CSR

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Terms modified by CSR

  • csr communication
  • csr initiative
  • csr theory

  • Selected Abstracts


    Corporate Governance and Social Responsibility: a comparative analysis of the UK and the US,

    CORPORATE GOVERNANCE, Issue 3 2006
    Ruth V. Aguilera
    This paper argues that key differences between the UK and the US in the importance ascribed to a company's social responsibilities (CSR) reflect differences in the corporate governance arrangements in these two countries. Specifically, we analyse the role of a salient type of owner in the UK and the US, institutional investors, in emphasising firm-level CSR actions. We explore differences between institutional investors in the UK and the US concerning CSR, and draw on a model of instrumental, relational and moral motives to explore why institutional investors in the UK are becoming concerned with firms' social and environmental actions. We conclude with some suggestions for future research in this area. [source]


    Critical success factors for corporate social responsibility: a public sector perspective

    CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT, Issue 4 2010
    Shirish Sangle
    Abstract Managers in the public sector consider corporate social responsibility (CSR) as strategically important for their organizations. A positive correlation between CSR and financial performance is well established in the literature. However, little research has been done to understand which factors lead to the positive correlation between CSR and business performance. This study aims to empirically analyze critical success factors (CSFs) for CSR in the Indian public sector. It seeks to evaluate the factors that make CSR successful. The research results show that ability to integrate CSR with other functional strategies is the most critical success factor for CSR. Other critical success factors are ability to manage stakeholder groups, ability to evaluate benefits of CSR and top management support. Based on the research findings, the study proposes some important managerial implications with respect to CSFs for CSR. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. [source]


    An innovative model to promote CSR among SMEs operating in industrial clusters: evidence from an EU project

    CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT, Issue 3 2010
    Massimo Battaglia
    Abstract This paper presents the findings of our EU co-funded project, an idea developed to better understand the opportunities to formalize corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in a clustered system. Small companies often have to compete in a global market; for this reason, cooperation among SMEs, and with local stakeholders and intermediary institutions, might be facilitated by a collective answer to new market requests. Cooperation and social capital are key elements to facilitate trust amongst involved local actors. Moreover, they can also play a key role in the formalization of CSR policies and practices for small companies. In our project, we aimed at identifying and understanding the role of the ,intermediary institutions' (such as trade unions, local authorities, business consortia) in the cluster. Throughout the paper, we focus on the analysis of three industrial clusters in Tuscany (Italy). Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. [source]


    The integration of corporate governance in corporate social responsibility disclosures

    CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT, Issue 1 2010
    Ans Kolk
    Abstract In recent years, not only has attention to corporate governance increased but also the notion has broadened considerably, and started to cover some aspects traditionally seen as being part of corporate social responsibility (CSR). CSR, corporate governance and their interlink seem particularly relevant for multinational enterprises (MNEs), which, due to their activities in multiple contexts around the world and concomitant visibility, generally face higher demands to be transparent and disclose information about such issues. Insights into whether and in which cases disclosures on the two topics actually merge has been very limited, however. This paper analyses to what extent corporate governance has become integrated in MNEs' disclosure practices on CSR. Based on an analysis of CSR reporting of Fortune Global 250 companies, findings show that more than half of them have a separate corporate governance section in their CSR report and/or explicitly link corporate governance and CSR issues. We also found that MNEs that disclose information on a wider variety of social and environmental issues and frame CSR with a focus on internal issues are more inclined to integrate corporate governance into their CSR reporting. This integration seems to be a global phenomenon that cuts across countries and sectors. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. [source]


    CSR in business start-ups: an application method for stakeholder engagement

    CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT, Issue 6 2009
    Jose Luis Retolaza
    Abstract In this paper, we propose a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) method to apply in business start-ups or newly created firms, whose main aim is the engagement of stakeholders. Several different CSR resources have been developed from various initiatives, both public and private. However, these initiatives do not highlight and consider the characteristics of newly created firms; moreover, most CSR theories and methods of applying social responsibility in firms are focused on medium and large firms, whose characteristics are so different, compared to start-ups and newly created firms. The method proposed in this paper shows the possibility, at least theoretically, to implement a CSR method to tackle all of the interests of future and potential stakeholders in business start-ups. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. [source]


    CSR and the environment: business supply chain partnerships in Hong Kong and PRDR, China

    CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT, Issue 5 2009
    Dennis K. K. Cheung
    Abstract Cross-border relocation of the production lines of Hong Kong companies to the Pearl River Delta Region (PRDR) of China relocates the pollution source geographically. In contextualizing corporate social responsibility (CSR), more and better collaborations on environmental management between Hong-Kong-based companies and their supply chains within Hong Kong and the PRDR are needed. Using a qualitative approach, this research identifies and examines nine concerned business supply chain partnership cases. Stakeholders perceived that partnership is a good tool for improving corporate environmental management. However, although it has become more active since 2002, partnership is not yet popular. More time and support are needed to develop it. Businesses should take further steps to benefit themselves and the environment. Based on the first-hand experiences and opinions of interviewees, this paper analyzes and presents recent partnership activities; their drivers and barriers; factors in their successes; and the possible roles of government and business associations in fostering partnership development. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. [source]


    The UN Global Compact and the Enlightenment tradition: a rural electrification project under the aegis of the UN Global Compact

    CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT, Issue 5 2009
    Niklas Egels-Zandén
    Abstract Despite extensive academic debate as to what corporate social responsibility (CSR) and other related concepts ought to encompass, there is a lack of critical analysis of what CSR in practice entails, i.e., what actually constitutes CSR practices. This paper critically addresses this question by focusing on one of the most influential CSR initiatives , the UN Global Compact. We demonstrate that the principles of the Global Compact are rooted in a European Enlightenment tradition and, based on a study of an Asea Brown Boveri (ABB) CSR project in a Tanzanian village, we illustrate how these principles translate into corporate projects that challenge local institutions, while remaining unquestioned. The paper concludes by opening a space for discussing the desirability of the Enlightenment ethos manifested in Global Compact projects. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. [source]


    Making sense of CSR communication

    CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT, Issue 3 2009
    Paul Ziek
    Abstract Although a great deal of research has focused on communicating Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), the literature is diverse and encompasses a plethora of theories and approaches. It is still unclear what communicative behaviors carry the messages of organizational virtuosity and the implementation of responsible initiatives. What is missing is a simple, inclusive assessment of how organizations explicitly communicate the behaviors that constitute CSR. Accordingly, the purpose of this paper is to provide an illustration of the accounts that constitute CSR communication. Fifty US firms are examined for CSR moves within a variety of organizational contexts. The results show that communicating CSR is limited to large organizations and primarily, that they communicate CSR by conveying information about classically accepted responsible and virtuous behaviors. This patterned communicative behavior is a process that organizations engage in to make sense of CSR. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. [source]


    Corporate social responsibility in Malaysia , experts' views and perspectives

    CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT, Issue 3 2009
    Jye Y. Lu
    Abstract The field of corporate social responsibility (CSR) has grown exponentially in the last decade and is gradually becoming a global trend. Companies are now expected to take explicitly into account all aspects of their performance, i.e., not just their financial results, but also their social and environmental performance. Therefore more organizations are now engaged in serious efforts to define and integrate CSR into all aspects of their businesses. The aim of our study is to understand this trend in Malaysia and specifically to investigate (i) The status of CSR in Malaysia; (ii) Different CSR practices in Malaysia; and (iii) Future diffusion of CSR in Malaysia. To answer these questions, we have conducted interviews with Malaysian leading experts in CSR. Our results suggests that the key issues in the journey toward wider diffusion and acceptance of CSR in Malaysia include current confusion over the meaning of CSR, the prevalent use of CSR as a PR tool, mandatory versus voluntary CSR and the role the National Mirror Committee of ISO/TMB/WG SR in this process. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. [source]


    Stakeholder engagement and corporate social responsibility reporting: the ownership structure effect

    CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT, Issue 2 2009
    Jose-Manuel Prado-Lorenzo
    Abstract Social disclosure, according to Ullmann's conceptual framework (1985), could be explained by stakeholder power, strategic posture and economic performance, where the power of stakeholders is a function of the resources they control that are essential to the company. The aim of this work is to test the effect that shareholder power and dispersed ownership structure have on the decision to disclose corporate social responsibility (CSR) information in the Spanish context, controlling for the rest of the dimensions. Our results allow us to affirm that this paper tests a stakeholder theory approach to analyzing corporate social disclosures and is consistent with the framework proposed, although the power of shareholders is quite limited. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. [source]


    When business associations and a federal ministry jointly consult civil society: a CSR policy case study on the development of the CSR Austria Guiding Vision

    CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT, Issue 5 2008
    Astrid Konrad
    Abstract In 2002, Austrian business organizations and the Austrian Federal Ministry of Economics and Labour decided to raise the awareness of CSR in Austria by formulating a CSR guiding vision for Austrian businesses after consulting a broad variety of stakeholders. This paper describes the development of the ,CSR Austria Guiding Vision' from 2003, and it gives a brief overview of other public CSR initiatives launched in Austria since then. Since the authors were involved drafting the CSR Austria Guiding Vision as consultants, the paper describes success factors, lessons learned and recommendations relevant for other large-scale stakeholder dialogues on CSR from an insider perspective. Overall, we conclude that a clear idea about the structure, the type and the rules of the stakeholder involvement (conceptual issues), in combination with a timely, honest and empathic approach towards stakeholders (procedural issues), are important success factors for any stakeholder dialogue. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. [source]


    Oil transnational corporations: corporate social responsibility and environmental sustainability

    CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT, Issue 4 2008
    Felix M. Edoho
    Abstract Corporate social responsibility (CSR) occupies the center stage of the debate on the operations of transnational corporations in the developing countries. The quest for profit maximization as the overriding value at the expense of corporate social responsibility puts some transnational corporations on a collision path with their Niger Delta host communities, who are demanding environmental sustainability. Militant groups have shut down flow stations and taken oil workers hostage. Unresponsiveness of oil firms to community demands for CSR is heightening the volatility of the Nigerian oil industry. The problem will intensify until oil firms initiate authentic CSR strategies to address the environmental havocs emanating from their operations. At the core of such strategies is recognizing the host communities as bona fide stakeholders and addressing their socioeconomic needs. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. [source]


    Corporate social and environmental responsibility in Asian countries and other geographical regions

    CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT, Issue 4 2007
    C. Christopher Baughn
    Abstract This study examines two aspects of corporate social responsibility (social and environmental CSR) in 15 Asian countries. The performance of firms in these Asian countries on the two types of CSR is also assessed relative to country economic, political and social conditions, and compared with those of other regions (Western Europe, East/Central Europe, Australia/New Zealand, US/Canada, Middle East and Africa). Drawing from over 8700 surveys of firms in 104 countries, this study demonstrates substantial country and regional differences in CSR. Firms are embedded in different country contexts, with differing underlying institutional capacities. Strong revealed relationships between CSR and country economic, political and social contexts reflect the importance of a country's development of such institutional capacity to promote and support CSR practices. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. [source]


    Islam and CSR: a study of the compatibility between the tenets of Islam, the UN Global Compact and the development of social, human and natural capital

    CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT, Issue 4 2007
    John Zinkin
    Abstract Previous research has found that Muslims score elements that are assumed to matter in determining socially responsible business behaviour less highly than people of other religions. This paper looks at whether the tenets of Islam are the reason for this lower score by comparing and contrasting the UN Global Compact's ten principles with those of Islam in the affected areas. In so doing, the paper reconstructs the principles according to their impact on social, human and natural capital and explores whether Islam is supportive of responsible behaviour in these three areas. The paper concludes that, with the possible exception of Islam's focus on personal responsibility and non-recognition of the corporation as a legal person, which could undermine the concept of corporate responsibility, there is no divergence between the tenets of the religion and the principles of the UN Global Compact. Focusing on this convergence of values could help avert the threatened ,clash of civilizations'. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. [source]


    Corporate governance and corporate social responsibility: issues for Asia

    CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT, Issue 1 2007
    Richard Welford
    Abstract An increasingly important aspect of CSR is the recognition that sound practices are often based on good standards of corporate governance. Good corporate governance provides the foundations of good CSR by creating value-creating relationships with all stakeholders. This article seeks to review corporate governance issues from an Asian perspective. Ownership and control of many companies in the region differ from those commonly seen in the West and there are therefore specific issues that need to be addressed in this context. It is argued that the fact that so many Asian companies are dominated by controlling shareholders (often families) means that corporate governance may have to be even stronger in the Asian region than elsewhere. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. [source]


    Corporate,community relations in Nigeria's oil industry: challenges and imperatives

    CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT, Issue 4 2006
    Uwafiokun Idemudia
    Abstract The adoption of corporate social responsibility (CSR) policies and corporate,community relation (CCR) strategies by oil companies has failed to reduce the incidence of violent conflict between the host communities and oil companies in the Niger Delta, Nigeria. This paper argues that the failure to seek, understand and integrate community perceptions into CSR policies and practices, the over-emphasis of affirmative duties to the detriment of negative injunction duties and the absence of an enabling environment due to government failure are responsible for the observed problem. The paper concludes that unless these gaps are addressed, CSR by the Nigerian oil industry is likely to continue to fail to achieve its full potential. However, CCR in the Nigerian oil industry will be significantly improved if, and when, the needs and aspirations of the major stakeholders are addressed through a tri-sector partnership approach to development and conflict resolution. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. [source]


    Corporate social responsibility in Asian supply chains

    CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT, Issue 3 2006
    Richard Welford
    Abstract This research provides an overview of CSR practices in Asia, evaluates the usefulness of codes of conduct, reviews the benefits of CSR in supply chains and reviews obstacles for companies wishing to adopt good CSR practices. In order to achieve this, interviews were undertaken with CSR managers, factory managers and other experts, conducted in confidence and anonymously. Codes of conduct and associated inspections and audits are common practice but in most cases flawed. Labour issues and the rights of workers are generally seen as the most important aspect of CSR in the region. Benefits of CSR include risk reduction, staff recruitment and retention, cost savings and building good relationships with stakeholders. Obstacles include a lack of resources and skills, a lack of awareness of stakeholders' demands and inefficient production techniques. It is noted that larger firms are more able to overcome such obstacles, with clear adverse implications for smaller companies. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. [source]


    The end of the MFA and apparel exports: has good CSR allowed Cambodia to hold steady against China in a quota free environment?

    CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT, Issue 1 2006
    Stephen Frost
    Abstract In the lead up the end of the Multi-Fiber Arrangement (MFA), commentators routinely argued that Chinese apparel exports would surge in a quota-free environment. It was also expected that Southeast Asian apparel exporting nations would suffer declines, leading to job and economic losses. Of particular concern was Cambodia, a country that relies almost exclusively on apparel exports for foreign earnings. By mid-2005, as trade data started to filter in, the doomsday scenario for countries like Cambodia seemed less clear cut. Although China's apparel exports had indeed soured, a surprising outcome was that exports to the US from Cambodia (and several other neighbours such as Indonesia and Vietnam) had also increased. This article focuses specifically on Cambodia (which of all the Southeast Asian countries surveyed has shown the greatest growth in apparel exports) and examines some of the CSR initiatives that help explain why gloomy prognostications have not yet become true. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. [source]


    Corporate social responsibility in Dutch industry

    CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT, Issue 4 2004
    Jacqueline Cramer
    This article addresses the experiences gained by 19 Dutch companies with corporate social responsibility (CSR). These companies joined the programme ,From financial to sustainable profit' of the National Initiative for Sustainable Development (NIDO), which ran from May 2000 until December 2002. They focused on two issues: assessing the added value of corporate social responsibility and implementing a structured approach. The Dutch experiment showed that the companies involved were able to specify the added value of CSR by elaborating the economic performance and/or parenting advantage. Unfortunately, a third type of value creation, viz. through protecting the company's reputation, was not elaborated. Moreover, the experiment revealed that among the 19 participating companies experiences were limited in implementing a structured approach towards CSR. By exchanging experiences the companies learned from each other. Such interactive learning turned out to be a helpful support, complementary to the general CSR literature on guidelines, indicators and best practice guides. Although this literature is rapidly growing, knowledge is still lacking in structuring CSR. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. [source]


    How can SMEs effectively implement the CSR agenda?

    CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT, Issue 3 2004
    A UK case study perspective
    This paper focuses on implementation of the CSR agenda in small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs) and reports on research findings from an action research case study that has been conducted in a UK based SME. The case study research demonstrates how the CSR agenda has been implemented using ISO 9001:2000 as a platform and what benefits the case study organization has gained from this approach. These results are compared with a UK survey on feasibility of CSR for SMEs conducted by the UK's Department of Trade and Industry and parallels are drawn. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. [source]


    Corporate social responsibility and the mining industry: conflicts and constructs

    CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT, Issue 1 2004
    Heledd Jenkins
    In response to widespread and increasing criticism, the mining industry has started to pay serious attention to its environmental and social impacts. This has recently manifested itself in the formulation of corporate social responsibility (CSR) policies and strategies and a proliferation of CSR, environmental, sustainability and community reporting. Several brief case studies are used to illustrate the issues and conflicts that arise between mining company operations and the environment and community, and how these have led to the development of corporate strategies to deal with environment and community issues. The paper then examines mining company reports, revealing the language and constructs used by the mining industry to frame its responsibility to the environment and community and role in possible conflicts. Companies need to better understand the complex nature of the communities in which they operate in order that suitably tailored strategies are developed. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. [source]


    The Global Reporting Initiative and corporate sustainability reporting in Swedish companies

    CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT, Issue 3 2003
    Carl-Johan Hedberg
    With empirical evidence from Swedish companies, this paper analyses the phenomenon of corporate sustainability reporting (CSR) in general and the use of CSR guidelines developed by the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) in particular. The main questions at issue are why companies have chosen to use the GRI guidelines and how this has affected corporate social responsibility and environmental management. From interviews with all Swedish companies that use the guidelines, we have found that companies produce CSRs mainly to seek organizational legitimacy, and that the main reason for use of the GRI guidelines is an expectation of increasing credibility of the CSR, but also that it provides a template for how to design a report. Moreover, we have found that the CSR report and the GRI guidelines are of more help for internal than external communication at this stage of development. It could help corporations to learn about themselves and to see what has actually been done in the organization. In all, the GRI guidelines would have the potential for gaining visibility and control of the triple bottom line on a corporate level, but they are in need of further development, not least in relation to the issue of verification. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. [source]


    Corporate socially responsible (CSR) practices in the context of Greek industry

    CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT, Issue 1 2003
    Dr Constantina Bichta
    This paper sets out to describe the level of corporate environmental responsibility of the Greek industrial sector. While the level of corporate socially responsible behaviour has been widely explored in the context of Northern European industry, the theoretical work surrounding the level of CSR practices of Greek industry is underdeveloped. A qualitative study was designed to increase awareness about the level of environmental responsibility of two Greek firms, which represented the chemical/fertilizer and metal sectors. The empirical findings suggest that a number of factors, both internal and external, determine the level of environmental policy and performance of the two companies. The environmental policy of the companies appears also to relate to the sector of operation. The paper concludes that the Greek business actor should look at his workforce in order to accelerate the environmental activities of the organization. With regard to the theory of CSR, it is argued that the development of a model of CSR is aided by the study and identification of factors that support and/or undermine the socially responsible behaviour of the European corporate sector. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. and ERP Environment. [source]


    Should we measure corporate social responsibility?

    CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT, Issue 1 2003
    Dr Jouni Korhonen
    This paper is critical towards efforts that try and measure corporate social responsibility (CSR). A critical approach can be important for the development of the theory of the emerging field of corporate social responsibility. A critical and provocative approach can generate discussion and debate. Three main points of critique are presented toward the current efforts in the literature to measure corporate contributions to economic, social and ecological sustainability. First, the use of the concepts of eco-efficiency and eco-efficacy in measuring corporate contributions to sustainability are criticized from the viewpoint of the complementarity relation of human-manufactured capital, natural capital and social sustaining functions. Second, the use of measures that focus on an individual process or an individual company are reconsidered with an approach to industrial and firm networks. Third, the use of the monetary value is reconsidered, e.g. by suggesting an approach based on physical material and energy flows and on a new paradigmatic foundation for social responsibility. The social and ecological indicators illustrating the social and environmental impacts of economic activity and of firms can be combined with economic indicators, but not expressed in monetary terms. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. and ERP Environment. [source]


    Service Personnel, Technology, and Their Interaction in Influencing Customer Satisfaction,

    DECISION SCIENCES, Issue 1 2006
    Craig M. Froehle
    ABSTRACT Managing both the technologies and the personnel needed for providing high-quality, multichannel customer support creates a complex and persistent operational challenge. Adding to this difficulty, it is still unclear how service personnel and these new communication technologies interact to influence the customer's perceptions of the service being provided. Motivated by both practical importance and inconsistent findings in the academic literature, this exploratory research examines the interaction of media richness, represented by three different technology contexts (telephone, e-mail, and online chat), with six customer service representative (CSR) characteristics and their influences on customer satisfaction. Using a large-sample customer survey data set, the article develops a multigroup structural equation model to analyze these interactions. Results suggest that CSR characteristics influence customer service satisfaction similarly across all three technology-mediated contexts. Of the characteristics studied, service representatives contribute to customer satisfaction more when they exhibit the characteristics of thoroughness, knowledgeableness, and preparedness, regardless of the richness of the medium used. Surprisingly, while three other CSR characteristics studied (courtesy, professionalism, and attentiveness) are traditionally believed to be important in face-to-face encounters, they had no significant impact on customer satisfaction in the technology-mediated contexts studied. Implications for both practitioners and researchers are drawn from the results and future research opportunities are discussed. [source]


    CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND CORPORATE GOVERNANCE1

    ECONOMIC AFFAIRS, Issue 4 2009
    Elaine SternbergArticle first published online: 23 NOV 200
    Corporate social responsibility (,CSR') is often associated with hopes for improved corporate governance. As understood conventionally, however, CSR is conceptually incoherent, practically unworkable, and wholly unjustified. To be compatible with corporate governance, ,CSR' needs to be understood not as Counterproductive Stakeholder Regimentation, but as Conscientious Stakeholder Responsibility. [source]


    MISGUIDED CORPORATE VIRTUE: THE CASE AGAINST CSR, AND THE TRUE ROLE OF BUSINESS TODAY1

    ECONOMIC AFFAIRS, Issue 4 2009
    David Henderson
    The doctrine of corporate social responsibility (CSR) has now been accepted across the world , not only by businesses and business organisations, together with an array of commentators and NGOs, but also by many governments. This is a worrying development. The doctrine rests on mistaken presumptions about recent economic developments and their implications for the role and conduct of enterprises, while putting it into effect would make the world poorer and more over-regulated. [source]


    Corporate Social Responsibility European Style

    EUROPEAN LAW JOURNAL, Issue 2 2008
    Olivier De Schutter
    This article explains how, while CSR may have been initially an idea about the scope of the responsibility of companies towards their environment, it has now become a process in which the representatives of the business community have come to occupy the main role, and whose purpose is to promote learning among business organisations, rather than to identify the components of a regulatory framework for CSR. The central question now, therefore, is whether the so-called ,business case' for CSR is strong enough, so that we may hope that the forces of market will suffice to encourage companies to behave responsibly, over and above their obligation to comply with their legal obligations. The article shows, however, that this case rests on certain presuppositions about markets and the business environment, which cannot be simply assumed, but should be affirmatively created by a regulatory framework for CSR. Following the introduction, it proceeds in four stages. First, it examines the development of CSR in the EU. Second, it offers a critical examination of the so-called ,business case' for CSR, taking into account the growing diversity within the enlarged EU. It then discusses, as an alternative, what a regulatory framework for CSR could resemble, highlighting a number of initiatives which have been taken in this regard by the EU. The article finally concludes that, since the failure of the European Multi-Stakeholder Forum on CSR in 2004, the debate has made a turn in the wrong direction, both because of the mistaken view that the establishment of a regulatory framework for CSR would threaten the competitiveness of European companies, and because of the naive (and contradictory) view that reliance on market mechanisms will suffice to ensure that corporations will seek to minimise the negative social and environmental impacts of their activities, even in circumstances where they are not legally obliged to do so. [source]


    Political Views and Corporate Decision Making: The Case of Corporate Social Responsibility

    FINANCIAL REVIEW, Issue 3 2008
    Amir Rubin
    G30; P16 Abstract This paper conducts an empirical analysis of the relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and political beliefs in the United States. By analyzing the 2004 presidential election results of communities in which corporate headquarters are located, we establish a correlation between the political beliefs of corporate stakeholders and the CSR ratings of their firms. Companies with a high CSR rating tend to be located in Democratic, or "blue" states and counties, while companies with a low CSR rating tend to be located in Republican, or "red" states and counties. [source]


    How socially responsible engagement can change your business model: The radical experience of Armor Lux

    GLOBAL BUSINESS AND ORGANIZATIONAL EXCELLENCE, Issue 1 2008
    Virginie Vial
    Despite a growing consensus on corporate social responsibility (CSR) issues relevant to companies, there is no one-size-fits-all way to structure and organize CSR. The lack of clarity and transparency in the structure leads stakeholders, rightly or wrongly, to accuse companies of "greenwashing strategies." The author analyzes the case of a small French textile company that has radically turned its business model toward CSR in order to survive. It provides a good example of real social engagement and how it transforms the business model. It also raises the question of whether sustainable development issues, scarcity of resources, and deindustrialization of developed countries will move other manufacturers to consider services and intangible assets as part of their business model. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [source]