Does Corporate Philanthropy Exist?: Business Giving to the Arts in the U.K

This paper addresses the question of the existence of corporate philanthropy. It proposes a framework for analysing corporate philanthropy along the dimensions of business/society interest and primary/secondary stakeholder focus. The framework is then applied in order to understand business involvem...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of business ethics 2004-10, Vol.54 (2), p.149-161
Main Authors: Moir, Lance, Taffler, Richard J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Advertising
Altruism
Arts
Business ethics
Business structures
Business studies
Centroids
Charity
Communities
Content analysis
Corporate image
Corporations
Donations
Economic aspects
Economic models
Ethics
Great Britain
Legitimacy
Marketing
Motivation
Organization theory
Organizational behavior
Performing arts
Philanthropy
Self interest
Shareholders
Social aspects
Social responsibility
Social responsibility of business
Society
Statistics
Studies
United Kingdom
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Summary:This paper addresses the question of the existence of corporate philanthropy. It proposes a framework for analysing corporate philanthropy along the dimensions of business/society interest and primary/secondary stakeholder focus. The framework is then applied in order to understand business involvement with the arts in the U.K. A unique dataset of 60 texts which describe different firms' involvement with the Arts is analysed using formal content analysis to uncover the motivations for business involvement. Cluster analysis is then used in order to identify motivational groupings. Two broad types of involvement are identified - advertisers and legitimators. Only in one case of the 60 is there the potential to observe pure altruism. The contribution of this paper is twofold. First, it provides a clear framework to understand the motivations for corporate giving and applies this using empirical data. Secondly, this research finds little evidence, if at all, of corporate philanthropy in the context of firms giving to the Arts in the U.K.
ISSN:0167-4544
1573-0697
DOI:10.1007/s10551-004-1777-1