CSR and service quality in nonprofit organizations: the case of a performing arts association

Abstract

The relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and marketing performance has been widely investigated recently, but mostly in relation to for‐profit companies. This paper highlights the importance of this topic for nonprofit organizations (NPOs). Focusing on an Italian NPO operating in the performing arts and entertainment industry, two empirical studies (a quantitative survey and a qualitative exploratory enquiry) prove the strategic relevance of CSR in nonprofit contexts. The results demonstrate that CSR can be considered an additional dimension of the customer perception of service quality in NPOs and reveal that customer perception of the social responsibility of the studied NPO is strongly linked to its institutional mission and to the modalities through which it pursues that mission. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Towards an Understanding of Social Responsibility Within the Church of England

“…Larsson (2013) is deeply critical of this third approach, however, and argues on the basis of various case studies that the ideas and actions of all Towards an Understanding of Social Responsibility Within the Church of England organisations, including non-profits, are characteristically inconsistent, in that a convergence of ideas in one direction is likely to be met with a divergence of action in the other. Whichever view is taken, however, there is little evidence that any of these potential dynamics have been sufficiently explored in relation to the social responsibility activities of non-profit organisations in general or of religious organisations in particular (Andreini et al 2014;Larsson 2013).…”

“…Andreini et al (2014) argue that the concerns and interests of non-profit organisations modify social responsibility practices across at least two dimensions: the first is about the ability to fulfil the institutional mission that provides non-profits the raison d'être; the second dimension is an enlarged concept of responsibility which is related to the ability to address wider-ranging social and environmental issues of society (Bouckaert and Vandenhove 1998;Rusconi and Signori 2007). Andreini et al (2014) find some evidence to support the intuition that the mission and objectives of an institution are likely to be the dominant factor in the social orientation of that organisation; and Hogan (2009) found that social responsibility practices are better integrated into daily operations when they are in line with the central goal of the organisation whereas socially oriented practices which lie outside this central organisational focus are generally regarded with less interest. Waters and Ott (2014) also found that internal tensions tend to be generated when non-profit organisations see themselves engaged in any social responsibility activity not directly related to their stated mission because of fears that stakeholders might see these efforts as distracting from the key organisational purpose.…”

“…His study is somewhat limited, however, by his clear evangelical perspective which has imposed a theological agenda on his analysis which many would consider overly simplistic. Since this topic thus appears to have been significantly under-researched in recent years (Andreini et al 2014;Hogan 2009;Waters and Ott 2014), this paper attempts to examine some of the dynamics of social responsibility discourse in a faith-based context. It does so by using two key theoretical frameworks: institutional theory and Bourdieu's ''Outline of a Theory of Practice''.…”

“…While social responsibility in commercial organisations is used to pursue some well-targeted socially charged purposes, such as regular donations to non-profit organisations, along with the usual profit maximisation goal (Antoci et al 2006), socially responsible orientations within non-profit organisations tend to be less clearly defined. It may be assumed that due to the outward looking social agenda of such organisations, together with the absence of a means they act automatically in a socially responsible way (Andreini et al 2014;Rousseau 2008;Rusconi and Signori 2007). Thus, Ferris (1998) argues that the goals of many non-profit organisations are assumed to be so closely aligned with the social responsibility agenda that little critical interest has been shown in their actual activities.…”

The influence of organizational social responsibility on involvement behavior in community sport membership associations

“…Many of these initiatives can be conceptualized within a broader framing of “social responsibility,” which refers to ethical practices and a more generalized concern for the community beyond an organization's narrow mandate and which is not required by law (Babiak & Wolfe, ; Carroll, ; Persson, ). While corporate social responsibility (CSR) among commercial sector organizations has become an important focus within management research in the past few decades (e.g., Weyzig, ), studies investigating the practice of social responsibility (SR) within nonprofit organizations are much less prevalent (Andreini, Pedeliento, & Signori, ; Morris, ; Persson, ; Zeimers, Anagnostopoulos, Zintz, & Willem, ). This may be partly because nonprofit organizations are inherently viewed as being socially responsible by virtue of providing a “social good” or service to society.…”