PurposeThis study aims to draw on instrumental and ethical theories to offer a quantitative review of the extant literature on the corporate social responsibility (CSR)–small-medium enterprises (SMEs) performance relationship through a meta-analysis.Design/methodology/approachEmpirical studies from 57 independent peer-reviewed articles, including 66,741 firms, were sampled and analysed. Both subgroup and meta-regression analyses (MARA) were used to test the hypotheses of the study.FindingsThe authors' results demonstrated that social-oriented, economic-oriented and environment-oriented CSR activities have a positive, significant influence on overall, financial and non-financial performance of SMEs; however, the effect of social-oriented CSR activities is the strongest. Moreover, the impact CSR dimensions have on non-financial performance is stronger than on financial performance. Additionally, findings showed that the association between CSR and SME performance is positively and significantly influenced by contextual factors (i.e. sector and region of study) and methodological factors (i.e. performance measurement, study type, theory usage, sampling size and operationalisation of constructs).Originality/valueThe study is the pioneering meta-analytic review on the CSR–SME performance relationship, thereby clarifying the anecdotal results, synthesising the fragmented empirical studies and exploring the contextual and methodological factors that may account for between-study variance. Following the study's findings, the authors delineate insightful suggestions for future scholarship and fine-grained managerial implications for practitioners.

The study draws on dynamic capabilities theory and evidence-based research to provide the first meta-analysis on the open innovation (OI)–firm performance relationship from 2003 to 2020. Both subgroup and meta-analytic regression analyses were employed to analyse 106 independent peer-reviewed articles, encompassing 557,642 firms and 138 effects. Results showed a positive, significant relationship between OI and overall firm performance ([Formula: see text]= 0.20) while revealing numerous contingencies. Particularly, we found that the effect of OI on non-financial performance ([Formula: see text]= 0.20) is larger than that on financial performance ([Formula: see text]= 0.19), while the disaggregate results revealed that inbound OI has the strongest effect on firm performance ([Formula: see text]= 0.23), followed by outbound OI ([Formula: see text]= 0.19) and coupled OI ([Formula: see text]= 0.14). Furthermore, it was found that the mixed results are driven by both contextual factors (i.e., firm size, culture, study region, sector, and industry intensity) and measurement moderators (i.e., study measure and data type). Both the theoretical and managerial implications of these findings are elucidatedly discussed.

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