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This paper aims to investigate the impact of different types of corporate social responsibility (CSR; i.e. value-creating CSR, promotional CSR and philanthropic CSR) on consumer responses and the moderating role of corporate competence.

The authors tested the hypotheses by using two empirical studies – a survey and an experimental study. The evidence is generated based on generalized linear model repeated-measures ANOVAs for the survey study and two-way factorial ANOVAs for the experimental study.

The findings show that in general, consumers respond to value-creating CSR more favorably than to philanthropic CSR or promotional CSR. In addition, corporate competence moderates consumers’ responses to different types of CSR in such a way that promotional CSR is more likely to have the desired effects when carried out by low-competency rather than by high-competency firms, whereas value-creating CSR is more effective for high-competency firms than for low-competency ones. Philanthropic CSR works equally in both types of firms.

This research answers a long-term call to study the differential consumer effects of various CSR types. It also identifies perceived corporate competence, an important consumer-based corporate factor, as a potential moderator of consumers’ response to CSR types.

Armed with the findings, companies can choose CSR practices that fit with their company characteristics. This research offers important and specific managerial implications to firms with different company profiles on their CSR choices.

Given that today’s managers are faced with the challenge of selecting desirable CSR activities from a group of options, the authors answered the call by studying the differential effects of a wide array of CSR choices and provide important practical guidance to managers. For the first time in the literature, the study also investigates the potential interactive effects between specific CSR types and corporate competence on consumer reactions. This inquiry bears significant relevance to the ongoing discussions concerning whether and how company characteristics generate influences on the outcomes of CSR strategies.

This paper aims to investigate whether corporate social responsibility (CSR) efforts that are oriented toward shared value creation generate any perceptual advantages in terms of consumer product attributes evaluations compared with other types of CSR. The study also uncovers consumers’ pathways that channel the impacts of corporate associations on corporate and product evaluations and purchase intention.

This study uses a between-subjects experimental design. In all, 274 undergraduate students from a North American university participated in the 2 (low versus high corporate ability levels) × 4 (CSR types) study. The data were analyzed using the methodologies of path analysis and multiple group analysis in the context of structural equation modeling procedure.

The findings show that in the context of shared-value CSR, CSR image (i.e. consumer judgments on the moral aspect of the company) can spill over to product attributes evaluations, including perceptions of “product innovativeness” and “product social responsibility,” which, in turn, translate to purchase willingness. Meanwhile, perceived corporate trustworthiness mediates the effects of CSR image and corporate ability (CA) image on the overall corporate evaluation, which subsequently influences consumer product evaluation and purchase intention.

The research provides direct evidence showing that companies have the potential to improve their corporate brand and, in turn, their product evaluations by putting a stronger emphasis on the social responsibility components of their image and placing this at the core of their strategic agenda. Importantly, a contribution to the literature by identifying differential effects of CA image versus CSR image on consumer perception of product innovativeness within different CSR categories is made. The limitations of the research are discussed, which include the usage of a fictitious company and brand and a convenience sample.

The study offers guidance to managers in regard to their choice of different CSR practices to fulfill their company’s product-related strategic goals.

The present study takes a critical stance to show that previous experimental work investigating the impact of CSR image on product evaluations relied predominantly on bipolar manipulations of CSR practices (bad versus good) rather than bringing many shades of CSR into consideration. By incorporating a wide array of CSR formats, especially value-creating CSR, current research generates potential implications based on differential effects of various CSR focuses, which have not been captured by previous studies.

This study aims to investigate the influence of CEO’s only-child status on corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices. It seeks to extend the understanding of upper echelon theory by examining unexplored CEO characteristics and their impact on CSR decisions.

The paper uses manually collected CEO family information and Chinese Stock and Market Accounting Research data as a basis to examine the influence of CEOs’ early-life experiences on their engagement in CSR activities. The study applies attachment security theory from developmental psychology and uses upper echelon theory, particularly focusing on CEOs’ only-child status. A comparative analysis of philanthropic donations between CEOs who are only children and those who have siblings is conducted. The study also examines the moderating effects of corporate slack resources and CEO shareholdings.

Preliminary findings suggest that CEOs who are only children are more likely to engage in CSR compared to their counterparts with siblings. However, the difference in donation amounts between the two groups tends to attenuate with decreased slack resources and increased CEO shareholdings.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this research represents the first attempt to investigate being the only child in one’s family and the CSR-related decision of CEOs, which extends the upper echelon theory by introducing the family science theory into the management domain.

In recent years, the concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR) has gained recognition and importance in both business and political settings. While considerable research has been conducted on CSR in developed countries, the extant literature on CSR in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is scant and CSR is seen in terms of philanthropy. This paper aims to examine CSR from a broader perspective and in particular to identify the factors that hinder and promote CSR activities in SSA using the Smit (2009) CSR Value Chain Model.

This paper is based on data obtained from a survey conducted by GTZ (now GIZ) on factors promoting and hindering CSR in SSA. The study surveyed 85 companies from six countries, namely; South Africa, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique and Namibia. The study essentially examined the internal and external CSR environments of the companies in the participating countries.

The study revealed that there are nine key promoting and hindering factors of CSR for businesses in SSA. These include: leadership and governance, policy framework, project management, monitoring, evaluation and reporting, stakeholder engagement, staff engagement, government, funding and beneficiation. The study recommends a systemic and context-sensitive approach that relies on the potential of organisations and communities to design and implement their own solution within global frameworks in order to further develop CSR in the region.

There are a number of limitations in this study. First, this study did not include any informants from the responding organisations’ stakeholder groups, but relied mainly on information obtained from single respondents from organisations. Further research should include responses from other stakeholder groups.

To promote or achieve the successful implementation of CSR and broaden its scope within the region beyond its current focus on philanthropy, managers must build bridges with their stakeholders through both formal and informal dialogues and engagement practices. Additionally, firms may enhance and maximise both social and economic value created when managers link their CSR activities to areas that improve firms’ long-term competitive potential by collectively and systematically applying their distinctive strengths to such activities in accordance with the value chain model.

The finding in this study is novel and adds an important contribution to the developing CSR literature in the SSA region.

Based on an extensive review of the literature, the purpose of this paper is to propose an analytical model that enables the study of the corporate social responsibility (CSR)’s strategic orientation of companies through the analysis of: the different types of CSR integration into company strategies; the different levels of CSR strategic maturity; and the path necessary to be followed for a company to achieve its full development and correspondingly forecasting which initiatives hold the greatest contribution toward this end.

This paper sets out a conceptual framework, which was drafted building on an extensive critical review of the literature seeking to incorporate the diverse contributions made by the existing CSR models and classifications.

The analytical framework here proposed enables a wide reaching approach to analyzing strategic CSR, their underlying motivations and its core factors. It also extends to considering the different phases of maturity enabling the evaluation of the distinctive levels of CSR integration into the company strategy and the stage at which the company currently stands at on its determined path.

From a practical perspective, the suggested framework enables practitioners to access a practical tool that specifically measures their companies’ CSR maturity and strategic profile and which may serve as well as a means of diagnosis, improvement or of adaptation.

This model of analysis generates the identification of the factors explaining the different levels of CSR integration into the company strategy and evaluating the level of maturity prevailing.

This paper aims to examine corporate volunteering as a form of social responsibility carried out by companies in relationships with non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Applying the value creation concept, the success of such relationships is based on value created between the focal company, its employees engaging in the volunteer work and the collaborating NGO actors representing the beneficiaries of the volunteer work. However, how to meaningfully engage employees and strategically manage company–NGO relationships in corporate volunteering has received less scholarly attention. The study hence asks the question: How is mutual value created in corporate volunteering collaborations between business organizations and NGOs?

Two qualitative case studies of company–NGO relationships involved in corporate volunteer programs for social benefit in Poland and Finland are analyzed.

Corporate volunteering offers value creation opportunities for each of the three actors in the relationships, namely, the company, the NGO and the employees who participate in the volunteer work. Particularly, employment and volunteering relationships appear to be catalysts for the creation of mutual value in the organizational relationship between a company and NGO.

The present study contributes to the current understanding of company–NGO relationships by emphasizing the role of individual employee volunteers in creating relationship-level value. The study adds also to existing research on corporate volunteering by identifying the way value is created in company–NGO relationships within corporate volunteering.

Engaging corporate social responsibility (CSR) is essential to attain corporate sustainability. This paper aims to take the CSR from the viewpoints of a believing system, Christianity in an attempt to bridge a gap in the existing literature.

Through related literature reviews, research questions asked and grounding in the Christians' sacred text, the author seek to explore the Christians' social responsibilities and their relatedness to the CSR.

This paper highlights the interlocking principles – honoring God, one's neighbor, God's creation, great commissions and eternality concept – that shape the Christians' fundamental approaches toward their social responsibilities. These collective faith driven principles would redefine the existing CSR conceptions in a refined form that the author call a faith‐based CSR.

The paper discusses the applications of the faith‐based CSR in the areas of corporate philanthropy, environmental preservation and social reporting. The faith‐based CSR is inherently beneficial to the firms and their stakeholders. It refines the organizational paradigms on the business competition, and uncovers a corporate sustainability paradigm otherwise hidden to managers and scholars.

The Christians have significant presence in both developed and emerging nations. Their worldviews on the social responsibility, consequently, would have influenced the CSR practices of firms. Given the scant attentions paid to explore the intersection between a believing system and the business ethics, this paper can make a unique contribution to the area of CSR literature.

The purpose of this paper is to outline a set of propositions for the Greek business sector concerning the value of strategically adopting a responsible business behaviour. The recent economic downturn of the Greek economy stresses the need for redefining current business models, attitudes and practices.

The authors draw from prior literature on strategic corporate responsibility and build their arguments on the value of social responsibility as an important component of an exit strategy from the domestic economic crisis.

Promoting the social responsibility of business could yield win–win opportunities for Greek firms and have a positive effect on the regeneration of the national economy’s dynamics. Connecting the well-established strategic CSR literature with the specific handicaps of an economy under pressure, we point out that the current deep crisis can be alleviated by regaining the trustworthiness, supporting the competitiveness potential and enhancing the extroversion of the Greek economy.

Strategic options from which policymakers and managers can endorse the development of a CSR agenda as an exit strategy component are set forth. Such practical implications pertain to the creation of an enabling environment for strategic CSR implementation, an emphasis on CSR-related amelioration of competitiveness parameters and a redefinition of market orientation of domestic firms under the scope of socially responsible business behaviour.

An economic–business environment under extreme pressure is discussed; problems relevant to the Greek case are outlined while a new approach in the way of doing business is proposed.

The purpose of this study is to analyse the recently highly debated topics of the Tax avoidance–Corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance nexus and to further investigate the impacts of engaging in socially responsible activities on financial performance and bank debt financing constraints, at a disaggregate level (firm level).

The sample for this study includes all publicly listed companies headquartered in BRICS countries from 2014 to 2020. The study employs detailed financial accounting information and the Environmental, Social and Governance scores released by Thomas Reuters EIKON database, which is regarded as the most authoritative indicator of CSR performance. Both pooled and panel data regression models are employed, and robustness tests that use a wide range of model specifications, measures and estimators are performed.

The study finds robust evidence that corporate tax avoidance is negatively associated with CSR performance. The authors also find that firms with better CSR performance have healthier financial performance and lower costs of bank debt. Overall, the research findings are supportive of the corporate culture theory, which suggests that firms behave ethically consistent in both CSR practices and tax payment.

CSR performance and the engagement of tax avoidance activities have been documented in the literature to be vital elements investors care about. This study focuses specifically on the association between them and further elaborates their impacts in the financial markets. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first study which investigates the nexus in a sample that includes the most powerful emerging markets in the world. The results of this study are generalisable in terms of the implications of CSR management to many other emerging markets.

The purpose of this study is to analyze how corporate social responsibility (CSR) affects a company's value. It does this specifically by analyzing the effect of socially responsible behaviors on shared value (SV) creation, in order to foster higher performance (PRF) and greater competitive advantages, considering the moderator role of the supply chain leadership dependency (SCLD). It provides new insights into CSR management to ensure business sustainability for supply chain management.

This study uses a structured questionnaire to gather data from a cross-sectional sample of 425 supply chain partners for Portugal's biggest energy supplier. Structural equation modeling is used to test the proposed hypotheses, and a multigroup analysis is conducted to find how a supplier's dependency can impact the suggested relationships.

The findings suggest that CSR positively impacts CA, SV and PRF. Additionally, this study reveals that SV has a positive impact on PRF. Additionally, the SCLD appears to moderate some of the proposed relationships.

This paper provides some empirical evidence of the influence of CSR on organizational value creation, contributing toward a better understanding of the impacts of socially responsible behaviors on business sustainability. The overall results may support the importance of CSR, identifying how a socially responsible company may create value for itself and share it with partners, thereby improving performance and competitiveness, while considering the role of dependency in moderating these relationships. Yet, the research considers only one company supplier. The relationships between variables need to be explored in other practical case studies and longitudinal investigations to improve upon the potential for making generalizations.

Results show that being cooperative might make a company more competitive, which might be one of the foundations of CSR and sustainability.

This study claims that profit alone is no longer sufficient for the legitimization of business. As an alternative, SV creation has become the new goal for businesses seeking to regain and improve societal trust.

The overall results may support the importance of CSR, identifying how a socially responsible company may create value for itself and share it with partners, thereby improving performance and competitiveness, while considering the role of dependency in moderating these relationships.