Corporate social responsibility and SME performance: a meta-analysis

Abstract

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.

Meta-analysis of augmented reality marketing

“…Second, it provides higher statistical power by combining several quantitative studies' outcomes and by eluding an individual study's statistical limitations (Borenstein et al. , 2011), and examine possible moderators that emerged through logical reasoning and prevailing theory (King and He, 2005; Oduro et al. , 2021).…”

“…It thus "provides the opportunity to view the 'whole picture in a research context by combining and analysing the quantitative results of many empirical studies" (King and He, 2005, p. 668). Second, it provides higher statistical power by combining several quantitative studies' outcomes and by eluding an individual study's statistical limitations (Borenstein et al, 2011), and examine possible moderators that emerged through logical reasoning and prevailing theory (King and He, 2005;Oduro et al, 2021).…”

“…From a theoretical perspective, clarity on this issue would reduce the ambiguity in the AR marketing literature. Meta-analysis is often used to synthesize results to develop a generalized understanding of a phenomenon and better understand and interpret conflicting results (Oduro et al. , 2021; Prashar and Gupta, 2020; Dennis et al.…”

“…From a theoretical perspective, clarity on this issue would reduce the ambiguity in the AR marketing literature. Meta-analysis is often used to synthesize results to develop a generalized understanding of a phenomenon and better understand and interpret conflicting results (Oduro et al, 2021;Prashar and Gupta, 2020;Dennis et al, 2001). With the primary objective to study how media characteristics create hedonic and utilitarian values and how their interaction determines consumers' behavioral intention, we consolidated and quantitatively meta-analyzed results published in empirical studies on AR in retailing from January 2012 to February 2022.…”

Effect of consumption values on consumer behavior: a Meta-analysis

“…Similar significant influences were also noted concerning the sampling technique, which may influence effect sizes (Kirca et al, 2005). Probabilistic samples have been found to minimize random variance errors and therefore generate stronger effect sizes than non-probabilistic samples (Fern and Monroe, 1996;Oduro et al, 2022). The last method moderator is the year of publication.…”