INTEGRATING CORPORATE SOCIAL POLICY INTO STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT

Firm strategy and CSR: the moderating role of performance management systems

Little empirical research has explored whether or not firm strategy is linked with corporate social responsibility (CSR) and to that end we explore the impact of low-cost and differentiation strategies on CSR. Using a sample of 229 Italian firms, a low-cost strategy is negatively associated with ethical and discretionary CSR, while a differentiation strategy is positively associated with both. Given its focus on nonfinancial outcomes and stakeholders, we test if a performance management system (PM system) acts as a moderating influence. We find that a PM system positively moderates the negative association between a low-cost strategy and ethical and discretionary CSR, while also positively moderating these relationships with respect to a differentiation strategy. These findings advance the literature on strategy and CSR, while demonstrating the contingent effect of PM systems. The findings are discussed along with limitations and directions for future research.

Corporate social responsibility: comparing different models

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to present theoretical investigation into two corporate social responsibility (CSR) models proposed by Schwartz and Carroll (2003, 2008).

Design/methodology/approach

A descriptive study was conducted using a quantitative approach with 200 visitors. Data analysis involved, first, a factor analysis and, subsequently, a canonical analysis.

Findings

The results reveal that there is indeed the characteristic of convergence on the CSR dimensions, as well as confirm the correlation between the two models.

Research limitations/implications

This is a single case study wherein data cannot be generalized and there is a lack, so far, of a specific measure scale for the VBA (value, balance and accountability) model.

Practical implications

The results can contribute to studies on the development of CSR scales directed toward consumers, particularly tourist companies in emerging countries, as well as a guidance for managers in planning socially responsible actions and achieving legitimacy of their consumers.

Originality/value

Studies on CSR from customers’ standpoint are still scarce in developing countries, and the existing ones do not use reliable measure scales, based on theoretical models and adapted to the features of this audience. The present paper helps this discussion by considering the perspective of an emerging market for the first time.

Institutional Linkages with the State and Organizational Practices in Corporate Social Responsibility: Evidence from China

To deepen our understanding of organizations’ heterogeneous responses to institutional demand, we develop a ‘relational complexity’ argument to highlight organizations’ diverse institutional linkages as another important source of practice variation. We argue that diverse relations between organizations and the institutional authority can filter distinct institutional pressures and expectations, shape organizational interpretations of environmental demands, and thus trigger heterogeneous organizational practices. We adopt this theoretical framework and distinguish two types of institutional linkages with the state to understand different adoption patterns in corporate social responsibility (CSR) in its early stage of diffusion in China. Based on a national survey dataset consisting of 1,268 firms, our analyses show that firms having a stronger bureaucratic linkage with the state tend to focus on more visible external-oriented CSR practices. In contrast, those firms forming a closer partnership with the state through political or semi-political associations are more likely to take more extensive adoptions by further developing internal CSR structures. This study enriches the institutional analyses by shifting our attention to the relational dynamics between organizations and institutional authority as a key source of practice variation. It also has important implications to the research and practices of CSR in emerging economies.