Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a subject long debated since the 1930s, but
the premises of the topic in regards to the what, how, why, and to whom it should be remain
in question. The relation between CSR and corporate financial performance (CFP) has
emerged at the forefront of this debate, particularly within the last 30 years, yet no unified
theory has been reached. Other scholars interested in CSR have criticized the emphasis on
CFP as a means of economic justification for what they believe to be a broader social issue,
and have attempted to redirect the focus in CSR research to include other motivations and
outcomes associated with organizational stakeholders other than shareholders.
Using a descriptive and instrumental stakeholder theory approach, the focus of the
current study was to explore CSR practices in both a dependent and independent sense.
These theoretical underpinnings reflect stakeholder management decisions based on
organizational characteristics, and the strategic management of various organizational
stakeholders, respectively. The study population consisted of a diverse array of 353 U.S.-
based corporations, 80 percent from the Fortune 500. Data included eleven corporate classification
variables that represented organizations’ geographical location, industry, executive
leadership dimensions, and financial health. It also included six CFP variables that represented accounting and market-based measures, and seven CSR variables that
represented the key organizational stakeholders of the local community and environment,
employees, and customers. The corporate classification variables were utilized to assess CSR
performances, while CFP was assessed by analyzing differences among levels of the CSR
practices. These assessments were performed for organizations for the twelve years within
1991-2002.
Several results that assisted in informing descriptive and instrumental stakeholder
theory were produced through the examination of previously used and under-explored
variables. Specifically, the study results included new insights regarding how several
organizational characteristics related to their CSR practices. Study findings provided
elaboration regarding how performance differences in seven key CSR categories affected six
representative accounting and market-based measures of corporate financial performance.
Implications for practice for organizational decision-makers are provided along with detailed
information pertaining to how, with inferences as to why, firms engage in CSR. Additionally,
associated financial outcomes from different levels of CSR implementation are reported.
Key findings from the study were that the CSR practices regarding employees and the
environment remained stable over the twelve-year time period. Additionally, organizations’
geographical location, financial health, and corporate leadership dimensions had an impact
on CSR practices for various stakeholder groups, with the exception of employees. A high
level of investment in CSR for certain stakeholder groups did not produce the best financial
outcomes in all cases; however, organizations that emphasized CSR in the categories relative
to the community and its employees outperformed others with respect to certain financial
performance measures.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:tamu.edu/oai:repository.tamu.edu:1969.1/ETD-TAMU-2010-08-8190 |
| Date | 2010 August 1900 |
| Creators | Phelan Ribera, Kelli Catherine |
| Contributors | Egan, Toby, Tolson, Homer |
| Source Sets | Texas A and M University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | thesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
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