Community Social Responsibility and Its Consequences for Family Business Performance

Abstract

Family‐centered businesses may have unique perspectives of socially responsible behavior due to family involvement and ties to the community. This research explored the antecedents and consequences of community social responsibility (CSR) for family firms operating in small and rural markets. Using a national sample from the 2000 wave of the National Family Business Survey (NFBS), researchers profiled family business operators' (n = 221) to determine if their CSR orientation contributed to family business performance. Enlightened self interest and social capital perspectives provide a framework for elaborating the role of CSR in sustaining family businesses in changing small communities. Results indicate that three dimensions, commitment to the community, community support, and sense of community, account for 43 percent of the variation in family business operators' CSR. Size of the business was significantly related to family firms' ability to give and receive community support. Further, commitment to the community was found to significantly explain perceived family business performance while community support explained financial performance. Findings suggest that socially responsible business behaviors can indeed contribute to the sustainability of family businesses in small rural communities.

Sustainability Strategy and Management Control Systems in Family Firms. Evidence from a Case Study

“…With organizational control, we mean both control related to the Management Control Systems (MCSs), and control related to the Sustainability Control Systems (SCSs), an extension of traditional MCSs. In detail, the control related to MCSs aims to ensure that all processes and activities of an organization are aligned to the organizational strategies and objectives [35], while control related to SCSs aims to address the interrelationships between economic, environmental and social issues related to organizational performance [48] (Note 4, Appendix A).…”

Marketing fortification of business through crowdsourcing and social responsibility: focus on South African SMEs

“…It is an expert concept that entails operating an enterprise by accounting for the social and environmental impact. It emerged from proper control and accounting, diversity in staffing, compliance invented on the high ethical standards of employees, adoption of operating policies, being responsible for company goods and services, being socially responsible, ensuring employee and customer safety at work, quality and control of company own activities and conduct (Niehm, Swinney & Miller, 2008). It is an enterprise's deliberate standards and actions to achieve its sustainable development objectives.…”

Relationship between social responsibility and performance in small and medium enterprises: Literature review

“…Ya en 1982, Brown y King identificaron como determinantes del comportamiento ético a nivel organizativo las normas y presiones procedentes tanto de la comunidad como de los competidores, la anticipación a premios o recompensas, el respeto de la normativa o el temor a ser sancionado por incumplirla. Otras de las características intrínsecas a la propia naturaleza de cada empresa sugeridas como significativas o moderadoras del nivel de adopción de determinadas prácticas de responsabilidad social han sido el tamaño (Niehm et al, 2008), la concentración de la propiedad (Thompson y Smith, 1991), el sector y la orientación business to business (Murillo y Lozano, 2006).…”

“…Niehm et al (2008) identifican en la relación empresa-comunidad tres dimensiones como explicativas de la RSE en empresas familiares: el compromiso, el apoyo y el sentido de comunidad. Según estos autores, i) el compromiso con la comunidad representaría aquellos esfuerzos encaminados a la creación de valor, que persiguen el bien común para todo el entorno local y mejora la sostenibilidad de la empresa; ii) el apoyo reflejaría la contraprestación que la empresa familiar realiza al atender las necesidades de su entorno; y por último, iii) el sentido de comunidad contendría las percepciones que las empresas tienen de las necesidades de la comunidad y su satisfacción como parte de la misma.…”

“…Su estudio se ha realizado desde dos perspectivas: una primera, a partir de trabajos en los que sus autores realizan sugerencias relacionadas con la adopción e incorporación estratégica de la RSE y de la que se presentan diversas implicaciones teó-ricas sobre cómo el comportamiento responsable y su integración en la estrategia empresarial puede llegar a originar una mejora del performance, la competitividad o la eficiencia (Sarbutts, 2003;Luken y Stares, 2005;Murillo y Lozano, 2006;Jenkins, 2009;Moore y Manring, 2009;Tomomi, 2010); y una segunda parte, en la que se han revisado aquellos trabajos que, con evidencias, permiten probar precisamente esas implicaciones teóricas (Chavan, 2005;Marín y Rubio, 2008;Niehm et al, 2008;Hamman et al, 2009).…”