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The purpose of this paper is to investigate the efficacy of corporate social responsibility (CSR) knowledge on customer liking for the bank across two countries and cultural contexts.

Three CSR variables were tested for their comparative influence on customer liking under different cultural value conditions. Surveys were completed by 204 bank consumers in Australia and 219 bank customers in Thailand. ANOVA and regression were used to test hypotheses.

Perceptions of existing CSR performance and new CSR initiative had significant effects on liking for the bank. However CSR orientation had no effect. These influences varied substantially depending upon the community orientation of the target customer.

Understanding the differing roles of the two significant CSR variables provide insights into the complexities of CSR relationships. The successful introduction of a scale to measure a salient internal outcome measure, called liking for the bank, suggests future research opportunities.

The differential impact of CSR information on customer responses highlights the importance of understanding different cultural contexts and suggests that careful segmentation strategies are required for particular CSR campaigns. In particular, new social‐cultural segmentation bases may be required.

A combination of three CSR variables, together with new CSR information reflecting aspects of CSR not previously used in combination. A new affective customer response measure was used. The first cross‐cultural and country analysis to be conducted for CSR‐customer response relationships within the banking sector. Use of the cultural value of community orientation as a moderator.

This paper aims to explore how family culture can contribute to support the development of corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives in a Korean immigrant enterprise in Vietnam.

This research highlighted a critical case, in which entrepreneurs and most of the organisational members share a common family culture and the culture support management capability of an entrepreneur, during the introduction of a new organisation initiative. In addition, Bourdieu’s tripartite analytical framework of field, capitals and habitus was adopted to facilitate the case analysis.

Firstly, the motivation behind the development of CSR came from the intention to gain access to the local capital market. Secondly, family culture plays an important role in maintaining the support of organisational actors to support the decision of the entrepreneur.

This research contributes to the emerging literature about CSR and immigrant entrepreneurship. This study sheds light on how family culture can aid the leadership of CSR initiatives and CSR practices in the context of the immigrant organisation.

This study identifies processes that immigrant entrepreneurs can use to inspire organisational members to engage in a new initiative in which organisational culture and norms can help to overcome challenges to enable engagement with a novel initiative.

This paper explains how family culture supports the leading role of an entrepreneur, in which the absolute pressures inherited from family values and traditions in the place of origin help an organisation to overcome existing barriers such as lack of time and financial support towards a new initiative.

This study aims to comprehend luxury brands' corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategies. In addition to facing a demand for new CSR strategies (consumer-centric CSR), changes in CSR discourse among luxury brands are observed. This study examines how CSR-related and luxury-related agendas relate in the news media, especially concerning the difference between traditional and new luxury brands.

A total of 117,171 fashion-related news articles were collected from January 2016 to December 2020. The word2vec method was used to determine the relationship between CSR and luxury agendas.

The results indicate that company-centric CSR is more prominent with traditional luxury brands, while consumer-centric CSR is more relevant for new luxury brands. In addition, specific CSR attributes and luxury-related attributes are associated with media discourse, which means that CSR and luxury are compatible.

Studies on CSR in the luxury industry are not extensive in the literature. This study addresses this gap through a unique framework that combines agenda-setting theory and existing CSR literature and applies them to the luxury industry. Specifically, this study captures the development of each construct (company-centric CSR to consumer-centric CSR and traditional luxury to new luxury) and identifies the specific relationships between them. This result provides a novel view of the luxury industry indicating that it has evolved to encompass CSR-related values. The empirical results also offer practical implications for luxury marketing.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the efficacy of three corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives on brand preference in the Thai banking sector.

A 2 × 2 × 2 between subject experimental design was used to test the hypotheses in a bank setting. Three CSR initiatives were tested against a predictor variable of perceived brand quality and moderated by age, CSR predisposition and cultural values. The CSR initiatives comprised commitment to CSR; type of CSR programme; and transparency. Written vignettes disguised as press releases by the bank were used as stimulus materials and a survey completed by 219 consumers in Thailand.

Overall, all three CSR initiatives had a modest but significant effect on brand preference. The level of influence varied according to age, CSR predisposition and cultural values. While older customers placed more emphasis on perceived brand quality overall it was also found that the type of CSR programme could significantly affect brand preference. In those groups high on the cultural value of individualism, commitment to CSR was found to be a strong contributor to brand preference. Similarly in those groups with a high power distance, brand preference was more influenced by CSR initiatives.

While CSR initiatives make modest improvements to brand preference overall, more substantial impacts occur under situational conditions. Discovering and exploiting such situations is critical to any firm making substantial investments in CSR.

The differential impact of CSR initiatives on brand preference highlights the importance of carefully targeting stakeholders to optimise CSR investments. Communication strategies need to ensure that the appropriate message is designed for particular audiences.

A specific dependent variable of brand preference is used in this study, together with three specific CSR initiatives and three moderating influences. In addition, perceived brand quality is utilised as a benchmark variable to test the strength of CSR initiatives.

The purpose of this paper is to comprehend the nature of online reviews received on various social networking sites and internet-based platforms regrading organizational corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives.

Given the novelty of this field, a qualitative exploratory research study was carried out. For this research, 28 Indian CSR experts on online CSR reviews were interviewed with a semi-structured open-ended questionnaire for data collection. Thematic and relational content analysis was applied for data analysis. The data was analysed based upon the theoretical anchors of micro foundations approach, organizational egoism (reputational and economic) concept and organizational logic (instrumental and integrative) literature and stakeholder salience.

The study analysis indicated that online CSR reviews that organizations received on various social networking sites and internet-based platforms from different individual and institutional stakeholders were complaints, appreciations, observations and recommendations in nature. Online CSR reviews appreciated more of integrative organizational logic than instrumental organizational logic. CSR reviews present on online platforms valued organizational reputational egoism more than organizational economic egoism. The salience of stakeholders was getting redefines in Web 2.0 based online CSR reviews. Finally, micro foundations approach was becoming a more potent perspective in the CSR narrative.

This research study was anchored in the micro foundations approach of CSR (Hafenbrädl and Waeger, 2017). This study ascertained those individuals did matter in organizational CSR narrative (Maak et al., 2016). Furthermore, how firms were evaluated through online reviews based upon organizational egoism (reputational and economic) (Casali, 2011; Casali and Day, 2015) and organizational logic (instrumental and integrative) (Seele and Lock, 2015; Liu, 2013; Gao and Bansal, 2013; Bansal and Song, 2017) was studied. Finally, in the world of online reviews, the notion of salient stakeholders (Mitchell et al., 2011; Magness, 2008) was getting redefined, and this aspect was also covered in this research study.

Firms have been engaging in CSR initiatives towards provision of social benefits and community engagement. Regarding firm CSR initiatives, CSR managers traditionally used to receive feedback from the stakeholders based upon written and special surveys conducted post or during the late stages of CSR engagement. The advent and ubiquitous presence of digital mobile devices and Web 2.0-enabled internet connections altered the way firms received feedback. This was because increasingly online reviews were received from stakeholders on firm CSR web pages, social networking sites and other online spaces. Many of the online CSR reviews were regarding the compliments and achievements that the CSR initiatives had achieved. However, a significant portion of online CSR reviews were regarding the complaints regarding the CSR initiatives. Online CSR reviews received from an array of stakeholders are inputs for firm managers. Online CSR reviews are thus an asset for an organization. Managers need to develop capabilities towards applying this asset for the expressed purposed. These online CSR reviews could be used as inputs to draw new CSR initiatives, redefine extant CSR initiatives. Furthermore, these online CSR reviews could be used as inputs to alter the organizational resources, capabilities, competencies and process regarding CSR initiatives.

This was one of the first studies that integrated the theoretical aspects of salient stakeholders, organizational logic, organizational egoism through the lens of micro foundations approach in the context of organizational CSR initiatives. To the best of the author’s knowledge, this was indeed a novel contribution, as the same was explored and explicated based upon online CSR reviews on internet-based platforms.

The antecedents and typical stages of development of corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs in a given organization or type of organization have been of minor interest in CSR research. Contrary to that the chapter argues that CSR communication strategies need to take the genesis and drivers of CSR institutionalization into account.

The chapter develops a complex set of interrelated drivers for CSR institutionalization from a literature review – among them leadership styles and management fashion. The chapter further discusses the influence of leadership styles and management fashions on CSR institutionalization and focuses on the diffusion of management concepts along a management fashion cycle. It then refers to executive trainers as the key facilitator and promoter of new business concepts and presents data from a first online-survey among German speaking management trainers.

The chapter clears manager’s role in institutionalization of CSR by contextualizing their behavior in a portfolio of performance indicators. From a management fashion perspective the various forms of explicit and implicit CSR are linked to management styles.

The chapter lays ground for further research of CSR institutionalization and integration into business strategy by providing a conceptualization of CSR drivers and settings that relate to a given organization. As such it is designed as groundwork for a yet to develop CSR scorecard.

The connection between organizational type, organizational environment, leadership behavior, and the chosen CSR approach of a corporation is usually overseen. The chapter aims to uncover this connection.

In the past hundred years, the concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR) has seen a remarkable development with various notions of “what is the right thing to do” for the corporations in that era. This paper aims to highlight the journey of CSR staring from an “abstract concept” in the early twentieth century to a well-recognised and “expected business practice” in the present.

This paper presents a meta-analysis of the relevant CSR literature and finds 12 common themes emerging in different periods. This is presented in a chronological order starting from early 1920 to the present day for ease of understanding. The literature chosen is intentionally broad as not to miss a clear view of the times and the themes in CSR discourse.

The concept of CSR was viewed as a “social obligation” in the earlier literature (1920s-1960s), as the businesses were thought to operate for the well-being of a community and not for the prosperity of the sole owner(s). A little later, in the 1960s and 1970s, only adoption of socially responsible activities and practices, which were voluntary and beyond legal obligation, were deemed CSR. The 1980s saw businesses trying to find a rational and financially quantifiable justification for adopting activities that were socially responsible, thus the emphasis of “corporate social performance”. The 1990s shifted the impetus on “reporting, transparency and accountability” with numerous reporting requirements. The 2000s sought a win-win situation through the development of “creating shared value” as a result of adopting CSR initiatives. The concept of CSR became an “accepted and expected business practice” in the decade of 2000, with various governments, global entities and organisations issuing their own understanding and definitions of CSR.

This research paper provides an account of the evolution in the concept of CSR in the past century which has seen numerous changes in the manner businesses conduct their operations. The identified themes are reflective of the journey of CSR. This is an informative paper which is very topical in today’s climate of stakeholder scrutiny of business’ working.

The purpose of this paper is to determine the effectiveness of strategic corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives that seek to enhance customer engagement, through different forms of positive word of mouth.

A total of 258 responses were collected from customers of mobile telephone service providers, and analysed using t-tests, ANOVA and structural equation modelling. The survey embedded a realistic press release, purporting to originate from the respondent’s service provider, communicating CSR information.

Mobile telephone users are largely indifferent to CSR communication activities but segments of the market respond differently. Customer-perceived community value of the strategic CSR initiative to the intended beneficiary of the activity was found to be an effective antecedent of customer engagement.

Alternative modes of customer engagement have the potential to enhance customer discourse. Customer-perceived community value of the strategic initiative provides further explanatory power to the CSR–customer relationship.

Customer-perceived community value can be used as a planning tool for marketers to gauge the effectiveness of CSR advertising campaigns before launch. Managers can adapt their CSR communications message to better reflect customer concerns.

NGOs that offer greater perceived community value can partner with companies more successfully.

A holistic CSR-centric approach to evaluate strategic CSR initiatives and determine their influence on alternative forms of customer engagement is novel.

The purpose of this paper is to conceptualize a new paradigm that challenges managers of hospitality services to include the component of corporate social responsibility (CSR) into the business plan. The objective is to answer the question: how can organizational leaders really lead and serve at the same time?

The design follows a research of the literature from a global perspective to show that CSR preserves losses related to the breach of cultural, environmental, economic, physical, and linguistic boundaries associated with globalization.

Evidence shows CSR safeguards are, otherwise, extraordinary assets to create a sophisticated business portfolio with increase in earnings at least in keeping with or surpassing more traditional portfolios. Discussion points include variations in the interpretation of CSR between countries, and the need for legal policy to enforce implementation of CSR practices for companies both at home and abroad in order to protect human rights, social investments, environment, culture, language, fair trade, and economic sustainability.

Several practical management tactics for CSR are presented in a chart accompanying the text. These include ideas and ways to: implement change in the workplace, save energy, communicate with employees and guests, clean with green products, and save money.

This paper is valuable to managers arguing for or seeking investment opportunities with sound CSR initiatives.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse whether the concept of societal marketing being practised in developed countries can be directly applied to countries in transition, such as Belarus, and what adjustments would be beneficial to achieve this. The paper takes a comprehensive view of the complex linkages between the implementation of corporate social responsibility (CSR) principles by examining elements of societal marketing in the European Union (EU) countries and in Belarus.

Data are provided by the web sites of European best practice companies and data from the Global Compact that identifies socially‐responsible companies in the EU and Belarus. The results for Belarus are combined with the insights from capacity building activities on societal marketing organised by the Local Network Global Compact (LNGC) Belarus, for private and public enterprises.

The research presents two groups of companies in Belarus: Start‐up companies see their CSR activities as philanthropic actions; and On‐the‐way companies integrate elements of societal marketing such as vision and stakeholder management into their practices. The European societal marketing experience can act as a mechanism for further integrating CSR principles into business practices in Belarus. This depends on the aptitude of the companies for social innovation, the level of stakeholder involvement and the governmental support for CSR policy creation.

The scope of the research should be broadened out to other industries and tested with a larger sample, including small‐and medium‐sized firms. It is also necessary to analyse other key drivers of the CSR in Belarus, which can impact on further use of societal marketing components.

This research has implications for practitioners, specifically the groups of stakeholders involved in CSR programmes in Belarus. The results suggest how stakeholders can apply societal marketing and differentiate themselves from competitors in the EU and in Belarus.

The paper proposes a framework on societal marketing that considers the factors that influence CSR development and provides recommendations for businesses operating in Belarus on how to achieve a competitive advantage in a country in transition.