Confronted with increasing pressures to limit government spending on social welfare, more and more public policy makers welcome the growing social involvement of corporations. Yet, inasmuch as corporate citizenship may be desirable for society as a whole, it is unlikely to be embraced by a large number of organizations unless it is associated with concrete business benefits. This paper presents past findings and proposes future research directions useful for understanding the potential value of corporate citizenship as a marketing tool. Specifically, after examining the nature of corporate citizenship, the paper discusses its potential impact, first on consumers, then on employees. Two conceptual frameworks are introduced to guide research on the value of corporate citizenship in terms of external and internal marketing respectively.

Corporate citizenship as a marketing instrument: concepts, evidence and research directions

Prior research has suggested that corporate social responsibility (CSR) contributes to organisations' competitive advantage by influencing stakeholders' attitudes. While existing research indicates that CSR relates to some employee outcomes, the mechanisms that drive employees' responses to CSR initiatives remain largely unexplored. This study relies on social identity theory to propose and test a model with 181 hospital employees that attempts to explain why and how CSR can positively influences employees' attitudes. Specifically, this study examines the impact of two aspects of an organisation's socially responsible behaviours, i.e. employees' perceptions of CSR initiatives directed at internal and external stakeholders, on employees' job satisfaction. The findings indicate that perceived CSR relates positively to job satisfaction through its effects on overall justice perceptions and organisational identification. These results suggest that employees appear to use CSR initiatives to assess their organisation's character and identify with it. Accordingly, CSR initiatives have particular importance as a mean to support organisational efforts to create strong relationships with their employees and thereby improve their attitudes at work.

Understanding employees' responses to corporate social responsibility: mediating roles of overall justice and organizational identification

https://findresearcher.sdu.dk:8443/ws/files/178119806/1_s2.0_S0959652620331206_main_1_.pdf

Social sustainability tensions in multi-tier supply chain: A systematic literature review towards conceptual framework development

Organizations have several objectives, including competitiveness, high profit and long-term survival. However, sustainability has become a diligent act of business and non-business organizations because it moves organizations toward superior performance. Sustainability does not come itself; it requires enough resources and capabilities. Extant studies have examined the factors that influence sustainability, but have rarely touched on innovation in this perspective. The present study examines the influence of management innovation and technological innovation on organization performance with the mediating role of sustainability. To test the model, we applied structural equation modeling in the analysis of a moment structures (AMOS) on the empirical evidence collected from 304 Pakistani CEOs and top managers. The results indicate that management innovation and technological innovation significantly positively contribute to sustainability and organization performance. Sustainability plays a partial mediating role between management innovation and organization performance and also a partial mediating role between technological innovation and organization performance. We recommend CEOs and top managers to give due attention to management innovation and technological innovation to enhance sustainability and survive the long run. Implications are discussed.

https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/2/495/pdf

The Influence of Management Innovation and Technological Innovation on Organization Performance. A Mediating Role of Sustainability

Amidst a contemporary culture of climate awareness, unprecedented levels of transparency and visibility are forcing industrial organizations to broaden their value chains and deepen the impacts of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives. While it may be common knowledge that the 2030 agenda cannot be achieved on a business-as-usual trajectory, this study seeks to determine to what ends the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have impacted CSR research. Highlighting linkages and interdependencies between the SDGs and evolution of CSR practice, this paper analyzes a final sample of 56 relevant journal articles from the period 2015–2020. With the intent of bridging policy and practice, thematic coding analysis has supported the identification and interpretation of key emergent research themes. Using three descriptive categorical classifications (i.e., single-dimension, bi-combination of dimensions, sustainability dimension), the results of this paper provide an in-depth discussion into strategic community, company, consumer, investor, and employee foci. Furthermore, the analysis provides a timely and descriptive overview of how CSR research has approached the SDGs and which ones are being prioritized. By deepening the understanding of potential synergies between business strategy, global climate agendas and the common good, this paper contributes to an increased comprehension of how CSR and financial performance can be improved over the long-term.

/pdf/scoping-the-evolution-of-corporate-social-responsibility-csr-1t9trrn4lm.pdf

Scoping the evolution of corporate social responsibility (CSR) research in the sustainable development goals (SDGS) era

This paper presents an analysis of the literature concerning the impact of corporate sustainability on corporate financial performance. The relationship between corporate sustainable practices and financial performance has received growing attention in research, yet a consensus remains elusive. This paper identifies developing trends and the issues that hinder conclusive consensus on that relationship. We used content analysis to examine the literature and establish the current state of research. A total of 132 papers from top-tier journals are shortlisted. We find that 78% of publications report a positive relationship between corporate sustainability and financial performance. Variations in research methodology and measurement of variables lead to the divergent views on the relationship. Furthermore, literature is slowly replacing total sustainability with narrower corporate social responsibility (CSR), which is dominated by the social dimension of sustainability, while encompassing little to nothing of environmental and economic dimensions. Studies from developing countries remain scarce. More research is needed to facilitate convergence in the understanding of the relationship between corporate sustainable practices and financial performance.

The Impact of Sustainability Practices on Corporate Financial Performance: Literature Trends and Future Research Potential

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine whether corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities of the firm affect poor captive consumers’ repurchase intentions, and whether or not CSR activities may moderate established relationships that drive repurchase intentions. Design/methodology/approach – A survey was administered to 201 poor microfinance borrowers at the bottom of the pyramid in India in a cross-sectional field study format. Multivariate regression is used to examine relationships between CSR and repurchase intention. Findings – All else being the same, CSR activities aimed at the borrowers’ communities affects repurchase intentions positively even among poor captive borrowers. Further, positive perceptions of CSR to some extent mitigate the negative impact of the dissatisfaction on repurchase intentions. Unmarried borrowers, mostly female, were more moved by CSR impressions compared to their married counterparts. Research limitations/implications – Future research could identify othe...

Serving the poor: captive market CSR and repurchase intention

The purpose of this paper is to look at corporate social responsibility (CSR)-related actions to see whether they relate to clients’ perception of CSR.,Ninety-nine bank customers in Brisbane, Australia were surveyed by mail in a cross-sectional field study.,Not all CSR-related behaviors of the organizations were influential to perceptions of social responsibility. Big picture actions for the betterment of humanity were found to be influential to the perception of the firm’s CSR. However, respondents did not relate the firms’ profit and revenue initiatives to social responsibility, other than negativity toward false and misleading practices.,Results are limited to one industry in Australia.,Actions for human betterment were found to be influential to the perception of the firm’s CSR. Also the uses of dishonest marketing schemes were seen as detrimental to CSR perceptions of the firm. However, respondents did not connect the firm’s business actions affecting profitability with customers, to their perceptions of its CSR. Thus, the authors conclude that altruism from a “big picture” standpoint has value in shaping CSR perception, but the organization may not always find it necessary to deprioritize profit, or to attempt to weave CSR actions into every aspect of their business.,The inquiry takes a novel approach to CSR, capturing an unexplored aspect of how CSR is perceived and valued by stakeholders.

Nilesh Khare

Papers

The Impact of Sustainability Practices on Corporate Financial Performance: Literature Trends and Future Research Potential

The Impact of Sustainability Practices on Corporate Financial Performance: Literature Trends and Future Research Potential

Serving the poor: captive market CSR and repurchase intention

Customer perceptions of CSR authenticity

Examining and Integrating Transaction Cost Economics and Resource-Based View Explanations of the Firm’s Boundary Choices