Initiatives by Business:

I offer an institutional theory of corporate social responsibility consisting of a series of propositions specifying the conditions under which corporations are likely to behave in socially responsible ways. I argue that the relationship between basic economic conditions and corporate behavior is mediated by several institutional conditions: public and private regulation, the presence of nongovernmental and other independent organizations that monitor corporate behavior, institutionalized norms regarding appropriate corporate behavior, associative behavior among corporations themselves, and organized dialogues among corporations and their stakeholders. Concerns about corporate social responsibility have grown significantly during the last two decades. Not only has the issue become commonplace in the business press and among business and political leaders (Buhr & Graf

http://laisumedu.org/DESIN_Ibarra/desin/imagenescampbell/tres-c.pdf

Why would corporations behave in socially responsible ways? an institutional theory of corporate social responsibility

As a potential theory, the elemental resource-based view (RBV) is not currently a theoretical structure. Moreover, RBV proponents have assumed stability in product markets and eschewed determining resources' values. As a perspective for strategic management, imprecise definitions hinder prescription and static approaches relegate causality to a “black box.” We outline conceptual challenges for improving this situation, including rigorously formalizing the RBV, answering the causal “how” questions, incorporating the temporal component, and integrating the RBV with demand heterogeneity models.

http://lib.cufe.edu.cn/upload_files/other/4_20140522031922_Is_the_Resource-based_%E2%80%9CView%E2%80%9D_a_Useful_Perspective_for_Strategic_Management_Research%20(1).pdf

Is the Resource-Based “View” a Useful Perspective for Strategic Management Research?

Researchers have reported a positive, negative, and neutral impact of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on financial performance. This inconsistency may be due to flawed empirical analysis. In this paper, we demonstrate a particular flaw in existing econometric studies of the relationship between social and financial performance. These studies estimate the effect of CSR by regressing firm performance on corporate social performance, and several control variables. This model is misspecified because it does not control for investment in R&D, which has been shown to be an important determinant of firm performance. This misspecification results in upwardly biased estimates of the financial impact of CSR. When the model is properly specified, we find that CSR has a neutral impact on financial performance. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Corporate social responsibility and financial performance: correlation or misspecification?

We describe a variety of perspectives on corporate social responsibility (CSR), which we use to develop a framework for consideration of the strategic implications of CSR. Based on this framework, we propose an agenda for additional theoretical and empirical research on CSR. We then review the papers in this special issue and relate them to the proposed agenda.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1467-6486.2006.00580.x

Corporate Social Responsibility: Strategic Implications*

This paper integrates the theories and findings of micro-level organizational behaviour/human resource management research with the macrolevel resource-based view of the firm, specifically presenting a firm's human resources as an important potential source of sustained competitive advantage. Unlike practice-oriented discussions that assume the role of human resources as a source of sustained competitive advantage, we use the theoretical concepts from the resource-based view of the firm (Wernerfelt, 1984; Barney, 1991) to discuss how human resources meet the criteria for sustained competitive advantage in that they are valuable, rare, inimitable and non-substitutable. The implications for developing human resources as a source of sustained competitive advantage are discussed, particularly examining the role of HR practices and managers in this process.

Human resources and sustained competitive advantage: a resource-based perspective

We examined the use of event studies in management research and found that there was inadequate attention paid to theoretical and research design issues. This lack of attention may lead to false in...

https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/257056.pdf

Abagail McWilliams

Papers

Corporate Social Responsibility: a Theory of the Firm Perspective

Corporate social responsibility and financial performance: correlation or misspecification?

Corporate Social Responsibility: Strategic Implications*

Human resources and sustained competitive advantage: a resource-based perspective

Event Studies In Management Research: Theoretical And Empirical Issues