An analysis of the determinants of corporate social response strategies: The constraining and enabling effects of external market-based conditions and internal governance factors.
Item
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Title
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An analysis of the determinants of corporate social response strategies: The constraining and enabling effects of external market-based conditions and internal governance factors.
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Identifier
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AAI9908357
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identifier
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9908357
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Creator
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Sama, Linda Margaret.
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Contributor
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Adviser: S. Prakash Sethi
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Date
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1998
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Business Administration, Management
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Abstract
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Previous studies in the social issues management field have treated differences in firms' social strategies from a predominantly internal-individual perspective, focusing on the impact of managerial values on corporate social performance. This research departs from the prevailing trend, seeking a broader explanation for differentiable social strategies. Specifically, social responsiveness is predicted to be a factor of a firm's ability to respond, determined by its competitive position in the external market and reflected in a measure of strategic slack; and, predisposition to respond, determined by level of internal oversight and reflected in a measure of the social orientation of its governance mechanisms.;Four social response strategies are defined: Resistant--a passive, insensitive response; Defensive--a proactive, insensitive response; Accommodative--a passive, sensitive response; and, Progressive--a proactive, sensitive response. Hypotheses predicted a positive association between high and stable strategic slack--firms' ability to respond--and proactive responses; and, strong social orientation of the governance mechanisms--firms' predisposition to respond--and sensitive responses. Public visibility was expected to moderate these relationships.;Financial performance, governance and visibility data were collected for 244 large, publicly-traded U.S. firms. The final sample represented a variety of industries from both manufacturing and service sectors. Categorization of firms' social response was based on results of a survey instrument administered to industry analysts. Multiple discriminant analysis was used to analyze the data, with principal component analysis serving as a data reduction technique to arrive at a parsimonious, interpretable model.;Results supported the proposed model, demonstrating a positive association between strategic slack and proactive responses; and, governance social orientation and sensitive responses. As predicted, four response categories were carved out in multidimensional space by two discriminant functions relating to strategic slack and social governance, with strategic slack explaining most of the variance. Moderating effects received limited support.;This research contributes to an integrated explanation of corporate social response strategies. Managers, public policy specialists and theorists are informed as to factors internal and external to the firm that are associated with a response; and, the potential effectiveness of suggested methods for improving corporate social responsiveness. Avenues for future research are explored.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
