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The 2008/2009 World Financial Crisis underlined the importance of social responsibility for the sustainable functioning of economic markets. Heralding an age of novel heterodox economic thinking, the call for integrating social facets into mainstream economic models has reached unprecedented momentum. Financial Social Responsibility bridges the finance world with society in socially conscientious investments. Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) integrates corporate social responsibility in investment choices. In the aftermath of the 2008/2009 World Financial Crisis, SRI is an idea whose time has come. Socially conscientious asset allocation styles add to expected yield and volatility of securities social, environmental, and institutional considerations. In screenings, shareholder advocacy, community investing, social venture capital funding and political divestiture, socially conscientious investors hone their interest to align financial profit maximization strategies with social concerns. In a long history of classic finance theory having blacked out moral and ethical considerations of investment decision making, our knowledge of socio-economic motives for SRI is limited. Apart from economic profitability calculus and strategic leadership advantages, this paper sheds light on socio-psychological motives underlying SRI. Altruism, need for innovation and entrepreneurial zest alongside utility derived from social status enhancement prospects and transparency may steer investors’ social conscientiousness. Self-enhancement and social expression of future-oriented SRI options may supplement profit maximization goals. Theoretically introducing potential SRI motives serves as a first step toward an empirical validation of Financial Social Responsibility to improve the interplay of financial markets and the real economy. The pursuit of crisis-robust and sustainable financial markets through strengthened Financial Social Responsibility targets at creating lasting societal value for this generation and the following.

Organizations desire to achieve green legitimacy and regulatory stakeholder demands and have been potent in influencing the adoption and implementation of social and environmental responsibilities in current business settings. Perceiving that social and environmental responsibilities that promote social growth and environmental sustainability have shifted from being optional to mandatory for organizations, this study from the perspectives of institutional and stakeholder theories elucidates the efficacy of green legitimacy and regulatory stakeholder demands on the adoption of social and environmental responsibilities at the organizational level and how these variables relate with environmental and financial performance in the context of an emerging economy.

The study adopted a positivist methodological paradigm, survey research design, a quantitative approach and partial least square structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) in making data analysis and interpretations due to its appropriateness for predictive research models.

The results highlighted that desire for green legitimacy and regulatory stakeholder demands influenced the adoption of environmental responsibility, social responsibility, environmental and financial performance. While environmental responsibility positively and robustly influenced environmental performance, social responsibility positively and significantly influenced financial performance. The findings particularly exposed that while environmental responsibility had negative and insignificant effect on financial performance, social responsibility negatively and significantly influenced environmental performance. Moreover, environmental performance was also found to be negatively and insignificantly correlated with financial performance. Based on the results, theoretical and practical implications are explained for policymakers, managers, government authorities and business owners.

The study is among the few to investigate how firms desire to achieve green legitimacy and regulatory stakeholder demands motivate the adoption and implementation of environmental and social responsibilities and its implications on environmental and financial performance in the context of an emerging economy. Although environmental responsibility has received significant attention in past studies, it is mostly considered a subset of corporate social responsibility. Thus, this study is among the first to explore the dimensional effects of corporate social responsibility namely environmental responsibility and social responsibility on performance in the context of an emerging economy and as individual constructs.

An abundance of academic studies have been devoted to the investigation of corporate social responsibilities, and although the business world seems to have accepted the general idea that it should be socially responsible, it has never been asked what executives perceive their social responsibilities to be. Additionally, extensive research in an attempt to identify the relationship between corporate social and financial performance by investigating companies' annual and financial reports has shown largely inconclusive results. This paper therefore aims to investigate the insights of corporate executives on both the issues of the social responsibilities of business and the link between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and financial performance. With respect to corporate executives, the authors investigated if there are differences between the perceptions of executives of FTSE 100 and FTSE All‐Share.

The data was collected via online survey and semi‐structured interviews with the executives of FTSE All‐Share companies. Out of 531 executives, the authors received 82 responses of a response rate of 17 per cent. They contacted 178 executives representing FTSE 100 companies and received 29 responses of a response rate of 17.6 per cent. In order to build a phenomenological approach to this study, the authors interviewed four executives to document their opinions and thoughts.

The results indicate that the business world holds a narrow view of its social responsibilities whilst maintaining that it is possible to be both profitable and respectful to its stakeholders. The analysis also reveals that socially responsible businesses employ CSR in pursuit of their commercial interests and consider it to be their competitive advantage. Moreover, the business seems to have integrated CSR into all its operations and activities and considers it as a necessity rather than luxury, which suggests that CSR and financial performance are in synergy.

One major contribution of this study is the difference analysed between perceptions of executives of FTSE 100 and other FTSE All‐Share companies on whether CSR policies and activities are implemented only when extra financial resources are available. This might suggest that FTSE 100 companies are more likely to have already integrated CSR into their business strategy and therefore devote financial resources to their CSR programs. Other FTSE All‐Share companies, in contrast, might still be regarding CSR as an add‐on and therefore spend monies on CSR only when they have extra financial resources available. The similar explanation can be offered for the difference between perceptions of executives of FTSE 100 and other FTSE All‐Share companies as to whether implementation of CSR policies and activities will increase overheads, increase share prices in the following years and help raise new capital.

This study aims to investigate employees’ perceptions of socially responsible financial services brands in Saudi Arabia. The study also identifies the motives and challenges for Islamic banks for higher involvement in social responsibility initiatives to enhance their brand values.

An inductive approach was used in this study to identify the motives and challenges related to corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities. The research design uses a qualitative approach where in-depth interviews were carried out among the employees in the financial services sector in Saudi Arabia.

Findings provide insights about how CSR initiatives for financial services brands in a developing and Islamic country are perceived. Results show that the focus of CSR activities is on the attribute of CSR, the magnitude of CSR and attitude towards CSR. Results show two main motives to engage in CSR activities, which are instrumental and ethical motives. The main challenges are related to the government, business, charitable organisations and customers and society.

Implications exist for how CSR is perceived in a new context and in the financial services industry. Understanding the current perception of CSR from a financial service brand perspective helps policymakers to develop appropriate platforms for financial service providers to become more socially involved.

The major contribution of this study lies in investigating the CSR perception among the key stakeholder (i.e. the employees) from a brand management perspective in the Saudi Arabian financial services sector. Further, this study shows the main motives and challenges, which local financial service brands face to become socially responsible. The categories of attributes, magnitude and attitudes can be used to enhance brand value in one of the economically advanced countries in the Arabic world, Saudi Arabia. In the first category “attribute”, the perception of socially responsible banks are highlighted, while the elements of CSR, including its dimensions, are emphasised in the second category “magnitude”. The third category “attitude” shows two themes, including stakeholders’ issues and business-related issues.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on financial accounting concepts (including the stock return, real earnings management, information asymmetry and financial performance) in Iranian companies listed in stock exchanges.

This is descriptive-correlational and applied research. The statistical population of this research is all companies listed on Tehran Stock Exchange, and the research period is from 2012 to 2018. Using the screening method a sample of 150 companies was selected. Multivariate regression and the software Eviews 10 were used for data analysis and hypothesis testing.

The results indicated that CSR has a significant effect on stock return; however, it does not have a significant effect on real earnings management. CSR has a significant effect on information asymmetry and financial performance.

The present study is the first research conducted on CSR and financial concepts in Iran. The results of this study contribute to the literature by introducing social responsibility to financial accounting variables and provide suggestions for capital market participants. Social responsibility has received growing attention from many companies and managers, as it influences the interests of indirect stakeholders in addition to direct ones. CSR reporting can enhance the development of scientific and cultural skills by promoting a culture of knowledge acquisition and knowledge creation, leading to a reduced gap between the expectations of economic enterprises and the community.

The demand for social responsibility accounts are not limited to corporations nor are reporting practices limited to disclosures in annual reports. Organizations such as the World Bank, with lending activities in excess of $22B yearly in at least 64 countries, exert significant influence over how social responsibility is defined and accounted for. The current study examines the provision of social responsibility accounts within the context of World Bank lending activities. Beginning from an in-depth examination of a single World Bank lending agreement in the area of basic education in Latin America as well as 40 semi-structured interviews with field participants, and a series of participant observations, we examine not only how the demand for accountability and social responsibility is satisfied via a complex of written and verbal “accounts” but also the micro-politics of such processes. This analysis highlights how the intersection between World Bank demands and existing information technologies impact on the nature of the provided written and verbal social responsibility accounts.

In light of the conflict between scholarly findings supporting corporate social responsibility’s positive impact on corporate financial performance (CFP) versus findings showing negative impact on CFP, the academic literature has reoriented toward determining the contingency conditions that affect the underlying relationships. This paper aims to investigate two potential contingency factors, the chief executive officer’s (CEO) corporate social responsibility (CSR) expertise and board members’ CSR expertise.

This paper uses an unbalanced panel of archival data of 168 firms from the S&P 500 index for the period 2006–2013. The analytic model is estimated using the feasible generalized least squares regression method with heteroscedasticity and panel-specific AR1 autocorrelation.

The findings reinforce the perspective that CSR positively affects the firm’s financial performance. The authors find that firms realize optimal results from their CSR investments when both the board and the CEO have greater CSR expertise. In other words, both, CEO CSR expertise and board CSR expertise positively impact the CSR–CFP relationship.

The findings of this study advance the literature in three important areas, namely, the social responsibility–financial responsibility relationship, the governance literature and upper echelons theory. First, the theoretical arguments and the empirical evidence highlight that CSR–CFP relationship is at least partly contingent upon the CEO’s and board members’ CSR expertise. Second, this study introduces two important variables: the CEO and board’s CSR experience as proxies for their CSR expertise. Future researchers may consider decomposing the various components of CSR to study the differential impact of each component on financial performance.

First, this study finds that while the CEO CSR expertise may be of value for the firm, such value can only be realized under a capable and effective board that has adequate knowledge in the field of CSR. Second, this study shows that the best-case scenario for firms occurs when both its board members and CEO have had greater prior CSR involvement that contributed to their knowledge inventory and skills. Greater knowledge and skills enhance the quality of the decisions that comprise the firm’s CSR strategy.

While it seems intuitive that prior CSR knowledge and expertise should lead to more and better CSR initiatives, there are few if any studies that empirically examine the effects of this premise on a firm’s financial performance. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study appears to be the first that directly tests the relationship between executives’ CSR experience and firm performance.