Strengthening Stakeholder–Company Relationships through Mutually Beneficial Corporate Social Responsibility Initiatives

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) continues to gain attention atop the corporate agenda and is by now an important component of the dialogue between companies and their stakeholders. Nevertheless, there is still little guidance as to how companies can implement CSR activity in order to maximize...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of business ethics 2009-01, Vol.85 (Suppl 2), p.257-272
Main Authors: Bhattacharya, C. B., Korschun, Daniel, Sen, Sankar
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Business and Management
Business Ethics
Business structures
Consumer behavior
Consumer goods industries
Consumer research
Consumers
corporate citizenship
Corporate responsibility
Corporate social responsibility
Donations
Education
Employees
Employment
Ethics
Investment companies
Investments
Investors
Management
Marketing
Philosophy
Quality of Life Research
Relationship marketing
Social identity
Social responsibility
stakeholder management
Stakeholders
Studies
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Summary:Corporate social responsibility (CSR) continues to gain attention atop the corporate agenda and is by now an important component of the dialogue between companies and their stakeholders. Nevertheless, there is still little guidance as to how companies can implement CSR activity in order to maximize returns to CSR investment. Theorists have identified many company-favoring outcomes of CSR; yet there is a dearth of research on the psychological mechanisms that drive stakeholder responses to CSR activity. Borrowing from the literatures on meansend chains and relationship marketing, we propose a conceptual model that explains how CSR provides individual stakeholders with numerous benefits (functional, psychosocial, and values) and how the type and extent to which a stakeholder derives these benefits from CSR initiatives influences the quality of the relationship between the stakeholder and the company. The paper discusses the implications of these insights and highlights a number of areas for future research.
ISSN:0167-4544
1573-0697
DOI:10.1007/s10551-008-9730-3