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Abstract
Despite growing evidence of the benefits to a firm of improving corporate social performance (CSP), many firms vary significantly
in terms of their CSP activities. This research investigates how the characteristics of the stakeholder landscape influence
a firm’s CSP breadth. Using stakeholder theory, we specifically propose that several factors increase the salience and impact
of stakeholders’ demands on the firm and that, in response to these factors, a firm’s CSP will have greater breadth. A firm’s
CSP breadth is operationalized as the number of different sub-domains of CSR for which a firm has taken positive actions and
is captured using a unique dataset from Kinder, Lydenburg, and Domini (KLD). This data set includes positive and negative
firm actions across more than 35 different dimensions of socially responsible behavior. Findings based on a longitudinal,
multi-industry sample of 447 US firms during the period from 2000 to 2007 demonstrate that firms which: (1) have greater sensitivity
to stakeholder needs as a result of the firm’s strategic emphasis on marketing and/or value creation, (2) face greater diversity
of stakeholder demands, and (3) encounter a greater degree of scrutiny or risk from stakeholder action have a greater breadth
of CSP in response to the stakeholder landscape that they face.
- Content Type Journal Article
- Pages 1-19
- DOI 10.1007/s10551-012-1523-z
- Authors
- Jacob Brower, School of Business, Queen’s University, Goodes Hall, 143 Union St., Kingston, ON K7L 3N6, Canada
- Vijay Mahajan, McCombs School of Business, University of Texas, Austin, TX 78712, USA
- Journal Journal of Business Ethics
- Online ISSN 1573-0697
- Print ISSN 0167-4544