research paper topics for corporate social responsibility

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• Published: 26 April 2023

Exploring the factors affecting the implementation of corporate social responsibility from a strategic perspective

• Chao-Chan Wu   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-3891-310X 1 ,
• Fei-Chun Cheng 2 &
• Dong-Yu Sheh 1  

Humanities and Social Sciences Communications volume  10 , Article number:  179 ( 2023 ) Cite this article

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In general, the objective of a company is to pursue higher returns for its shareholders. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is an ethical practice that seems to be contrary to the objectives of companies; as a result, companies lack sufficient motivation to implement CSR. Academics and practitioners have recently begun considering CSR from a strategic perspective. However, the definition and scope of strategic CSR have not been clearly defined or discussed in previous studies. This study uses the strategic triangle perspective as a theoretical basis to explore the key factors affecting the implementation of strategic CSR. Three main factors and ten sub-factors were summarized to form a hierarchical network structure based on a literature review. The weights of each factor and sub-factor were then prioritized using the analytic network process (ANP). The results of this study show that “company” is the most important main factor, while “corporate image”, “innovation ability”, “reputation risk”, “financial capacity”, and “investment intention” are the top five important sub-factors. The hierarchical network structure and critical factors suggested in this study contribute to implementing strategic CSR. The findings of this study will also help the theoretical development in the field of CSR.

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Introduction.

The purpose of businesses is to produce products or services that meet consumer demand. However, with the depletion of resources and environmental pollution, people have gradually realized the importance of sustainable development. Furthermore, with better living standards, people pay attention to social issues such as health and human rights. Various factors have led to higher expectations regarding the role of businesses in society (Huang, 2014 ). In addition to their growth, companies need to consider the overall well-being of society and make moral contributions beyond economic and legal aspects. Enterprises are not only economic entities that operate for profit but also exist to create an ideal society (Carroll and Shabana, 2010 ). Therefore, corporate social responsibility (CSR) has become an important research topic in recent years (Yuan et al., 2020 ).

The motivation for CSR implementation changes with the social environment (Bergquist, 2017 ). The goal of an enterprise is to make profits and maximize shareholder value. Thus, it is necessary to establish formal regulations to enforce the implementation of environmental protection and social issues by enterprises. Nevertheless, if CSR is merely a response to legal requirements, companies will not realize the value and benefits of this action. For organizations such as businesses that pursue economic benefits, implementing CSR may be viewed as a cost. This reactive motivation prevents companies from effectively implementing CSR (Bansal, 2022 ).

Social responsibility and corporate benefits do not conflict. This means that companies should not treat CSR as an expense incurred by contributions to fulfill public interest. Instead, companies should transform CSR from an ethical practice to one of their strategies (Porter and Kramer, 2006 ). If CSR is combined with a company’s strengths and strategies, its potential will maximize the benefits to society and the company (Branco and Rodrigues, 2006 ; Yuan et al., 2020 ). A strategic vision of CSR will allow companies to avoid seeing it as a cost or expense when implementing CSR, but will instead consider the relationship between CSR and the company’s core business and how to help the company achieve its strategic goals (Lepoutre and Heene, 2006 ; Manasakis, 2018 ). Strategic CSR can help companies achieve a win-win situation regarding economic benefits and social responsibility.

To implement strategic CSR, companies must identify the capabilities and resources that influence their social responsibility (Branco and Rodrigues, 2006 ). In addition, resources are limited to businesses, so selection and prioritization are important parts of strategic thinking (Porter, 2008 ). Identifying the key factors affecting the implementation of strategic CSR and recognizing the relative importance of these factors will help companies plan their strategic CSR activities. Therefore, it is important to explore the key factors that influence the implementation of strategic CSR. According to the strategic triangle perspective proposed by Ohmae ( 1982 ), the strategic thinking of a business is mainly based on company, customer, and competitor aspects. From the company aspect, the main description is the importance of internal resources in implementing a strategy. The customer aspect focuses on how a company uses its resources to provide attractive products and services to satisfy its customers. The principle of the competitor aspect is that a company should create as much competitive advantage as possible to enable it to compete with its competitors (Ohmae, 1982 ; van Vliet, 2009 ). The strategic triangle perspective can be used to develop a conceptual framework for strategic CSR.

This study aims to explore the key factors affecting the implementation of strategic CSR. Based on a literature review of the CSR concept and the strategic triangle perspective, this study identifies the main factors and sub-factors affecting the implementation of strategic CSR and establishes a hierarchical network structure for these factors. This study then uses the analytic network process (ANP) method to prioritize the relative weights of each factor and sub-factor in the hierarchical network structure. The results of this study contribute to determining the important factors that influence the implementation of strategic CSR to plan relevant strategies.

Literature review

This study examines the key factors influencing companies’ implementation of strategic CSR. In this section, we first review the general altruistic view of CSR. Second, the essence of corporate strategy was discussed within the framework of the strategic triangle. Then, we explain how to incorporate the strategic triangle perspective into the CSR concept to form strategic CSR. Finally, factors affecting the implementation of strategic CSR were selected to build a hierarchical network structure.

The concept of CSR

With the rise in sustainable development, CSR has become a popular topic. CSR means that enterprises are responsible for promoting social interests while pursuing their benefits (Carroll and Shabana, 2010 ; Josiah and Akpuh, 2022 ). The concept of CSR is a company’s response to social welfare and its responsibility to stakeholders affected by its development (Chang et al., 2014 ). CSR is strongly related to customers, investors, the government, and other stakeholders. Companies with social responsibility balance the needs of the company and stakeholders when making decisions so that they can contribute to society and stakeholders while pursuing profits (Hopkins, 2012 ). CSR mainly focuses on the positive actions of enterprises on social and environmental issues while paying attention to the rights and interests of stakeholders. However, it is difficult to link the ethical behavior of these companies to their own operations (Sheh, 2022 ). The traditional concept of CSR focuses on public interest but ignores the necessity of continuous profitability of companies (Matytsin et al., 2023 ). Companies must learn to integrate CSR actions into their operations rather than viewing CSR as additional philanthropy (Zollo, 2004 ). The current meaning of CSR is that companies must voluntarily incorporate social and environmental issues and interactions with stakeholders into their operations (Commission of the European Communities, 2001 ). Therefore, companies must consider both social responsibilities and operational performance, as well as their complementary strengths.

Strategic perspective and CSR

The purpose of strategy is to efficiently achieve the specific goal of an individual or organization, given the resources and capabilities. Strategic thinking integrates internal and external resources to achieve a competitive advantage in an uncertain and high-risk environment (Khalifa, 2020 ). In other words, the execution of strategy considers not only the current state within the company but also the situation of the external environment to choose the most appropriate way to achieve the goal (Hambrick and Fredrickson, 2005 ). Furthermore, Ohmae ( 1982 ) suggests a strategic triangle perspective and indicates that enterprises should focus on three factors when formulating their strategies, including the company, customer, and competitor. Companies must consider their own conditions and customer needs to provide products or services that are consistently better than those of their competitors and consider the interrelationships among the three factors.

In general, companies play a passive role in CSR implementation (Lindgreen et al., 2009 ). The main reason is that companies lack the motivation to implement CSR. The altruistic behavior of a company does not necessarily bring benefits to the company, and even the implementation of CSR conflicts with corporate profitability (Sprinkle and Maines, 2010 ). In this context, CSR is more of a moral act implemented by a company based on social expectations after making a profit. Even when CSR is linked to business operations, companies do not know how to convert it into business value and competitive advantage. If long-term investment in CSR does not give a company a competitive advantage, CSR will likely be seen as the cost of doing business. Companies tend to lack the motivation to implement CSR, which is not conducive to long-term sustainable development. In fact, companies rarely implement social responsibility purely from an altruistic perspective (Wang et al., 2016 ). The core concept of a company is to pursue performance; therefore, companies should rethink CSR through strategic thinking and select social issues or goals that enable them to fully utilize their core competencies to implement CSR (Porter and Kramer, 2006 ). In this way, companies can turn social responsibility issues into business opportunities, creating more benefits and competitive advantages (Drucker, 1984 ; Padgett and Galan, 2010 ; Manasakis, 2018 ).

Previous studies have mentioned that it is necessary to use a strategic perspective to examine CSR (Porter and Kramer, 2006 ; Wang et al., 2016 ). When thinking strategically, companies usually need to consider how they are positioned against their competitors and how they can use their resources and capabilities to achieve their goals (Porter and Kramer, 2002 ). In other words, companies must assess their internal resources and capabilities, evaluate the stakeholders and competitors involved, and develop appropriate strategies to achieve the desired CSR outcomes (Husted and de Jesus Salazar, 2006 ). Nevertheless, strategic CSR remains a relatively abstract concept requiring further exploration of its specific elements and components.

Therefore, the strategic triangle perspective can be used to establish the structure of strategic CSR and to form a precise concept. From a strategic triangle perspective, companies must take stock of their core competencies and resources, and then consider how to meet the needs of their customers. By integrating this perspective into CSR, strategic CSR can impact customers and stakeholders related to the company. Based on the above discussion, this study explicitly focuses the concept of strategic CSR on three main factors, including company, stakeholder, and competitor. The company factor refers to the resources and assets owned by the company, the stakeholder factor refers to stakeholders who interact with the business, and the competitor factor refers to the competitive advantage over competitors (Husted and Allen, 2007 ). The three main factors that affect the implementation of strategic CSR and the sub-factors within these main factors were discussed below.

From a strategic triangle perspective, the resources within a company can be considered the basis for strategy execution. According to the resource-based theory, valuable resources are the main source of a company’s competitive advantage (Barney, 1991 ). Promoting CSR is not only the responsibility of senior management or specific departments but also the recognition and participation of all employees in the company. Hence, human resources play an important role in CSR implementation (Arnaud and Wasieleski, 2014 ). Adequate professional manpower is a condition for companies to implement CSR (Meyer, 1999 ; Cohen et al., 2010 ). It ensures that sustainability-related strategies and proposals are sufficiently driven to help organizations achieve their goals and ultimately improve their effectiveness (Paillé et al., 2014 ; Voegtlin and Greenwood, 2016 ).

In addition to human resources, companies with sufficient financial resources to support the execution of operational strategies can significantly increase their likelihood of achieving their goals. Similarly, CSR implementation requires sufficient financial capacity (Branco and Rodrigues, 2006 ; Lepoutre and Heene, 2006 ). Moreover, the Fortune 500 spent $19.9 billion on CSR-related activities (Business Backs Education, 2015 ). This not only shows the importance that companies attach to CSR but also reflects that the implementation of CSR requires considerable financial resources.

On the other hand, corporate image is more abstract than other tangible resources because it is an overall performance composed of many factors related to a company (Moon, 2007 ). It is most widely defined as the reputation of a company, the overall impression of the company in the public’s minds (Agyei et al., 2014 ; Huang et al., 2014 ; Li et al., 2022 ). A great corporate image can be built based on a company’s ability, that is, the reputation that a company has built by consistently providing high-quality products or services. Thus, corporate image can also be derived from a company’s contribution to CSR (Vo et al., 2019 ). The image formed by CSR refers to the subjective feelings, attitudes, and evaluation of the public towards the social responsibility implemented by the company (Berens et al., 2005 ; Pérez and Rodríguez del Bosque., 2013 ). By engaging in charitable activities, such as protecting the environment, caring for community issues, and making charitable donations, a company can strengthen its public perception. A company’s image can be used as intangible capital for future public relations strategies to help it gain a competitive advantage.

Accordingly, human resources, financial capacity, and corporate image were adopted as sub-factors within the main factor of company in this study.

Stakeholder

In conventional business operations, a company operates by meeting its customers’ needs, and the results are ultimately reflected in its performance. As the external environment becomes more complex, the actual operation of a company will involve not only customers but also individuals or groups such as investors, media, and governments, all of whom will be affected by the company’s actions or influence its decisions (Freeman, 1984 ). In general, business strategy mainly focuses on the customer aspect, but strategic CSR affects a wider group of people than traditional strategies. According to previous studies, CSR has a significant relationship with corporate performance and stakeholder responsiveness (Alniacik et al., 2011 ; Ansu-Mensah et al., 2021 ). This means that companies can communicate with more stakeholders through CSR implementation (Manasakis, 2018 ). Several stakeholders that may influence CSR implementation, such as consumers, inventors, media, and governments, were discussed below.

First, Bhattacharya and Sen ( 2004 ) suggest that consumers consider a company’s actions towards the environment and society when making purchase decisions and state that CSR actions can increase consumers’ willingness to purchase a company’s products or services. When a company focuses on and contributes to a specific issue, consumers will likely translate their support for the issue into a willingness to buy its products (Thi et al., 2020 ; Zhang, 2022 ). Companies can choose to invest in CSR because consumers will respond to their efforts on social and environmental issues with a higher willingness to buy (Bhattacharya and Sen, 2004 ; Walker et al., 2021 ).

Second, investors must consider various factors when selecting investment targets. The reason why investors are willing to invest their capital in a company depends mainly on its profitability (Lin et al., 2018 ). Companies that contribute to CSR can manage their relationships with employees, suppliers, and other stakeholders, resulting in more stable operational and financial performance (Platonova et al., 2018 ). Moreover, companies that do not integrate environmental and social issues into their business models have a higher chance of being sanctioned by the government or law, including fines and litigation dilemmas, as well as loss of profits due to revelations of corporate misconduct or the outbreak of major industrial and environmental accidents (Brown, 1997 ). A Company that integrates CSR into its business strategy is less susceptible to negative events, convincing investors that it is a better investment target than its competitors.

Third, with the boom in information technology and media, the public has much faster and easier access to information than in the past, and both positive and negative news can be disclosed at the first opportunity (Dhëmbo et al., 2021 ; Fortunato and Pecoraro, 2022 ). The more prestigious a company, the more likely it is to receive media attention and be maliciously attacked by negative media. Companies that are good at preventing reputation risks use the media as a stakeholder to avoid damaging their reputation and improve their ability to respond to external events by voluntarily implementing CSR (Diageo, 2005 ; Unerman, 2008 ). In addition, by evaluating the results of their investments in social and environmental issues, companies can diagnose the potential risks that may arise in their operations and formulate timely improvement plans to avoid reputational damage (GRI, 2002 ).

Finally, the government is an important stakeholder that can force companies to implement CSR (Zueva and Fairbrass, 2021 ). From a strategic perspective, CSR is more than a passive response to regulatory pressure. By proactively engaging in CSR, companies can build bridges and maintain good relationships with the public sector, thereby increasing their influence on public decision-making. CSR increases trust between businesses and the government; helps companies obtain licenses, permissions, and other official documents faster and more smoothly; and avoids redundant bureaucratic costs (Mathis, 2008 ).

Based on these arguments, this study includes purchase intention, investment intention, reputation risk, and government relations as sub-factors within the main factor stakeholder in the hierarchical network structure.

According to the strategic triangle perspective, companies achieve superior financial performance by leveraging their strengths to satisfy their customers while creating a relative advantage over their competitors (Ohmae, 1982 ). In the competitor aspect, the factor that affects a company’s profitability is the price of product relative to the competitor. CSR is an important evaluation criterion for consumers when making purchases. Companies can make consumers perceive that they are concerned about social issues through CSR, which affects consumers’ perceptions of products (Bhattacharya and Sen, 2004 ). Even though not everyone is willing to pay a higher price for the products of companies that implement CSR, for advocates of social and environmental issues, paying a price premium can symbolize their concern and support for a particular issue and serve as a reward for responsible companies (McGoldrick and Freestone, 2008 ). Accordingly, companies can use this feature to set higher product prices (Danko and Nifatova, 2022 ).

Companies that have already established positions in a specific industry must protect themselves from potential competitors and maintain their market share. From a traditional strategic perspective, companies usually adopt cost-cutting strategies to take advantage of price wars to defeat competitors or invest more resources in research and development to build barriers to entry into the industry (Porter, 2008 ). Furthermore, Buccella and Wojna ( 2017 ) suggest that incumbent companies in the industry can regard CSR as a moat against potential competitors and turn it into a weapon to maintain their market position.

On the other hand, a company’s growth is driven by the continuous development of new products or the improvement of existing business models. Innovation ability has become one of the most important strategic considerations in companies’ decisions (Chkir et al., 2021 ). Innovation ability is the driving force behind the implementation of CSR if companies can integrate CSR thinking into their products (Padgett and Galan, 2010 ). Companies that implement CSR are better able than their competitors to use efficient processes for product development and manufacturing (Husted and Allen, 2007 ).

Based on the above points, this study summarizes price premium, entry barrier, and innovation ability as sub-factors within the main factor competitor.

Methodology

The hierarchical network structure.

When applying ANP, the decision problem needs to be clearly structured, and the interrelationships between the factors must be presented in a network manner. The hierarchical network structure can be established mainly through the literature review and the opinions of experts in the field, which contains goal, main factors, and sub-factors (Saaty, 2005 ). This goal indicates that a decision problem must be resolved. The main factors, sub-factors, and interdependencies among factors can be obtained by reviewing the literature and collecting expert opinions on the decision problem (Saaty, 2004 ).

This study aims to identify the factors that may affect the implementation of strategic CSR. Based on the literature review, three main factors and ten sub-factors were obtained to construct the hierarchy. The main factors contain company, stakeholder, and competitor. Company consists of three sub-factors, including financial capacity, human resources, and corporate image. Stakeholder has four sub-factors, including purchase intention, investment intention, reputation risk, and government relations. Competitor has three sub-factors, including entry barrier, price premium, and innovation ability. Then, this study collects expert opinions on the interdependence of factors through questionnaires to form a network structure based on Ngeru et al. ( 2011 ). To ensure that the experts are sufficiently professional and to improve the quality of the data collected, they were selected from among professionals with experience in the field of CSR. A total of twelve experts have an average of 10 years of experience in public relations, consulting, manufacturing, and financial industries, and they are all engaged in CSR-related work in these industries. Twelve questionnaires were distributed and collected, with a 100% return rate. Finally, a hierarchical network structure, including the interrelationships among factors, was established, as shown in Fig. 1 . The operational definitions of the three main factors and ten sub-factors were described in Tables 1 and 2 .

It includes three main factors, ten sub-factors, and the interdependence of factors.

The procedure of ANP

ANP is a scientific approach to decision-making when factors have dependencies and feedbacks, and is an extension of analytic hierarchy process (AHP) (Saaty, 2004 ). One of the assumptions of AHP is that the factors are independent of each other (Stein and Ahmad, 2009 ). However, in reality, many decision problems cannot be structured hierarchically because elements in the hierarchy involve many interactions and interdependencies. Therefore, the structure of ANP usually includes many networks of elements with interdependent relationships, which makes analysis results more realistic (Lee and Lee, 2012 ). The reason for adopting ANP in this study is that it addresses the complexities of implementing strategic CSR and provides best possible outcome for decision-making. The specific steps of ANP were shown as follows (Chung et al., 2005 ).

Step 1: Constructing the pairwise comparison matrix

In this step, a series of pairwise comparisons were conducted to determine the relative importance of factors. Paired comparisons are two-by-two comparisons of factors based on ANP questionnaire, which uses a scale of one to nine as proposed by Saaty ( 2005 ). As shown in Table 3 , a score of 1 means that two factors are equally important to each other, while a score of 9 means that one factor is extremely important compared to the other. And then, the experts in the given field were asked to judge the relative importance between factors in the questionnaire.

The pairwise comparison matrix was obtained by the judgments of experts using ANP questionnaire. If pairwise comparison matrix M is an n  ×  n matrix, then n ( n  − 1)/2 ratings should be calculated. The matrix M was established as below (Saaty, 2004 ).

where b ij is the comparison value of factor i and factor j for one expert, b ij  > 0; b ji  = 1/ b ij ; i, j  = 1, 2,…, n .

Step 2: Calculating priority vector and eigenvalue

The priority vector (also called eigenvector) and eigenvalue of each pairwise comparison matrix in ANP can be derived as in AHP by solving the following formula (Saaty, 2005 ).

where M represents a pairwise comparison matrix, w is the priority vector (eigenvector), and λ max is the largest eigenvalue of M . The priority vector w and the eigenvalue λ max can be computed by the following sub-steps (Al-Harbi, 2001 ).

Step 2-1: Dividing each comparison value of matrix M by the sum of its column to produce the normalized pairwise comparison matrix.

Step 2-2: The priority vector w can be calculated by dividing the sum of each row in the normalized pairwise comparison matrix by the number of factors in the matrix.

Step 2-3: Firstly, multiplying matrix M by priority vector w to generate the vector Mw . And then, divide the values of the vector Mw by their respective values of priority vector. Finally, the eigenvalue λ max can be calculated by averaging the values generated above.

Step 3: Consistency test

The consistency test must be implemented to ensure that there are no logical fallacies in the judgments. The consistency index (CI) and consistency ratio (CR) can be utilized to check the consistency of each matrix. The CI was formulated as follows (Saaty, 2005 ).

where n is the number of factors.

And then, the CR of each matrix can be computed as below (Saaty, 2005 ).

where the random index RI represents the random consistency of various size of matrices. The values of RI were shown as Table 4 . If CR is less than a threshold value, then the matrix has acceptable consistency. The thresholds value proposed by Saaty ( 2005 ) is 0.1.

Step 4: Building the supermatrix

To address the dependencies between factors in the research framework, ANP uses supermatrix to calculate the relative weights of factors. A supermatrix consists of a combination of sub-matrices, each of which contains dependencies of elements within each cluster and is compared cross-cluster with elements from other clusters. If there is no correlation between the elements, the pairwise comparisons in the sub-matrices are equal to zero (Saaty, 2005 ). In this study, the main factors represent clusters and the sub-factors represent elements.

As shown in Eq. ( 5 ), W ij is the eigenvectors generated by comparing the element in cluster i with the element in cluster j . If the cluster j has no effect on the cluster i , the value is equal to zero. The structure of supermatrix is generated based on this logic (Saaty, 2004 ).

The standard form for a supermatrix was shown in Eq. ( 6 ) (Saaty, 2004 ). In general, each column of this matrix is not normalized or equal to one, which makes this matrix an unweighted supermatrix.

where C h is the cluster of a decision system; h  = 1, 2,…, n , and each cluster h has m h elements, denoted by e h 1 , e h 2 ,…, e hmh .

The supermatrix needs to be column-stochastic in order for convergence to occur. To achieve this, the weighted supermatrix W’ was established after the normalization (Saaty, 2004 ). Furthermore, it is necessary to raise the weighted supermatrix to exponential powers in order to reach stabilization or convergence. The resulting matrix is called limit supermatrix W limit , as shown in Eq. ( 7 ) (Saaty, 2005 ). The form of limit supermatrix is the same as the weighted supermatrix, but each column of the limit supermatrix is the same. Finally, the global weight of each factor can be obtained in the limit supermatrix.

where k is an arbitrarily large number.

This study examines the important factors for companies to implement strategic CSR. As companies consider many aspects in practice, and each factor may be related, ANP was used to obtain the relative weight of each factor. The weights of factors in the hierarchical network structure were generated according to the steps proposed in the methodology section.

In step 1, a series of pairwise comparisons were conducted to construct pairwise comparison matrices. Paired comparisons are two-by-two comparisons of factors based on ANP questionnaire using the scale of 1 to 9 shown in Table 3 . The experts were asked to make three levels of pairwise comparisons in the questionnaire, including the comparisons between main factors, comparisons between sub-factors within each main factor, and comparisons of dependencies for main factors or sub-factors. A total of fifteen experts working in the field of CSR were selected to fill out the questionnaire. These experts have an average of 12 years of CSR-related experience, with ten from industry and five from academia, as shown in Table 5 . After collecting fifteen questionnaires, the data were imported into Excel to form the pairwise comparison matrix of each expert. Next, the pairwise comparison matrices of fifteen experts were integrated into the aggregated pairwise comparison matrices using the geometric mean method, and then imported into Super Decisions V3.2 software for subsequent analysis. Table 6 presents the aggregated pairwise comparison matrix of main factors. Table 7 , Table 8 , and Table 9 describe the aggregated pairwise comparison matrices of sub-factors within each main factor, respectively.

In step 2, the priority vector and eigenvalue λ max of each pairwise comparison matrix was computed by Eq. ( 2 ) using Super Decisions V3.2 software. And then, CR value of each matrix was calculated by Eqs. ( 3 ) and ( 4 ) in step 3. The priority vector and CR value for each matrix was also shown in Table 6 , Table 7 , Table 8 , and Table 9 . Since all CR values are less than 0.1, the consistency of each matrix is acceptable (Saaty, 2005 ). Finally, the limit supermatrix was generated based on Eqs. (6) and ( 7 ) in step 4 and shown in Table 10 . Considering the dependencies among factors and sub-factors, the global weights of sub-factors were computed using Super Decisions V3.2 software.

Table 6 shows the relative importance of three main factors without considering dependencies. “Company” has the highest weight (0.4992), “stakeholder” has a weight of 0.3310, and “competitor” has a weight of 0.1698. Tables 7 to 9 present the relative importance of sub-factors within the main factors of company, stakeholder, and competitor, respectively, regardless of the dependencies. In the “company”, the sub-factor “financial capacity” possesses the highest weight (0.4650). Within the main factor “stakeholder”, “purchase intention” is the most important sub-factor (0.4125). In the main factor “competitor”, the most critical sub-factor is “innovation ability” (0.4783).

The global weights of sub-factors were listed in Table 11 . “Corporate image” has the highest weight (0.1779), followed by “innovation ability” at 0.1653, while “reputation risk”, “financial capacity”, and “investment intention” also have higher weights at 0.1282, 0.1264, and 0.1237, respectively. These five sub-factors are key elements that companies need to consider when implementing strategic CSR. In addition, the three sub-factors at the “company” level account for 0.4028 (0.1264 + 0.0985 + 0.1779) of the global weights. The weights of sub-factors in the “stakeholder” adds up to 0.3766 (0.0944 + 0.1237 + 0.1282 + 0.0303). It can be seen that main factors “company” and “stakeholder” account for nearly 80% of the weight, and these two factors have a significant impact on the implementation of strategic CSR.

This study aims to identify the key factors affecting the implementation of strategic CSR. First, the main factors and sub-factors affecting the implementation of strategic CSR were selected based on a literature review. Subsequently, a hierarchical network structure was constructed for these factors. The ANP method was then utilized to prioritize the relative weights of each main factor and sub-factor in the hierarchical network structure. Based on the results of analysis, this section discusses three aspects of company, stakeholder, and competitor.

“Company” has the highest weight among all main factors in this study. In this main factor, “corporate image” and “financial capacity” are among the top five sub-factors with the highest weights. Primary, “corporate image” has the highest weight among all sub-factors. This finding confirms previous research that corporate image is an important factor related to CSR (Arendt and Brettel, 2010 ; Vo et al., 2019 ). The public’s overall opinion of a company is key to its sustainable operation, and intangible assets such as corporate image can provide the basis for strategic planning. Therefore, building a corporate image is an inevitable incentive for operators when planning CSR strategies.

Furthermore, “financial capacity” is ranked fourth in weighting among all sub-factors. This highlights that the financial resources available to companies impact the implementation of strategic CSR. The result is consistent with previous studies that have made similar arguments about CSR, company size, and financial situation (Branco and Rodrigues, 2006 ; Choi et al., 2018 ). Large enterprises typically have more resources, stable financials, and mature business models than start-ups; therefore, they do not need to worry about the impact of implementing CSR on their financial performance, and their solid foundation increases the likelihood that they will invest in CSR (McGuire et al., 1988 ; Brammer and Millington, 2006 ). Companies should reserve appropriate budgets for CSR strategies in advance according to their financial situation and formulate corresponding CSR strategies based on the available resources.

External groups are one of the factors that influence companies when planning CSR strategies. In this study, “stakeholder” is given secondary weight in all main factors. Among all sub-factors, “reputation risk” within the main factor “stakeholders” has the third highest weight, indicating that companies view CSR as a way of risk management. Avoiding reputational damage is one of the main motivations for enterprises to implement CSR (Branco and Rodrigues, 2006 ; Choi et al., 2018 ). The reason is that if a company’s long-established reputation is destroyed by media coverage, it will cause a great loss to the company. The best way to deal with this risk is to review and improve the company’s negligence in business processes through CSR so that the media cannot criticize the company’s reputation.

“Investment intention” has the fifth highest weighting of all sub-factors. This indicates that when a company pursues its CSR outcome, it is expected to be seen by investors as a company with greater growth potential and ultimately creates higher value for shareholders. This feature allows companies to obtain more capital from investors to support their operational activities and strategic planning (Malik, 2015 ). In fact, CSR investment has already made its mark on the financial market. Investors prefer to invest in responsible companies (Brown, 1997 ; Msiska et al., 2021 ).

Corporate strategy aims to gain a competitive advantage. The second highest weight is given to “innovation ability” among all sub-factors. The result supports the idea that a company’s ability to innovate helps implement CSR strategies and develop more business opportunities by considering the connection to environmental and social issues (Husted and Allen, 2007 ; Padgett and Galan, 2010 ). There is already a precedent for companies combining corporate innovation with social responsibility. Toyota launched a range of innovative vehicles with hybrid fuel and electric engines to address growing environmental concerns and vehicle emissions through product innovation (Iyer and Soberman, 2016 ).

Conclusions

This study integrates the strategic triangle perspective with the concept of CSR to generate strategic CSR and identify the key factors that affect the implementation of strategic CSR. The strategic CSR proposed in this study emphasizes that companies should take the initiative to integrate social responsibility with their own goals and core business while considering internal resources, stakeholders, and the competitive environment to formulate the most appropriate strategic plan. This enables companies to achieve their strategic goals while fulfilling CSR.

This study has several important managerial implications. First, by integrating strategic thinking into CSR, the scope of social responsibility is not only to fulfill the civic duties of enterprises to benefit society but also to maintain relationships with stakeholders and gain competitive advantages. Second, the hierarchical network structure proposed in this study can help CSR practitioners think about strategic CSR from a holistic perspective so that the concept of CSR can be better integrated into business strategies and become an issue to be considered when companies conduct strategic planning.

Third, the findings of this study will enable CSR practitioners to understand the relatively important factors that influence the implementation of strategic CSR and to invest resources and effort in areas related to these key factors. This enables strategic CSR to be implemented more efficiently and ultimately has the greatest impact. Finally, these results help companies comprehend how the implementation of CSR relates to their own goals and performance, and the benefits it can bring them. In this way, CSR will no longer be seen as a cost or expense but as a strategy that can help companies achieve their goals. From this perspective, companies will be more motivated than ever to fulfill their CSR, leading to better social and economic development.

Concerning its methodological contributions, the ANP method has some advantages. Primarily, ANP is an appropriate technique for solving multi-criteria decision-making problems in which there are dependencies among factors. This can simplify complex problems and effectively identify the key factors that affect the implementation of strategic CSR. Next, by applying the ANP method, which combines both qualitative and quantitative information, a precise hierarchical network structure was proposed to systematically examine these factors. Finally, because ANP uses pairwise comparisons derived from the judgments of experts, accurate weights of the main factors and sub-factors can be generated based on professional considerations.

Nevertheless, this study has some limitations that should be examined in future research. Primarily, the main factors and sub-factors were selected from the literature review, which may have confined the range of factors that could be selected. Future research could combine a literature review with other methods, such as focus group, nominal group technique, and in-depth interviews, to identify additional factors. Furthermore, this study uses ANP as a single method to establish a hierarchical network structure for determining the key factors influencing strategic CSR implementation. Future research could further consider the ambiguity associated with the judgments of experts and incorporate fuzzy numbers into the ANP method to evaluate the relative weights of factors.

Data availability

The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Wu, CC., Cheng, FC. & Sheh, DY. Exploring the factors affecting the implementation of corporate social responsibility from a strategic perspective. Humanit Soc Sci Commun 10 , 179 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-023-01664-4

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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

The impact of corporate social responsibility performance feedback on corporate social responsibility performance.

• 1 Department of International Trade, Sunchon National University, Suncheon, South Korea
• 2 Department of Global Business, Hanshin University, Osan, South Korea

This study empirically analyzes how corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance feedback impacts CSR performance, focusing on the performance feedback perspective of behavioral theory of the firm (BTOF). By performing generalized least squares (GLS) regression analysis based on Korean company data from 2012 to 2019, we presented evidence that positive social and historical performance feedback had a positive effect on CSR performance. Our results provide evidence that firms with higher social and historical CSR performance than CSR aspiration may have higher CSR performance than those that do not.

Introduction

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) can be defined as a firm’s core strategy for voluntarily reflecting social and environmental concerns in the operation of the business to interact with various stakeholders ( Wang et al., 2018 , p. 68). CSR has attracted scholarly attention, and CSR has increased gradually owing to the growing, recent perception that sustainability is crucial for a firm’s long-term growth and survival ( Bahta et al., 2021 ). Many researchers and managers are prioritizing CSR to create a sustainable competitive advantage ( Lee and Lee, 2019 ; Kim and Kim, 2020 ; Matten and Moon, 2020 ). However, the degree and pattern of CSR activities performed by firms vary greatly among firms, and CSR performance due to CSR activities also vary greatly from firm to firm. Therefore, many scholars have attempted to identify corporate decisions to participate in CSR activities and determinants of CSR performance ( Kim and Kim, 2020 ; Yuan et al., 2020 ; Ben-Amar et al., 2021 ). The previous studies have stressed that firms participate in CSR activities to increase stakeholder value based on the stakeholder theory, arguing that firm CSR performance is eventually related to the financial firm performance ( Hillman and Keim, 2001 ; Kim et al., 2019 ). Conversely, based on the trade-off theory, other scholars emphasize that CSR activities negatively affect financial performance as they force firms to spend unnecessary money and eventually worsen profitability ( McWilliams and Siegel, 2001 ; Moore, 2001 ; López et al., 2007 ).

Meanwhile, many scholars in the field of organizational theory and strategic management have used the performance feedback perspective based on the behavioral theory of the firm (hereafter, BTOF), which has been presented as a major theoretical basis for explaining corporate performance ( Cyert and March, 1963 ). From the BTOF aspect, the difference between a firm’s actual performance and aspiration level of performance, that is, attainment discrepancy, affects firm strategy or behavior ( Cyert and March, 1963 ). Attainment discrepancy is crucial in the performance feedback model of the BTOF. Moreover, the performance feedback model is considered to evaluate one’s performance based on the level of performance that firms aspire to Cyert and March (1963) and Alessandri and Pattit (2014) . Essentially, based on the actual firm performance compared and evaluated based on the performance of the aspiration level, the CEO determines the effectiveness of the current firm strategy ( Audia and Greve, 2006 ; Lu and Wong, 2019 ). Applying these discussions to the CSR context, the strategic behaviors that firms can choose may vary depending on whether CSR performance is high or low compared to aspiration level. However, previous studies that have sufficiently discussed this are scarce. Additionally, the difference between CSR aspiration level and actual CSR performance, that is, the effect of attainment discrepancy on CSR performance, remains unclear.

As Nason et al. (2018) highlighted the discussion on social performance feedback compared to financial performance feedback is lacking and attempts to examine how a firm’s strategic behavior changes according to corporate non-financial social performance feedback have been relatively insufficient. Few studies have attempted to apply the performance feedback perspective of BTOF to the CSR context ( Arora and Dharwadkar, 2011 ). For example, Arora and Dharwadkar (2011) found that attainment discrepancy moderates the relationship between corporate governance and CSR based on the BTOF perspective. However, in the study of Arora and Dharwadkar (2011) , since attainment discrepancy was measured based on the financial performance, there is a big difference from our study that measures attainment discrepancy based on the CSR performance. Additionally, Xu and Zeng (2020) are similar to this study in that it investigates the relationship between CSR’s attainment discrepancy and CSR performance, not financial performance. However, their study considers only the social corporate social performance (CSP) aspiration level, while ours study includes both social and historical CSP aspiration levels.

To fill this research gap, this study investigates the impact of CSR performance feedback on future CSR performance. We present the following research questions. First, how does positive CSR performance feedback (positive attainment discrepancy wherein CSR performance exceeds CSR aspiration levels) affect future CSR performance? Second, how does negative CSR performance feedback (negative attainment discrepancy in which CSR performance is below CSR aspiration levels) affect future CSR performance?

Theoretical Background and Hypothesis Development

Performance feedback and corporate social responsibility performance.

One of the main theories explaining firm CSR performance is the perspective of performance feedback of BTOF. In the BTOF perspective, organizations form levels of aspiration for their goals and choose courses of their actions that can help them to achieve that level of aspiration ( Cyert and March, 1963 ; Kotiloglu et al., 2020 ). The BTOF emphasizes organizational processes such as performance evaluation, search, and decision-making ( Cyert and March, 1963 ; Greve, 2003 ). Considering performance feedback from the BTOF, as organizations are considered a goal-directed system ( Chen and Miller, 2007 ) using simple decision-making rules to change their activities, the firm will evaluate their performance based on aspiration levels and respond differently depending on whether performance is higher or lower ( Cyert and March, 1963 ; Greve, 2003 ). According to the perspective of performance feedback, aspiration levels are the reference point for evaluating the organizational performance ( Kotiloglu et al., 2020 ). In other words, the aspiration level becomes the criterion for decision makers to judge satisfaction and dissatisfaction with their strategic results ( Simon, 1955 ). By evaluating one’s performance using aspiration level as a reference point, organizations that recognize its success or failure can change the direction and scope of organizational search to enhance performance ( Greve, 2003 ). Aspiration level can be divided into the historical and social aspiration levels. The former is formed through past experience organizational experience and latter through comparison with the reference group ( Cyert and March, 1963 ; Greve, 1998 ). Historical aspiration (HA) level considers the organization’s past experience as a major reference point, mainly by comparing current performance with the organization’s past performance ( Greve, 2003 ). Conversely, the social aspiration level is determined by comparing the performance of the reference group with that of the firm. Studies have emphasized that both historical and social aspiration level should be considered ( Bromiley, 1991 ; Greve, 1998 ). Hence, this study considers both historical and social aspiration levels. The decision maker determines the type of search, such as problemistic or slack search, through the process of comparing aspiration level and one’s performance. If firm performance does not reach the aspiration level, this signals the decision maker that a problem has occurred in the current organization and prompts a problemistic search that makes efforts to compensate for the current performance that falls short of expectations. In this problemistic search process, decision makers make decisions to take more risks and actively solve problems. Conversely, if a firm’s performance exceeds its aspiration level, decision makers feel no need to change because they see the current situation as profitable and tend to maintain or wait and monitor the current situation ( Cyert and March, 1963 ). When a firm’s performance exceeds its aspiration level, it conducts slack search even if it conducts search, and firms hope that the current situation will be maintained ( Cyert and March, 1963 ; Greve, 2003 ). We attempt to apply this discussion to the CSR context in this study. In this study, CSR performance feedback was considered a major antecedent factor in CSR performance as decision makers can make different decisions related to CSR depending on whether a firm’s CSR performance is high (positive) or low (negative) compare with their CRS aspiration level.

Research Hypotheses

In this study, the difference in the CSR performance compared to the CSR aspiration level of a firm (positive or negative attainment discrepancy) influences the firm’s strategy or behaviors related to CSR according to the BTOF’s performance feedback perspective. Particularly, when a firm’s CSR performance is low compared to CSR aspiration level (negative CSR performance feedback), firm decision-makers may recognize low CSR performance as an important problem and conduct problemistic search to improve it ( Zhong and Ren, 2021 ). Here, CSR aspiration level can be divided into historical and social CSR aspiration level. Decision makers with bounded rationality can make appropriate decisions by comparing past and present CSR performance. Hence, this CSR aspiration level can consider the historical CSR aspiration level. Additionally, decision makers with bounded rationality can make CSR-related decisions by comparing the CSR performance of their reference groups with their CSR performance. Hence, the CSR aspiration level simultaneously becomes the social CSR aspiration level. Many previous studies emphasize that negative performance feedback generates the problemistic search ( Cyert and March, 1963 ). The problemistic search can be considered a solution for firms having lower performance relative to aspiration level ( Iyer and Miller, 2008 ; Posen et al., 2018 ; Choi J. et al., 2019 ). In addition, performance below the aspiration level tends to cause firms to solve problems faced by encouraging more innovative activities ( Lu and Wong, 2019 ). If the CSR performance is low as compared to the CSR aspiration levels, firms may be threatened with legitimacy for CSR, and the need to secure legitimate CSR for sustainable growth and survival increases ( DiMaggio and Powell, 1983 ; Du and Vieira, 2012 ). Receiving negative performance feedback may reduce external stakeholders’ trust in the corporate decision makers. Additionally, receiving negative feedback can further strengthen external pressure requiring stakeholders to achieve their goals, limiting management autonomy ( Arora and Dharwadkar, 2011 ). Therefore, receiving negative CSR performance feedback may motivate firms to spend more CSR costs to minimize the negative impact and restore legitimacy and trust from stakeholders. In the end, the negative CSR performance feedback could have a positive effect on CSR performance ( Park, 2007 ; Kim et al., 2015 ; Xu and Zeng, 2020 ). Hence, the following hypothesis was derived.

H1 : Negative CSR performance feedback (in that as CSR performance falls below CSR aspiration level) is positively related to CSR performance.

Conversely, according to the performance feedback perspective of BTOF, when a firm’s financial performance exceeds aspiration level, decision-makers feel no need to change because they see the current situation as profits ( Lu and Fang, 2013 ). As firms have already achieved their high level of financial performance they aspire to, decision-makers are unaware of the need for additional search to take additional risks and further enhance financial performance ( Audia et al., 2000 ). Managers do not perceive their financial performance as a problem if their financial performance exceeds their aspiration level. Hence, even if they conduct a search, they will attempt to maintain the current situation by mainly conducting a slack search. These conservative tendencies of decision-makers have been confirmed in many previous studies. For example, Greve (1998) emphasized that as a result of conducting an empirical analysis on the US radio industry, if firm performance is higher than the aspiration level, the probability of strategic change becomes exceedingly lower. Basically, when financial performance is generally higher than the aspiration level, firms will tend to maintain the phenomenon without making additional efforts to improve financial performance ( Lucas et al., 2018 ). However, considering that CSR requires fulfilling a non-financial aspect of a firm, a slightly different discussion is possible in the CSR context. CSR needs to consider a wide range of stakeholders who have relationships with firms as it goes beyond the general responsibility that firms must legally comply with and includes ethical and moral responsibilities. When firm CSR performance is high compared to the CSR aspiration level, stakeholders related to the firm can show trust in firm decision makers. This provides decision makers with more discretion over resource allocation ( Arora and Dharwadkar, 2011 ). If firm decision makers are satisfied with the current situation and reduce the budget or expenditure required for CSR activities, stakeholders may doubt the authenticity of the activities. As CSR is related to the perceptions of various stakeholders, including consumers, even if CSR performance is higher than CSR aspiration levels, firm decision makers can have a positive impact on CSR performance by continuously spending CSR costs to ensure legitimacy without reducing CSR commitment. This argument can also be confirmed in the previous empirical studies. Xu and Zeng (2020) conducted empirical analysis on Japanese companies in anticipation of a negative impact on philanthropic/environmental expenditure if they performed higher than the level of philanthropic/environmental aspirations of firms. However, owing to empirical analysis, and contrary to the authors’ expectations, empirical analysis results were presented wherein positive attainment discrepancy in corporate philanthropic/environmental performance had positive effect on philanthropic/environmental expenditure, respectively. Additionally, when a slack search is performed compared to a problematic search, slack resources will likely be formed because of the additional room for resource utilization. Firms with abundant organizational slack resources can enable more experimentation and organizational change than those that do not ( March, 1981 ). If a firm receives positive CSR performance feedback, it can secure authenticity and legitimacy for CSR activities from stakeholders, including consumers, and can perform more experimental and active CSR activities to strengthen their positive corporate image. Therefore, positive CSR performance feedback could have a positive effect on CSR performance. We propose the following hypothesis:

H2 : Positive CSR performance feedback (in that as CSR performance rises above CSR aspiration level) is positively related to CSR performance.

Research Methods

Sample and data.

In this study, we matched the Korea Economic Justice Research Institute (KEJI) index and firm-level information to those firms selected in the top 200 selected by the KEJI ( Oh et al., 2019 ). Data were collected from archival data sources such as KIS-Value, TS2000, DART as an electronic disclosure system, and KEJI for KEJI index. Our initial sample was obtained from KEJI for 2012 to 2019 and merged these firms with financial data using KIS-Value and TS2000. Our final dataset comprises 1091 observations for 8 years of publicly listed firms on Korea Stock Exchange (KSE) from 2012 to 2019. We employed a 1-year lagged structure between dependent and independent variables and control variables to avoid any reverse causality ( Oh et al., 2019 ).

Variables and Measurement

Dependent variable.

CSR performance was measured in various ways in previous studies, using scores announced by specific organizations ( Jung and Kim, 2016 ; Jeong et al., 2018 ) or the donation amount or donation ratios ( Choi Y. K. et al., 2019 ; Wang et al., 2021 ). Following earlier studies ( Jung and Kim, 2016 ; Chang et al., 2017 ; Jeong et al., 2018 ; Oh et al., 2019 ), as the proxy for the social corporate responsibility performance for this study, we used the KEJI index, which is announced annually. The KEJI index is one of the representative CSR performance indicators used in Korean studies ( Oh et al., 2019 ) and is similar to the index such as Kinder, Lydenberg which evaluate the CSR index of S&P 500 ( Jung and Kim, 2016 ).

Since 1991, the KEJI has developed its own evaluation model. CSR performance is quantitatively calculated using accounting information data for KOSPI-listed companies. KEJI has evaluated various aspects and characteristics for selecting the 200 largest companies in Korea ( Jung and Kim, 2016 ). The KEJI index consists of six criteria with a total score of 100 points: soundness (25 points), fairness (20 points), contribution to social service (15 points), consumer protection satisfaction (15 points), environmental protection satisfaction (10 points), and employee satisfaction (15 points). Until 2011, contribution to economic development was included in the KEJI index. However, in 2012, the corresponding item was removed from the index. This study measured the CSR performance as the dependent variable by using the total score of KEJI ( Jung and Kim, 2016 ; Jeong et al., 2018 ; Oh et al., 2019 ).

Independent Variables

Corporate social responsibility performance feedback: We analyzed CSR performance feedback using CSR performance instead of corporate financial performance to measure corporate CSR performance feedback ( Xu and Zeng, 2020 ; Wang et al., 2021 ). The amount of donation was widely used to proxy CSR performance in earlier studies ( Choi Y. K. et al., 2019 ; Wang et al., 2021 ), we used each firm’s donation amount to measure CSR performance aspiration. In this study, performance feedback was classified into two types, HA level and social aspiration level. Both effects were analyzed accordingly ( Manzaneque et al., 2020 ).

Social aspiration (SA) was measured as the average donation expenditure of firms in the same industry except for the focal firm based on two-digit level of the KSIC codes ( Greve, 2003 ; Manzaneque et al., 2020 ; Xu and Zeng, 2020 ; Ye et al., 2021 ). Following previous studies ( Manzaneque et al., 2020 ; Ye et al., 2021 ), HA was measured by the difference between a firm’s CSR performance and past aspiration level and is measured as each firm’s amount of donation in year t-1.

Based on the previous research on the performance feedback formulas ( Xu and Zeng, 2020 ), we measured the positive CSR performance feedback and negative CSR performance feedback for both social and historical CSR performance feedback.

Positive CSR Performance Feedback i

=CSR Performance i − Aspiration i if CSR Performance i > Aspiration i

= 0 if CSR Performance i ≤ Aspiration i

Negative CSR Performance Feedback i

= Aspiration i − CSR Performance i if CSR Performance i < Aspiration i

= 0 if CSR Performance i ≥ Aspiration i

; where i = focal firm

Control Variables

We controlled for firm- and industry-level factors that could affect a CSR. Generally, large-size firms receive most of the social attention, increasing stakeholder pressure, and imposing high expectations for socially responsible behavior ( Xu and Zeng, 2020 ). Therefore, in this study, firm size was included as a control variable, and firm size was measured as a log value of total sales ( Attig et al., 2016 ; Chang et al., 2017 ; Xu and Zeng, 2020 ).

The previous studies have reported that firm age has a positive or negative relationship with corporate CSR performance ( Chang et al., 2017 ). Hence, to control for the age of the firm, we included firm age as the control variable by measuring the number of years since the firm establishment ( Xu and Zeng, 2020 ).

The previous studies argued that firm financial status has great influence on the CSR performance ( Chang et al., 2017 ). Therefore, return on asset (ROA), a representative measure of firm financial performance, was included as a control variable ( Xu and Zeng, 2020 ). ROA was measured by dividing net income by total assets ( Chang et al., 2017 ; Jeong et al., 2018 ).

Slack influences the search behavior of the behavioral theory of the firm ( Greve, 2003 ; Chen, 2008 ). To control for the effect of potential slack on CSR performance of financial position, the debt-to-equity ratio of the firm was controlled ( Chen, 2008 ).

Tobin’s Q was included as a proxy for corporate value ( Jeong et al., 2018 ; Wang et al., 2021 ), and Tobin’s Q is a representative proxy for market value, reflecting the firm’s future profits ( Cho et al., 2019 ). Tobin’s Q was calculated as follows.

Since the degree of the internationalization of the firm acts as a pressure to improve corporate CSR ( Attig et al., 2016 ; Xu and Zeng, 2020 ), the degree of internationalization of a firm was included as a control variable. Hence, we measured the level of internationalization by the ratio of foreign to total sales (FSTS), the most representative indicator of the degree of the internationalization ( Attig et al., 2016 ).

In this study, the industry rivalry, the industry annual sales growth rate and the industry dummy were included in the analysis to control for industry differences owing to the different characteristics of each industry ( Chen, 2008 ). To control for the rivalry within an industry, the degree of competition within the industry was measured by a number of firms in each industry according to previous studies ( Lee et al., 2009 ; Ye et al., 2021 ). The industry dummy was controlled by making each industry a dummy variable based on the three-digit level (middle-level) of the KSIC code.

Statistical Analysis

Since data for this study are panel data, and both cross-sectional and time series analysis are required. Additionally, because of potential heteroskedasticity and serial correlation problem in panel data, generalized least squares (GLS) regression analysis is suitable for this study ( Lee et al., 2009 ; Wang et al., 2021 ). The Hausman Test was conducted to select an accurate analysis method. The analysis shows that the random-effect model was considered a more efficient estimating equation than fixed-effect model. Thus, we ran random-effects GLS regression to test our hypotheses.

Table 1 shows the descriptive statistics and correlation coefficients of our study. To test for multicollinearity, we calculated the variance inflation factor (VIF) ( Oh et al., 2019 ). The result shows that the VIF value was less than 2 in all models, indicating that there is no multicollinearity problem ( Chatterjee et al., 2000 ).

Table 1. Descriptive statistics and correlations.

Table 2 shows the results of random effect GLS analysis performed for testing the hypothesis which anticipates the effect of performance feedback on CSR performance. Before examining the hypothesis test results, among the control variables, the variables confirmed to have a statistically significant influence on the CSR performance were firm size, slack, Tobin’s Q, industry sales growth, and industry rivalry.

Table 2. Random effects GLS model (full sample).

According to Model 1 in Table 2 , firm size had a positive impact on CSR performance ( p ≤ 0.001). This implies that large-size firms receive most of the social attention, which, in turn, increases stakeholder pressure. Therefore, those firms are highly expected to exhibit socially responsible behavior (Choi et al., 2018; Xu and Zeng, 2020 ). The corporate value measured as Tobin’s Q was found to be a positive effect on the CSR performance ( p ≤ 0.05). This may attributable to visibility and can be explained as similar to the logic of the effect of the firm size on the CRS performance.

Conversely, firm slack resource was found to have a negative (-) impact on CSR performance ( p ≤ 0.01). As we measured the slack resource as a debt ratio, a high debt ratio may represent the perception of resource which, in turn, may discourage firms to invest in CSR towing to resource constraints. This result remains consistent with that of Attig et al. (2016) , wherein the negative relationship between slack and CSR performance and potential slack calculated as the ratio of total debt to total equity was demonstrated to represent that situation, as the more debt the firm has, the less money they can borrow. Also, the control variables for industry, among industry sales growth had a positive (+) effect on the CSR performance ( p ≤ 0.01). This result shows that the higher industry sales growth means firms in this industry participate more in CSR.

Hypothesis 1 predicted that negative CSR performance feedback in that CSR performance falling below CSR aspiration level is positively related to CSR performance. Hypothesis 2 predicted that positive CSR performance feedback in that as CSR performance rises above the CSR aspiration level is positively related to CSR performance. Our results in Model 2 of Table 2 showed that both positive social performance and historical performance feedbacks were confirmed to have a statistically significant positive effect on the CSR performance ( p ≤ 0.01 and p ≤ 0.01, respectively). However, both negative historical and social performance feedback are not statistically significant to CSR performance. Therefore, Hypothesis 1 was not supported, and Hypothesis 2 was supported.

Additional Analysis

We performed additional analysis to confirm our empirical results. The sample of this study includes both manufacturing and non-manufacturing industries because 200 companies with excellent CSR activities selected by the Economic Justice Research Institute were targeted. Considering the claims of previous studies that manufacturing is a core industry in Korea and the influence of CSR in manufacturing is stronger in manufacturing ( Chung et al., 2018 ), an additional analysis was conducted only on manufacturing to confirm the result of the entire sample.

Table 3 shows the results of testing the hypothesis by classifying samples of firms in the manufacturing industry. The results of analyzing only firms in the manufacturing industry showed that both the positive social performance feedback and the historical performance feedback had a positive (+) effect on the CSR performance ( p ≤ 0.01 and p ≤ 0.05, respectively).

Table 3. Random effects GLS model (manufacturing industry).

Discussion and Conclusion

Considering the growing social interest in CSR, this study contributes to CSR literature by analyzing the CSR determinants from the BTOF perspective. Based on the perspective of the BTOF and RBV, this study empirically analyzed the CSR performance feedback on CSR performance. To test the hypotheses, we performed GLS regression analysis based on 2012–2019 Korean company data. We found that positive social and historical performance feedback had a positive effect on CSR performance. Our results showed that positive social and historical performance feedback have positive impact on the CSR performance. These results imply that the difference in CSR performance compared to a firm’s CSR aspiration level (positive or negative attainment discrepancy) influences the firm’s strategy or behavior related to CSR according to the performance feedback perspective of BTOF. Especially, if a firm receives positive CSR performance feedback, they increase their efforts in CSR activities to secure authenticity and legitimacy for CSR activities from stakeholders. This includes consumers and can perform more experimental and active CSR activities to strengthen their positive corporate image ( Jeong et al., 2018 ; Vogler and Eisenegger, 2021 ).

This study provides the following theoretical and empirical contributions to CSR and BTOF research fields. First, this study contributes to CSR literature by applying BTOF discussions to the CSR context by theorizing the performance feedback as the significant determinants to CSR performance and empirically testing the relationship between two variables. Specifically, this study showed that the strategic behaviors that firms choose may vary depending on whether CSR performance is high or low compared to aspiration level. Additionally, we examined both the historical and social aspirations of CSR performance feedback on CSR performance. By doing so, this research empirically confirms both the historical and social aspirations of CSR attainment on CSR performance.

Second, our study expands BTOF literature by examining the CSR aspiration of both historical and social aspiration level and its performance implication. According to a recent study, it is argued that it is not advisable to use a combination of the two variables because historical aspirations and social aspirations are fundamentally different in terms of their characteristics and influence ( Deb et al., 2019 ). The previous studies have not sufficiently addressed the effect of the CSR performance feedback and the difference between CSR aspiration level and actual CSR performance. Thus, we answer a recent call for more research examining the CSR performance feedback research. As Nason et al. (2018) highlighted the discussion on the social performance feedback compared to financial performance feedback is considerably lacking. Attempts to examine how a firm’s strategic behavior changes according to corporate non-financial social performance feedback have been relatively insufficient so far.

Despite the above-mentioned contributions, this study has several limitations as follows. First, as this study examined CSR aspiration level on the CSR performance of Korean firms, generalization in interpreting the results may be difficult. Therefore, future research should investigate whether this study’s results can be generalized to countries other than Korea. Particularly, as the degree of social interest by country in corporate CSR—along with the pressure received by firms—may vary, future research should examine the relationship between CSR aspiration based on the BTOF on CSR performance using a more diverse sample of countries. Second, the sample of this study is 200 companies with excellent CSR activities selected by the Economic Justice Research Institute. We used the sample that matched the KEJI index and firm-level information to those firms selected in the top 200 selected by KEJI, there may be a problem of a sample selection bias ( Oh et al., 2019 ). Third, CSR activities are related to the use of significant resources. The type of slack resource is highly likely to affect CSR results from the BTOF perspective ( Greve, 2003 ). Although this study could not consider the moderating role of these slack resources, analyzing the moderating role of various types of slack resources on this research context in future studies will be promising. Fourth, corporate reputation can be considered the strategic assets held by firms that are a source of a sustainable competitive advantage ( Wernerfelt, 1984 ; Barney, 1991 ; Roberts and Dowling, 2002 ; Eberl and Schwaiger, 2005 ), which, in turn, may have impact on CSR performance. Therefore, future research should examine the impact of corporate reputation on CSR performance. Finally, this study could not consider the impact of corporate governance as a control variable. Hence, we recommend exploring corporate governance as a control variable in future research.

Data Availability Statement

The raw data supporting the conclusions of this article will be made available by the authors, without undue reservation.

Author Contributions

J-EL and YY contributed to conception and design of the study, and wrote the first draft of the manuscript. YY organized the database, performed the statistical analysis, and wrote “Research Methods” and “Discussion and Conclusion” sections of the manuscript. J-EL wrote “Introduction” and “Theoretical Background and Hypothesis Development” sections of the manuscript. Both authors contributed to manuscript revision, read, and approved the submitted version.

This work was supported by the Hanshin University Research Grant.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Publisher’s Note

All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

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Keywords : performance feedback, aspiration, corporate social performance, behavioral theory of the firm (BTOF), CSR

Citation: Lee J-E and Yang YS (2022) The Impact of Corporate Social Responsibility Performance Feedback on Corporate Social Responsibility Performance. Front. Psychol. 13:893193. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.893193

Received: 10 March 2022; Accepted: 04 April 2022; Published: 18 May 2022.

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Copyright © 2022 Lee and Yang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) . The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

*Correspondence: Young Soo Yang, [email protected]

Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

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• Corporate Social Responsibility for Development Through Sport The research was conducted to address the paucity apparent in the evaluation of CSR. The results could avail vital information on how development was realized from CSR and sports.
• Lack of Humanistic Perspective and Social Responsibility Most of the reporting of accidents done in print and television-based mass communication mediums is impersonal and does not hold regard for the loss of human life.
• Social Responsibility: Term Definition Social responsibility is about how business aligns their values and behavior with the expectations and needs of stakeholders and not just customers and investors but also employees.
• Components and Strategies of Implementing Social Responsibility This paper examines the various components and strategies of implementing social responsibility within an organization and how their interaction can bring about change in society.
• Y Health and Wellness Studio: Technology Plan, Management, and Social Responsibility Y Health and Wellness Studio business has integrated software and hardware technological devices to support its service delivery to its clients, who are young children.
• Ethics and Social Responsibility in Organizations Social responsibility and ethics are the integral components of organizational performance; they play a relevant part in developing a company’s strategic plan.
• Social Responsibility: Starbucks, New Belgium Brewing and CVS The commitment to social responsibility manifests itself in the attitude to employees, partners, and natural resources.
• Climate Change and Social Responsibility in the UAE The UAE is rapidly developing for several decades already, which has a positive influence on the well-being of the population.
• Best Buy Co.’s Corporate Social Responsibilities Best-Buy is a multinational consumer electronic goods seller. This paper analyzes the corporate social responsibilities that the company has enacted.
• Corporate Social Responsibility Practices Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is one of the best practices. This chapter identifies CSR as “a corporation’s duty to create its wealth using methods that enhance social welfare”.
• Implementation of the Corporate Social Responsibility Strategy Corporate social responsibility is a relevant initiative towards promoting new social actions. The chapter explains why corporate culture supports the business goals of many organizations.
• Social Responsibility in Strategic Plan Development Businesses in the energy sector have the role of conducting their businesses ethically as they play a vital role in the world’s economic, social, and political development.
• Corporate Social Responsibility and Work Ethics It has always been the general belief in the corporate world that managers “primarily have a duty to maximize shareholder returns”.
• Saudi Commerical Banks’ Corporate Social Responsibility In recent years, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has increased the awareness of corporate social responsibility tremendously, giving it a broad understanding.
• Workforce Activities and Corporate Social Responsibility This paper examines how the notion of workforce activities can be supported using efficient leadership strategies.
• Gender-Based Social Responsibilities and Structure Many sociologists downplay the importance of biological determinants within the context of how people address their gender-based social responsibilities.
• Corporate Social Responsibility and Corporate Finance The modern business world can be characterized by a considerable focus on corporate social responsibility. This paper deals with the ways financial companies use to be corporate citizens.
• Host Europe Company’s Corporate Social Responsibility Major CSR issues of Host Europe include underrepresentation of female employees, insufficient staff awareness of green practices, and inefficient energy consumption.
• Social Responsibility Attitude and Business Ethics The paper evaluates Company Q’s current attitude towards social responsibility, before recommending some actions that the company could take to improve its attitude.
• Corporate Social Responsibility Concept Definition Corporate social responsibility can be defined as something meant to divert people’s attention from the process of transnational corporations to take over political power.
• Social Responsibility of Management The application of the moral code takes the form of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) which is the application of internal self-regulating practices by a business.
• Defining Corporate Social Responsibility: Vision and Values The corporate social responsibility, which the promotion and enhancement of the company’s vision and values leads to, can be viewed as a major building block for the design.
• Techno Company’s Corporate Social Responsibility Using Techno Company as a case study, the discussion in this paper will show that CSR is just another form of PR for companies that wish to get an edge on their competitors.
• A Stakeholder Approach to Corporate Social Responsibility In order to improve the stakeholder relationship, as well as the overall management of the organization, one will have to consider the integration of the basic principles of CSR.
• Walmart Stores’ Corporate Social Responsibility The paper discusses how Wal-Mart Stores invested in and assessed its corporate social responsibility and what assessment they used to measure the effectiveness of their programs.
• Business Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility: When Corporate Values Must Be Upgraded a Few Notches Even though the principles of ethical behavior in business have been in use for quite a while, there are still debates concerning the definition of the term.
• Marketing: Social Responsibility and the Law The deodorant was bought from a South American company at an obviously lower value than the economic value of the deodorant.
• Concept and Role of Corporate Social Responsibility This paper would go to analyse the business ethics, corporate social responsibility and employee behavior in different countries.
• Can Corporate Social Responsibility Promote Employees Taking Charge?
• What Are Examples of Social Responsibility?
• Can Environmental Corporate Social Responsibility Reduce Firms Idiosyncratic Risk?
• How and When Does Corporate Social Responsibility Affect Employees’ Organizational Identification?
• Does Corporate Social Responsibility Affect Firms’ Performance?
• What Are the Four Types of Social Responsibility?
• Why Is Social Responsibility So Important?
• What Are the Four Main Benefits of Social Responsibility?
• Does Corporate Social Responsibility Contribute to Strengthen Brand Equity
• How Corporate Social Responsibility Can Affect Consumers’ Attitudes and Behavior?
• What Is the Social Responsibility of a Country?
• What Are Three Examples of a Companies Social Responsibility?
• Which Countries Have Corporate Social Responsibility?
• How Does Corporate Social Responsibility Contribute to Firm Financial Performance?
• How Does Corporate Social Responsibility Create Customer Loyalty?
• What Is the Vision of Corporate Social Responsibility in Europe?
• What Is the Future of Corporate Social Responsibility?
• What Are the Social Responsibility Issues in Today’s World?
• Why Corporate Social Responsibility Is Increasing?
• What Are the Main Challenges of Corporate Social Responsibility for Businesses in Today’s Market?
• How Should Civil Society and the Government Respond to “Corporate Social Responsibility”?
• What Are Luxury Brands Doing About Social Responsibility?
• Should the Voluntary Approach to Corporate Social Responsibility Be Replaced?
• Why and How Does Social Responsibility Differ Among SMEs?
• Why Do Banks Undertake Corporate Social Responsibility?
• Why Do Firms Perform Differently in Corporate Social Responsibility?
• What Are the Three Concepts of Social Responsibility?
• Is Corporate Social Responsibility Relevant Today?
• What Is the Barriers to Social Responsibility?
• What Is Social Responsibility in School?

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StudyCorgi . "147 Social Responsibility Topics." September 9, 2021. https://studycorgi.com/ideas/social-responsibility-essay-topics/.

StudyCorgi . 2021. "147 Social Responsibility Topics." September 9, 2021. https://studycorgi.com/ideas/social-responsibility-essay-topics/.

These essay examples and topics on Social Responsibility were carefully selected by the StudyCorgi editorial team. They meet our highest standards in terms of grammar, punctuation, style, and fact accuracy. Please ensure you properly reference the materials if you’re using them to write your assignment.

This essay topic collection was updated on January 9, 2024 .