Corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities have the potential to create stronger relationships between firms and stakeholders. Although marketing researchers have studied the impacts of CSR activities on stakeholder responses, the CSR activities and outcomes measured have been varied and inconsistent. In this article we (a) review the extant literature to outline which CSR activities and outcomes have been included in previous research; (b) synthesize the means by which CSR activities can add value for consumers and how these have been represented in CSR literature, and; (c) present a research agenda for future research to allow greater consistency among CSR researchers.

How can corporate social responsibility activities create value for stakeholders? A systematic review

Location and Space Economy

Disposal of paddy residue has turn out to be a huge problem in north-west Indian states, resulting farmers prefer to burn the residues in-situ. Paddy residue management is of utmost important as it contains plant nutrients and improves the soil-plant-atmospheric continuum. Burning biomass not only pollutes environment and results in loss of appreciable amount of plant essential nutrients. The objectives of the review paper is to access the amount of residue generation, its utilization in-situ and ex-situ, emphasize harmful effects of residue burning on human health, soil health and environment of north-west states of India specially in Punjab and Haryana. This paper also discusses the possible strategies, financial and socio-economic evaluation of the paddy residue management technologies and accentuates the assessment of range of potential policy instruments which would offer avenues for sustainable agriculture and environment. Timely availability of conservation agriculture (CA) machinery is of utmost significance to manage the paddy residues in-situ. Collection and transportation of voluminous mass of paddy residue is cumbersome, therefore, ex-situ residue management is still not an economically viable option. The agricultural waste opens vivid options for its versatile usage and is possible if residue is collected and managed properly. It is a prerequisite for surplus residues to be used for CA. There is an urge to create awareness among farming communities to incline them to understand importance of crop residues in CA for sustainability and resilience of Indian agriculture.

Burning issues of paddy residue management in north-west states of India

Purpose – The aim of this paper is to examine how corporations in India interpret corporate social responsibility (CSR). Focusing on four commonly known approaches: the ethical, the statist, the liberal, and the stakeholder approach, the paper seeks to investigate the reported drivers and barriers to implementing CSR practices.Design/methodology/approach – The paper surveyed top‐level managers of a sample of companies currently engaging in a CSR initiative, representing a variety of industry sectors.Findings – The study finds that the CSR approach that is most favored by Indian firms is the stakeholder approach and that the caring or the moral motive, followed by the strategic or profit motive, are important drivers for Indian firms to pursue CSR. Further, the results indicate that the most significant obstacles to CSR implementation are those related to lack of resources, followed by those related to the complexity and difficulty of implementing CSR.Research limitations/implications – The study focuses o...

Corporate social responsibility practices in India: approach, drivers, and barriers

https://research.birmingham.ac.uk/portal/files/39643584/JWB_D_15_00115R4.pdf

CSR logics in developing countries: Translation, adaptation and stalled development ☆

With the liberalization of economy, the corporate sector is making an increased effect on the rapidly transforming Indian society. The paper studies the perception of the Indian society on corporate social responsibility. The primary data has been generated by means of a structured questionnaire, administered to the selected sample in Northern India. The data has been analyzed with the help of factor analysis. The findings reveal that in a market-led economy, society holds both positive and s skeptic view of CSR activities and expects a responsible and ethical behavior from the corporations. The process of further integration of the society and business is required and the business has to reinforce the positive momentum to strengthen the confidence in the society. The study is useful for the corporations to understand the societal perception on corporate social responsibility, which may help them to redesign and reposition their social responsibility activities. Keywords: CSR, India, societal perception, objective viewpoint, skeptical viewpoint, ethical viewpoint.

Perceptions of Corporate Social Responsibility in India: an Empirical Study

Liberalization of the higher education sector has increased the access of students to institutions of higher learning; students of today are far more informed and have more choices in terms of institutions to pursue their higher studies. In the age of competition, the institutions of higher learning need to understand the customers' (students') perceptions of service quality and identify the gap between their expectations and these perceptions. The paper studies the students' perceptions of service quality in the present educational environment, using the modified service quality (SERVQUAL) instrument to measure five constructs: tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, and empathy. The study has been done on 500 students pursuing their post-graduation in management and education streams in 10 institutions located in the north Indian state of Haryana. A significantly negative gap is observed in the expectations and perceptions of the service quality of higher education, indicating a sense of dissatisfaction among the students.

Service Quality in Higher Education: A Comparative Study of Management and Education Institutions

With the opening of retail sector for corporate investment, Indian markets saw the emergence of organised retail formats. While urban customers exhibited immediate interest in this newer shopping experience, their rural counterparts were slower in switching over to the organised retail. In addition to the economic considerations, the reasons behind slower adaptation of the organised retail entailed cognitive and perceptual aspects as well. The paper identifies the perceptual aspects of the rural customers on switching towards the organised retail. Data has collected from 537 rural customers to study their perceptions and switch intentions towards organised retail. The study finds that the rural customers are showing preference to go to organised retail outlets to purchase products and services that offer higher value. Findings of the survey show that 'core value delivery' is the most significant predictor of purchase intention in rural market. Pre-purchase inducement and value enhancement are also other significant predictors of purchase intention.

Perception and switch intention of rural customers towards organised retail

Crisis is the real test of the capabilities, of both the organizations as well as individuals. When time is hard, they are tempted to break the rules of the game, only to realize later that the harm done by their socially irresponsible behaviour while handling the crisis, outweigh the damage because of the crisis itself. The Spring of 2003 brought crisis on the MNCs in soft‐drinks and chocolate industries. In this paper, the action of three MNCs to get out of the crisis is analyzed from the CSR perspective, both theoretically and empirically. The actions of the company manufacturing chocolates are perceived as being socially responsible, while those manufacturing soft‐drinks are not perceived as being socially responsible. Although the MNCs are out of the crisis now, but people are able to differentiate between socially responsible behaviour and those actions, which are not. Such repeated actions may damage the company reputation and erode their competitive advantage in long run.

Managing Business Crises: The CSR Perspective

The growing popularity of online shopping has drawn an increasing amount of attention from organisations to maintain quality of their websites and attract customers. The principal objective of this study was to test the conceptual model of various components of website quality and customer satisfaction. The study investigates the moderating effects of security and content of websites in relation to the effects of components of website quality on customer satisfaction. We collected data consisting of a total of 448 responses from individuals (255 from USA, and 193 from India) who are habituated to visit websites and engage in online shopping. We used structural equation modelling to test the measurement model and employed hierarchical moderated regression to analyse the collected data. Our findings demonstrated that 1	
various components of website quality viz., ease of use, reliability, and interaction are important to enhance customer satisfaction
	
2	
security and content have moderating effect on these direct relationships.
	


On the basis of our results, the companies must stress the content and security features to enhance customer satisfaction. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

Tejinder Sharma

Papers

Perceptions of Corporate Social Responsibility in India: an Empirical Study

Service Quality in Higher Education: A Comparative Study of Management and Education Institutions

Perception and switch intention of rural customers towards organised retail

Managing Business Crises: The CSR Perspective

The relationship between web quality and user satisfaction: the moderating effects of security and content