IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/mktlet/v26y2015i4p703-714.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Exploring the relationship between corporate social responsibility and firm innovation

Author

Listed:
  • Xueming Luo
  • Shuili Du

Abstract

This research investigates the link between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and firm innovation. Drawing upon the literatures on CSR and the knowledge-based view, we conceptualize that a firm's CSR programs enable it to build broader and deeper relationship networks with its stakeholders, facilitating the sharing and exchange of external knowledge of its stakeholders; in turn, stakeholders' external knowledge complements the firm's internal knowledge and promotes firm innovation. Using a large scale data set compiled from various archival sources, our empirical results show that firms with greater CSR activities exhibit higher innovativeness capability and launch more new products. Furthermore, we show that this positive relationship between CSR and firm innovation is stronger for firms with higher R&D investment and firms operating in more competitive markets. This research broadens current understanding of the business returns to CSR, suggesting that CSR can be a catalyst for innovation. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media New York 2015

Suggested Citation

  • Xueming Luo & Shuili Du, 2015. "Exploring the relationship between corporate social responsibility and firm innovation," Marketing Letters, Springer, vol. 26(4), pages 703-714, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:mktlet:v:26:y:2015:i:4:p:703-714
    DOI: 10.1007/s11002-014-9302-5
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s11002-014-9302-5
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11002-014-9302-5?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Henri Servaes & Ane Tamayo, 2013. "The Impact of Corporate Social Responsibility on Firm Value: The Role of Customer Awareness," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 59(5), pages 1045-1061, May.
    2. Justin J. P. Jansen & Frans A. J. Van Den Bosch & Henk W. Volberda, 2006. "Exploratory Innovation, Exploitative Innovation, and Performance: Effects of Organizational Antecedents and Environmental Moderators," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 52(11), pages 1661-1674, November.
    3. Aaron K. Chatterji & David I. Levine & Michael W. Toffel, 2009. "How Well Do Social Ratings Actually Measure Corporate Social Responsibility?," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(1), pages 125-169, March.
    4. Hee‐Jae Cho & Vladimir Pucik, 2005. "Relationship between innovativeness, quality, growth, profitability, and market value," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(6), pages 555-575, June.
    5. John Hauser & Gerard J. Tellis & Abbie Griffin, 2006. "Research on Innovation: A Review and Agenda for," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 25(6), pages 687-717, 11-12.
    6. Bruno Cassiman & Reinhilde Veugelers, 2006. "In Search of Complementarity in Innovation Strategy: Internal R& D and External Knowledge Acquisition," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 52(1), pages 68-82, January.
    7. Shuili Du & C. B. Bhattacharya & Sankar Sen, 2011. "Corporate Social Responsibility and Competitive Advantage: Overcoming the Trust Barrier," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 57(9), pages 1528-1545, March.
    8. Jordi Surroca & Josep A. Tribó & Sandra Waddock, 2010. "Corporate responsibility and financial performance: the role of intangible resources," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(5), pages 463-490, May.
    9. Brian Uzzi & Ryon Lancaster, 2003. "Relational Embeddedness and Learning: The Case of Bank Loan Managers and Their Clients," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 49(4), pages 383-399, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Encarna Guillamon-Saorin & Magdalena Kapelko & Spiro E. Stefanou, 2018. "Corporate Social Responsibility and Operational Inefficiency: A Dynamic Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(7), pages 1-26, July.
    2. Wong, Jin Boon & Zhang, Qin, 2022. "Stock market reactions to adverse ESG disclosure via media channels," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 54(1).
    3. Amal Aouadi & Sylvain Marsat, 2018. "Do ESG Controversies Matter for Firm Value? Evidence from International Data," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 151(4), pages 1027-1047, September.
    4. Jun Li & Di (Andrew) Wu, 2020. "Do Corporate Social Responsibility Engagements Lead to Real Environmental, Social, and Governance Impact?," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 66(6), pages 2564-2588, June.
    5. Yongqiang Gao & Jian Wu & Taïeb Hafsi, 2017. "The Inverted U‐Shaped Relationship between Corporate Philanthropy and Spending on Research and Development: A Case of Complementarity and Competition Moderated by Firm Size and Visibility," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 24(6), pages 465-477, November.
    6. Vanessa C. Burbano, 2016. "Social Responsibility Messages and Worker Wage Requirements: Field Experimental Evidence from Online Labor Marketplaces," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 27(4), pages 1010-1028, August.
    7. Gema García‐Piqueres & Rebeca García‐Ramos, 2020. "Is the corporate social responsibility–innovation link homogeneous?: Looking for sustainable innovation in the Spanish context," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(2), pages 803-814, March.
    8. Sylvia Grewatsch & Ingo Kleindienst, 2017. "When Does It Pay to be Good? Moderators and Mediators in the Corporate Sustainability–Corporate Financial Performance Relationship: A Critical Review," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 145(2), pages 383-416, October.
    9. Sadok El Ghoul & Omrane Guedhami & Yongtae Kim, 2017. "Country-level institutions, firm value, and the role of corporate social responsibility initiatives," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 48(3), pages 360-385, April.
    10. Cecile K. Cho & Theresa S. Cho & Jessie Lee, 2019. "Managerial attributes, consumer proximity, and corporate environmental performance," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 26(1), pages 159-169, January.
    11. Truong, Yann & Berrone, Pascual, 2022. "Can environmental innovation be a conventional source of higher market valuation?," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 142(C), pages 113-121.
    12. Kim, Moshe & Surroca, Jordi & Tribó, Josep A., 2014. "Impact of ethical behavior on syndicated loan rates," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 122-144.
    13. Alfred Zhu Liu & Angela Xia Liu & Rui Wang & Sean Xin Xu, 2020. "Too Much of a Good Thing? The Boomerang Effect of Firms’ Investments on Corporate Social Responsibility during Product Recalls," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 57(8), pages 1437-1472, December.
    14. Magdalena Kapelko & Alfons Oude Lansink & Encarna Guillamon‐Saorin, 2021. "Corporate social responsibility and dynamic productivity change in the US food and beverage manufacturing industry," Agribusiness, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 37(2), pages 286-305, April.
    15. Anna Sadovnikova & Ashish Pujari, 2017. "The effect of green partnerships on firm value," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 45(2), pages 251-267, March.
    16. Weiwei Wu & Yexin Liu & Tachia Chin & Wenzhong Zhu, 2018. "Will Green CSR Enhance Innovation? A Perspective of Public Visibility and Firm Transparency," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(2), pages 1-14, February.
    17. Guo Li & Na Li & Suresh P. Sethi, 2021. "Does CSR Reduce Idiosyncratic Risk? Roles of Operational Efficiency and AI Innovation," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 30(7), pages 2027-2045, July.
    18. Bu-Kyung Choi & Ji-Young Ahn & Myeong-Cheol Choi, 2021. "Corporate Social Responsibility, CEO Compensation Structure, and Corporate Innovation Activities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(23), pages 1-15, November.
    19. Gary F. Peters & Andrea M. Romi & Juan Manuel Sanchez, 2019. "The Influence of Corporate Sustainability Officers on Performance," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 159(4), pages 1065-1087, November.
    20. Alexandra ZBUCHEA & Florina PÎNZARU, 2017. "Tailoring CSR Strategy to Company Size?," Management Dynamics in the Knowledge Economy, College of Management, National University of Political Studies and Public Administration, vol. 5(3), pages 415-437, September.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:mktlet:v:26:y:2015:i:4:p:703-714. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.