The development of governance structures for corporate responsibility
Abstract
Purpose
This paper seeks to explore patterns of integrating corporate responsibility issues into corporate governance mechanisms and their development over time.
Design/methodology/approach
Data from the Business in the Community Corporate Responsibility Index is explored to reveal dominant governance patterns of corporate responsibility issues for the 51 organizations continuously participating in the index since its launch in 2002.
Findings
This research reports three major findings: First, there is increasing CEO leadership for the corporate responsibility agenda of the firm. Second, governance structures developed over time are now increasingly making use of corporate responsibility committees. In 2002 about 15 percent of the firms were using a CR committee, the number had increased by 2008 to more than 60 percent. Third, firms with a CR committee in place outperform others in the Corporate Responsibility Index.
Research limitations/implications
While this paper gives a good insight into which structures companies set up to deal with the corporate responsibility agenda, interviews with practitioners would help to understand why this is the case and in which direction the governance of corporate responsibility is expected to evolve.
Practical implications
To understand how companies are governing their corporate responsibility activities is useful for managers seeking to learn from best practices.
Originality/value
This paper is the first empirical research looking at the development of governance structures for corporate responsibility beyond a single case study design.
Keywords
Citation
Spitzeck, H. (2009), "The development of governance structures for corporate responsibility", Corporate Governance, Vol. 9 No. 4, pp. 495-505. https://doi.org/10.1108/14720700910985034
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2009, Emerald Group Publishing Limited