Corporate Social Performance and Stakeholder Dialogue Management

Abstract

This study analyses how firms act with regard to social responsibility from the perspective of Stakeholder Theory. The objective is to empirically analyse the importance of communication with stakeholders for social responsibility. This involves the establishment of a structural equation model that enables analysis of the empirical relationship between firms' degree of communication with stakeholders and the effectiveness of their corporate social responsibility, measured by corporate social performance (CSP). We adopt a Bayesian approach that enables exact inferences concerning the model's parameters and handles missing data by random imputations, thus increasing the study's reliability. The results obtained from a sample of 416 Spanish organisations show the importance of interacting and establishing channels of communication with different stakeholders in order to identify their specific demands and expectations. Indeed, communication with stakeholders helps firms to improve their CSP programmes and activities. We can thus conclude that failure to establish good communication channels could have a negative effect on social responsibility.

The effects of corporate social responsibility on organizational performance in the Iranian pharmaceutical industry: The mediating role of TQM

“…Previous studies note that, by focusing on practices associated with CSR, managers are able to develop a culture and atmosphere that facilitates cooperation and employee involvement at different levels of the organization (Mehralian et al, 2013;Mory et al, 2015), promoting the firm's reputation (Agudo-Valiente et al, 2015;Gallardo-Vázquez and Sanchez-Hernandez, 2014), and thus differentiating their brand by appealing to ethics-conscious consumers (McWilliams and Siegel, 2001;Salton and Jones, 2015). Likewise, if companies integrate CSR policies into their activities during the early stages of development when corporate culture and M A N U S C R I P T…”

Does Corporate Social Responsibility Put Reputation at Risk by Inviting Activist Targeting? An Empirical Test among European SMEs

“…Dialogues may make it easier to legitimate a firm's activities and help it to progress its CSR (Agudo-Valiente et al, 2015). However, by inviting local NGOs to participate in a dialogue, the SME puts itself also in the picture of these NGOs.…”

Value Relevance of Stakeholder Engagement: The Influence of National Culture

“…Our study contributes to the literature exploring the economic consequences of non-financial information and the importance of institutional characteristics for economic outcomes.Prior literature suggests that the perception of CSR activities critically depends on country characteristics (Agudo-Valiente et al, 2015). Since prior literature posits that the economic consequences of such practices may depend on the specific environment in which they are adopted, we also explore whether these associations are affected by the cultural traits of the country in which a firm operates.…”