Purpose Despite the intensive research on corporate social responsibility (CSR) and firm financial performance, little is known about how the linkage between CSR and firm financial performance is heterogeneous across industries and how the performance implications are differentiated among specific categories of CSR activities. The purpose of this paper is to explore how the association between a firm’s engagement in CSR and firm financial performance is heterogeneous across industries and CSR categories. Design/methodology/approach Using a sample of 17,083 firm-year observations representing 1,877 firms from the largest 3,000 US companies during years 1991 and 2011, the authors compare the association between CSR and firm financial performance across ten industry sectors defined by Global Industry Classification Standard and across the four CSR categories classified by Mandl and Dorr (2007). Findings The authors find that the association between the overall CSR activities and firm performance is heterogeneous across industries. CSR has significant positive implications for firms from most, but not all, industries. Comparing the performance implication of CSR practices targeting different stakeholder groups, the empirical results indicate that different types of CSR have different influences on financial performance of firms from different industry sectors. Research limitations/implications This study provides new angles for managers in maximizing firm performance through CSR activities and suggests an important and interesting direction for researchers who engage in CSR research. Due to its heterogeneous nature, the CSR-performance relationship needs to be examined more specifically – across industries and different CSR categories. Findings from studies incorporating both company industrial sector and CSR categories would provide more meaningful and practical implications for managers. Practical implications This study provides important managerial implications. First, to maximize firm performance through CSR activities, managers must interpret the linkage between CSR and firm financial performance from the perspective of a specific industrial sector and acknowledge the importance of CSR practices across different CSR categories. Second, the findings suggest that CSR practices aiming at different stakeholder groups generate different financial returns in different industries. Firms engage in CSR to satisfy different stakeholder groups. When budgets are tight, managers may give higher priority to the CSR practices that have stronger effects on firm financial performance. Originality/value This study advances our understanding of the CSR-financial performance relationship by exploring its heterogeneous nature across industry sectors and across specific categories. To obtain the biggest gain from CSR spending, managers must have a good understanding how a specific CSR category can contribute to the financial performance of their particular company in their particular industry.
Recent years have seen a proliferation of short-term study abroad opportunities. Although they are both supplementing and replacing semester-long study abroad programs, research has focused primarily on semester (long-term) programs. We draw on the theory of planned behavior (TPB) to explore factors that predict why students choose long-term and short-term programs. Results indicate that students perceive more social pressure to engage in short-term programs, and higher barriers limiting participation in longterm programs. All TPB factors significantly predicted students' intentions to study abroad in both shortterm and long-term programs with one exception; perceived behavioral control did not significantly predict intentions to participate in short-term programs. These findings can be used to improve marketing of short-term and long-term programs by addressing student concerns specific to each type of program, potentially increasing the number of students choosing to study abroad.
Purpose This paper aims to develop a reliable and valid scale for measuring the underlying knowledge involved in work. To do so, it builds on the knowledge-in-practice (KIP) framework that suggests different types of work have different underlying knowledge characteristics. This allows us to answer two important questions: What are the underlying characteristics of KIP that are important to effectively manage a firm’s knowledge resources? How do we measure these characteristics? The answers help to build theoretical and empirical understanding of the construct of KIP. Design/methodology/approach The study uses a discovery-oriented survey design methodology to design the survey instrument, followed by a mixed-methods approach to validate the scale. Findings A new scale is developed for measuring the tacitness and learnability of the knowledge involved in work. It allows work units to be evaluated based on the underlying knowledge involved in different types of work. Research limitations/implications The KIP scale can be used for measuring the type of knowledge characteristics in organizations. Academics can use this study as a basic model to explore knowledge across different contexts and focus on the different characteristics within and across work contexts. Practical implications The study provides a clearer and more granular understanding of knowledge in organizations that can be used as a guideline to refer to when measuring and assessing knowledge requirements. Originality/value Scholars have pushed to understand work from a knowledge and collaboration perspective. A measurement scale for the KIP framework provides a critical first step towards this outcome.
In this study, we argue from the resource‐based view and multiple agency theory that private and corporate VC firms have different impacts on IPO underpricing among VC‐backed IPOs due to their different interests, motivations, and resources. Private VC firms are primarily financial oriented, but corporate VC firms generally are strategic in orientation. Using a sample of 200 VC‐backed IPOs from 2000 to 2007, we found support for the hypotheses that among VC‐backed IPOs, private VC ownership is positively associated with underpricing, whereas corporate VC ownership is negatively associated with underpricing. Copyright © 2013 Strategic Management Society.
Purpose – Prior literature has established the theoretical and statistical linkages between monetary compensation and firm performance, yet little is known about how the association between monetary compensation and firm performance is moderated by companies’ engagement in corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities. Further, compared to executive compensation, non-executive compensation remains an underexplored topic. The purpose of this paper is to investigate how workforce-oriented CSR moderates: first, the association between non-executive compensation and firm performance; and second, the association between executive compensation and firm performance. Design/methodology/approach – Using a sample of 181 from the largest 3,000 US companies for the years 1991-2011, the authors investigate how workforce-oriented CSR moderates the association between compensation and firm performance. Compensation is examined at two levels – non-executive versus executive compensation. The workforce-oriented CSR score is constructed as total strengths minus total concerns in Kinder, Lydenberg, and Domini’s employee relations dimension. Findings – The authors find an improvement in firm performance with increases in both non-executive and executive compensation. Further, workforce-oriented CSR positively moderates the association between non-executive compensation and firm performance, and negatively moderates the association between executive compensation and firm performance. Research limitations/implications – This study adds to the literature of the compensation-performance linkage by including both non-executive and executive compensation as important determinants of firm performance and incorporating workforce-oriented CSR as a moderator on the compensation-performance linkage. It also provides new angles for CSR scholars. Practical implications – This study helps managers understand the importance of fulfilling employees’ social emotional needs and the potential of workforce-oriented CSR in shaping employees’ perceived distributive justice. The findings also help managers make critical decisions regarding the allocation of limited corporate resources and prioritization of investment options. In addition, the findings are also useful to boards of directors and human resources managers who are in charge of hiring executives, building top management teams, and deciding executive compensation. Originality/value – This study helps advance our understanding of the compensation-performance linkage. The results suggest that the relationship between compensation and financial performance is contingent on other organizational factors. In addition, the findings provide practical implications on how CSR engagement moderates the association between non-executive compensation and firm performance differently than the association between executive compensation and firm performance and how to allocate corporate resources and prioritize strategic options effectively.
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