Organizational slack and corporate social performance: Empirical evidence from China’s public firms

2014 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 181-198 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erming Xu ◽  
Hui Yang ◽  
J. Martina Quan ◽  
Yuan Lu
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Evidence ◽  
Corporate Social Performance ◽  
Social Performance ◽  
Organizational Slack ◽  
Public Firms ◽  
Corporate Social

scholarly journals Legitimacy, Visibility, and the Antecedents of Corporate Social Performance: An Investigation of the Instrumental Perspective

2009 ◽  
Vol 37 (6) ◽  
pp. 1558-1585 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shih-Chi Chiu ◽  
Mark Sharfman
Keyword(s):  
Institutional Theory ◽  
Conceptual Framework ◽  
Economic Performance ◽  
Cost Of Capital ◽  
Corporate Social Performance ◽  
Social Performance ◽  
Organizational Slack ◽  
Multiple Stakeholders ◽  
Corporate Social

Using institutional theory as the foundation, this study examines the role of organizational visibility from a variety of sources (i.e., slack visibility, industry visibility, and visibility to multiple stakeholders) in influencing corporate social performance (CSP). The conceptual framework offers important insights regarding the instrumental motives of managers in performing CSP initiatives. Based on a sample of 124 S&P 500 firms, the authors found that it is a firm’s visibility to stakeholders, rather than its economic performance, that has the larger impact on managers’ decisions regarding how much CSP their firms exhibit. The results show that more profitable firms may not be motivated to engage actively in CSP unless they are under greater scrutiny by various firm stakeholders. The authors also found that organizational slack (estimated as cost of capital) is positively associated with a Social CSP dimension but negatively associated with a Strategic CSP dimension. This research contributes to the current CSP literature by demonstrating that motivations in addition to normative or ethical ones may be at play in the decisions firms make regarding their CSP.

Estimating the hidden corporate social performance of Japanese firms

2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 348-362 ◽  
Author(s):  
Megumi Suto ◽  
Hitoshi Takehara
Keyword(s):  
Financial Performance ◽  
Corporate Social Performance ◽  
Social Performance ◽  
Estimation Model ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Public Firms ◽  
Research Perspective ◽  
Stable Relationship ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Corporate Social

Purpose Managers sometimes hide their level of corporate social performance (CSP) from investors, intentionally or unintentionally. The purpose of this study is to estimate such “hidden CSP” of firms. Design/methodology/approach In this study, it is assumed that Japanese public firms can be classified into two groups based on the difference in corporate social responsibility (CSR) awareness. Thus, the respondents to the CSR questionnaire survey are classified as the CSR-aware group, and the non-respondents are treated as the CSR-unaware group. It is further assumed that a significant relationship exists between CSP and a firm’s attributes, including financial performance and stock ownership. Under these assumptions, a model to estimate the CSP of non-respondents is constructed using the relationship between CSP and a firm’s observable attributes. Findings There is a significant latent gap between the CSP of respondents and the hidden CSP of non-respondents because of differences in firm size, foreign dependency of business and reputation and trust in the financial markets, rather than because of differences in financial performance. Insider-oriented ownership structures are negatively associated with CSP. Research limitations/implications The estimation model developed in this study depends on a set of assumptions. In particular, a stable relationship between CSP and firm-specific variables, i.e. there is no structural change during the observation period, is assumed. Despite these limitations, this study extends the CSR research perspective, as it makes it possible to estimate the hidden CSP of public firms. Practical implications In practice, the findings of this study surface a part of the missing CSR that investors need and that could alert non-respondent firms to the importance of CSR strategy and related disclosures to adapt to rapidly changing social and environmental business settings. Originality/value This study is the result of academic interest in examining the missing information related to CSR activities to obtain an overall picture of the CSP distribution of Japanese listed firms as a whole.

scholarly journals Does Board Supervisory Quality Enhance Corporate Social Performance?-Evidence from Taiwanese Listed Firms

2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 68
Author(s):  
Yaying Mary Chou Yeh ◽  
Wen-Chi Hsieh
Keyword(s):  
Social Capital ◽  
Corporate Social Performance ◽  
Social Performance ◽  
Attendance Rate ◽  
Board Meeting ◽  
Public Firms ◽  
Listed Firms ◽  
Social Agenda ◽  
Corporate Social ◽  
Board Social Capital

This study uses Taiwanese public firms as a sample to examine if board supervisory quality enhances CSP. The present study uses four proxies for supervisory quality of board at group level: board meeting attendance rate, number of board meetings, social capital of the board and average training hours of directors. We obtain 348 CSR data from an international CSR rating agent and match them with double size non-CSR firms. We find that CSR firms exhibit significantly higher board attendance rate, board meeting frequency and board social capital than non-CSR firms. For CSR firms, board attendance rate and board meeting frequency positively impact CSR ratings, implying that board diligence is essential to monitoring management to achieve higher social objectives. However, board social capital and training significantly but negatively impact CSP, implying busy board and inexperienced board detriments CSP.Board success in CSR means directors must be passionate about the issues on CSR. Additionally, firms that are behind social agenda need to recruit resourceful directors to diversify information base for advises about stakeholder issues and trends. Firms that have taken steps in CSR activities should not recruit overly busy directors or inexperienced directors. Our paper provides both theoretical and practical implications.

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