Corporate social responsibility projects: critical success factors for better performance of Brazilian companies and guidelines to qualify professionals and entrepreneurs

Abstract

Corporate Social Responsibility is a reality for businesses and can be understood through the analysis of organizational actions in three areas, namely: economic, social and environmental. Its operationalization occurs through projects, and cases presented by the literature can greatly contribute to the definition of factors that lead these projects to success. Generally, professionals and entrepreneurs have good qualifications in traditional aspects of project management, but when they need to manage Corporate Social Responsibility projects doubts arise. In this context, the main objective of this study was to analyse the most impactful Critical Success Factors for Corporate Social Responsibility projects, considering Brazilian companies' context, and to propose guidelines to better qualify new professionals and entrepreneurs in the kind of projects mentioned. Thirteen Critical Success Factors were identified in the literature and, through a survey with experienced professionals, it was possible to evidence the six most relevant for Brazilian companies' context: ability to properly define the scope; ability to integrate the CSR project with the company's strategy; ability to identify stakeholders' needs; ability to analyse risks; identify and involve stakeholders outside the organization; and grant financial resources to meet project needs. Using the information provided, three guidelines were proposed to better qualify professionals and entrepreneurs. This is an exploratory study that can contribute to potentialize debates on theme.

Community Perceptions on the Critical Success Factors of Hotels’ Community-Based Corporate Social Responsibility

“…Meanwhile, [18] conducted a similar study by reviewing relevant literature with the goal of identifying and testing the factors within the context of tourism and hospitality; however, the authors did not rank the factors. Their review looked at the work of [19], who investigated the CSFs of CSR in the context of Brazil. The study surveyed 29 experienced professionals who had over five years of experience in coordinating CSR projects and found 12 CSFs.…”

“…In fact, the devotion of the management team to CSR is key to achieving the objectives of all CSR projects. Without it, having a smoothly and efficiently operated CSR project would be impossible [15,[19][20][21][22][23][24][25]. In the literature, top management devotion to CSR has been found to be a CSF for CSR in some studies [13][14][15][16][17]20,21] but not in others [18,19].…”

“…Without it, having a smoothly and efficiently operated CSR project would be impossible [15,[19][20][21][22][23][24][25]. In the literature, top management devotion to CSR has been found to be a CSF for CSR in some studies [13][14][15][16][17]20,21] but not in others [18,19]. Therefore, since this construct has never been tested in the context of community perspective on community-related CSR, the following hypothesis is proposed: H1: Top management devotion directly affects a hotel's community-related CSR.…”

“…These can assist businesses with cost-cutting, riskreduction, profit-boosting, and CSR-related business success strategies [12,20,21,[23][24][25]27]. In the literature, formal CSR strategy and planning has been found to be a CSF for CSR in some studies [20,21,[23][24][25]27] but not in others [19,22,24,26]. Therefore, since this construct has never been tested in the context of community perspective on community-related CSR, the following hypothesis is proposed: H2: Formal CSR strategic plan and practices directly affects a hotel's community-related CSR.…”

“…In addition, a consumer-focused strategy is essential for a successful CSR because it entails the safeguarding of society and the environment, two things that are intrinsically intertwined [14,16,17,19,20]. Therefore, businesses should develop products and services that can not only satisfy customer demands but also avoid harming the environment and society [20,22,23,25,26].…”