Corporate social responsibility behaviors and corporate reputation
ISSN: 1747-1117
Article publication date: 30 October 2018
Issue publication date: 3 May 2019
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to study how corporate social responsibility (CSR) behaviors can lead to corporate membership on Fortune Magazine’s Most Admired Companies list.
Design/methodology/approach
Regression analysis using environmental, social and governance (ESG) statistics published by MSCI-KLD as independent variables to predict the behaviors that lead to most admired status.
Findings
Not surprisingly, corporate financial performance (CFP) is the largest contributor to membership on the list. However, after controlling for CFP, the analysis finds that specific social responsibility behaviors contribute to membership on the Fortune list.
Practical implications
This paper finds that CSR behaviors are important to a firm’s reputation as measured by Fortune’s Most Admired Companies list. Therefore, companies should continue with social responsibility activities to improve their reputation with investors.
Originality/value
Many articles test the effect of ESG on financial performance and the role of financial performance on stock price. This paper is unique in that it measures the impact of CSR on corporate reputation using an important financial market benchmark – the Fortune Most Admired Companies list.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors wish to thank the Leon Hess Business School of Monmouth University for purchasing the data required for this project and for the provision of graduate research assistants. In addition, they wish to thank Shannon Lindquist for her assistance in compiling the Bloomberg data and Robert Scott for his assistance with the interpretation of the statistical analysis. Compliance with ethical standards: Ethical approval: This paper does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors.
Citation
Jeffrey, S., Rosenberg, S. and McCabe, B. (2019), "Corporate social responsibility behaviors and corporate reputation", Social Responsibility Journal, Vol. 15 No. 3, pp. 395-408. https://doi.org/10.1108/SRJ-11-2017-0255
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2018, Emerald Publishing Limited