The role of stakeholder heterogeneity in the corporate social responsibility - corporate financial performance relationship

Čadež, Simon (author), Galant, Adriana (author)

Empirical evidence on the relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and corporate financial performance (CFP) remains contentious in terms of both its direction and causality. The presented study explores the intervening roles of stakeholder heterogeneity and the time dimension in the CSR-CFP relationship. We posit that there is a positive relationship between CSR activities towards market stakeholders (employees, customers, competitors) and future CFP and a negative relationship between CSR activities towards non-market stakeholders (NGOs, society, natural environment) and future CFP. A conceptual model is analysed using a sample of 115 Croatian companies. Countering expectations, a positive relationship is observed for all stakeholder groups considered (market and non-market), showing that CSR is a coherent construct regardless of the stakeholder group being studied. The key managerial implication is that socially responsible action is also in a company's economic interest.

• Language: English
• Keywords: organization, stakeholders, social responsibility, corporate social responsibility, financial performance, stakeholder pressures, PLS-SEM, Croatia
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: EF - School of Economics and Business
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2023
• Number of pages: Str. 115-136
• Numbering: Vol. 32, iss. 1
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-148215
• UDC: 378.4
• ISSN on article: 1330-0288
• DOI: 10.5559/di.32.1.06
• COBISS.SI-ID: 147623171
• Publication date in RUL: 02.08.2023

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Društvena istraživanja. časopis za opća društvena pitanja
• Shortened title: Druš. istraž.
• Publisher: Institut društvenih znanosti Ivo Pilar
• ISSN: 1330-0288
• COBISS.SI-ID: 4174601

Licences

• License: CC BY-NC 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
• Description: A creative commons license that bans commercial use, but the users don’t have to license their derivative works on the same terms.

Secondary language

• Language: Croatian
• Title: Uloga heterogenosti dionika na povezanost društveno odgovornoga poslovanja i financijske performanse

Abstract

Empirijska istraživanja povezanosti između društveno odgovornoga poslovanja (DOP) i financijske performanse poduzeća i dalje ostaju nejasna, u smislu smjera povezanosti te uzročnosti. U ovom radu prezentirano je istraživanje uloge heterogenosti dionika i vremenske dimenzije u analizi povezanosti DOP-a i financijske performanse poduzeća. Pretpostavljeno je da postoji pozitivna veza između DOP aktivnosti prema tržišnim dionicima (zaposlenici, potrošači, konkurenti) i buduće financijske performanse te negativna veza između DOP aktivnosti prema netržišnim dionicima (nevladine organizacije, društvo, prirodni okoliš) i buduće financijske performanse. Prezentiran konceptualni model analiziran je na uzorku od 115 hrvatskih poduzeća. Suprotno očekivanjima, detektirana je pozitivna veza za sve uključene grupe dionika (tržišne i netržišne), što dokazuje da je DOP koherentan konstrukt bez obzira na to koja se grupa dionika razmatrala. Ključna menadžerska implikacija rada odnosi se na to da su društveno odgovorne aktivnosti i u ekonomskom interesu poduzeća.

• Keywords: društveno odgovorno poslovanje, financijska performansa, dionici, pritisak dionika, PLS-SEM, Hrvatska