Home/Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting

Corporate Social Responsibility: A Theory of the Firm Perspective

Academy of Management Review· 2001-01-01· article· 7,563 citationsclosed

Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting Environmental Sustainability in Business Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability

Abstract

We outline a supply and demand model of corporate social responsibility (CSR). Based on this framework, we hypothesize that a firm's level of CSR will depend on its size, level of diversification, research and development, advertising, government sales, consumer income, labor market conditions, and stage in the industry life cycle. From these hypotheses, we conclude that there is an “ideal” level of CSR, which managers can determine via cost-benefit analysis, and that there is a neutral relationship between CSR and financial performance.

Cite this

Abagail McWilliams, Donald S. Siegel (2001). Corporate Social Responsibility: A Theory of the Firm Perspective. Academy of Management Review. https://doi.org/10.2307/259398

@article{abagail2001corporate,
  title  = {Corporate Social Responsibility: A Theory of the Firm Perspective},
  author = {McWilliams, Abagail and Siegel, Donald S.},
  year   = {2001},
  journal = {Academy of Management Review},
  doi    = {10.2307/259398}
}

Citations in this library

Stored only when both papers are in the corpus — 7,563 citations exist upstream.

References

1991Firm Resources and Sustained Competitive Advantage

2004Firm resources and sustained competitive advantage

2007The Social Responsibility of Business Is to Increase Its Profits

1979A Three-Dimensional Conceptual Model of Corporate Performance

1997Toward a Theory of Stakeholder Identification and Salience: Defining the Principle of who and What Really Counts

1995The Stakeholder Theory of the Corporation: Concepts, Evidence, and Implications

1997THE CORPORATE SOCIAL PERFORMANCE-FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE LINK

1970Information and Consumer Behavior

Cited by

2003Corporate Social and Financial Performance: A Meta-Analysis

2007Why would corporations behave in socially responsible ways? an institutional theory of corporate social responsibility

2010Voluntary Nonfinancial Disclosure and the Cost of Equity Capital: The Initiation of Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting

2006How corporate social responsibility is defined: an analysis of 37 definitions

2014The Impact of Corporate Sustainability on Organizational Processes and Performance

2004Corporate Social Responsibility Theories: Mapping the Territory

2010Does Corporate Social Responsibility Affect the Cost of Capital?

2001The resource-based view of the firm: Ten years after 1991