Theoretical and empirical debates surrounding corporate philanthropy (CP) date back to the 1930s, but have recently grown in line with the importance of corporate social responsibility in the public realm. Through three papers, this thesis adds to these debates by filling gaps in our understanding of CP, relating to the cyclical nature of cash and in-kind giving, how different ways of giving can influence profitability, and the relative importance of the CEO. We do this using a panel of 620 large firms in the UK over 14 years, and 500 US firms over 12 years, enabling us to capture the heterogeneity between firms. Our key theoretical contribution is to state that an integrated theory ought to be developed, which considers the influence of firm costs, strategy and the CEO as factors determining CP. Given the exposed limitations of stakeholder, agency and leadership theories, we propose that a new theory be developed, one which stresses the importance of managerial discretion and values, whilst also considering how firm-level attributes can determine giving.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:570994 |
| Date | January 2012 |
| Creators | Afshar, Taha |
| Publisher | London School of Economics and Political Science (University of London) |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://etheses.lse.ac.uk/379/ |
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