IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/corsem/v28y2021i2p776-785.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Influence of corporate social responsibility on sustainable practices of small and medium‐sized enterprises: Implications on business performance

Author

Listed:
  • Edilson Bacinello
  • Gérson Tontini
  • Anete Alberton

Abstract

The strategic approach of corporate social responsibility (CSR) can be associated with sustainable practices, being considered as a source of value creation that generates competitive advantage and superior performance for companies. This perspective notes that the use of economic, social, and environmental resources and capacities can individually contribute to improving business performance (BP). The present study analyzes the strategic influence of the economic, social, and environmental dimensions of CSR on the performance of small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs). Using a sample of 103 companies based in Brazil, the results indicate that SMEs can strategically use their resources and related capacities mainly for social and environmental issues, followed by the economic dimension of CSR, as an opportunity to create value and generate advantage competitive with rivals. Additionally, these three dimensions of CSR, with emphasis on the social aspect, can also provide better levels of BP in SMEs compared to competitors.

Suggested Citation

  • Edilson Bacinello & Gérson Tontini & Anete Alberton, 2021. "Influence of corporate social responsibility on sustainable practices of small and medium‐sized enterprises: Implications on business performance," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 28(2), pages 776-785, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:corsem:v:28:y:2021:i:2:p:776-785
    DOI: 10.1002/csr.2087
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/csr.2087
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/csr.2087?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
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Olga Hawn & Ioannis Ioannou, 2016. "Mind the gap: The interplay between external and internal actions in the case of corporate social responsibility," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(13), pages 2569-2588, December.
    2. Manuel Branco & Lúcia Rodrigues, 2006. "Corporate Social Responsibility and Resource-Based Perspectives," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 69(2), pages 111-132, December.
    3. Joseph Taylor & Joseph Vithayathil & Dobin Yim, 2018. "Are corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives such as sustainable development and environmental policies value enhancing or window dressing?," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 25(5), pages 971-980, September.
    4. Antonio Juan Briones Peñalver & Juan Andrés Bernal Conesa & Carmen de Nieves Nieto, 2018. "Analysis of Corporate Social Responsibility in Spanish Agribusiness and Its Influence on Innovation and Performance," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 25(2), pages 182-193, March.
    5. Saeidi, Sayedeh Parastoo & Sofian, Saudah & Saeidi, Parvaneh & Saeidi, Sayyedeh Parisa & Saaeidi, Seyyed Alireza, 2015. "How does corporate social responsibility contribute to firm financial performance? The mediating role of competitive advantage, reputation, and customer satisfaction," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 68(2), pages 341-350.
    6. Mª Eugenia López‐Pérez & Iguácel Melero & F Javier Sese, 2017. "Management for Sustainable Development and Its Impact on Firm Value in the SME Context: Does Size Matter?," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(7), pages 985-999, November.
    7. Yuanyuan Hu & Shouming Chen & Yuexin Shao & Su Gao, 2018. "CSR and Firm Value: Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-18, December.
    8. Sher Zaman Khan & Qing Yang & Abdul Waheed, 2019. "Investment in intangible resources and capabilities spurs sustainable competitive advantage and firm performance," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 26(2), pages 285-295, March.
    9. Dafna M. DiSegni & Moshe Huly & Sagi Akron, 2015. "Corporate social responsibility, environmental leadership and financial performance," Social Responsibility Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 11(1), pages 131-148, March.
    10. Abagail McWilliams & Donald Siegel, 2000. "Corporate social responsibility and financial performance: correlation or misspecification?," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 21(5), pages 603-609, May.
    11. Edilson Bacinello & Gérson Tontini & Anete Alberton, 2020. "Influence of maturity on corporate social responsibility and sustainable innovation in business performance," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(2), pages 749-759, March.
    12. Bryan W. Husted & José De Jesus Salazar, 2006. "Taking Friedman Seriously: Maximizing Profits and Social Performance," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(1), pages 75-91, January.
    13. Chin-Shien Lin & Ruei-Yuan Chang & Van Thac Dang, 2015. "An Integrated Model to Explain How Corporate Social Responsibility Affects Corporate Financial Performance," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(7), pages 1-20, June.
    14. Paul Shrivastava, 1995. "Environmental technologies and competitive advantage," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 16(S1), pages 183-200.
    15. Paul Shrivastava & Stuart Hart, 1995. "Creating sustainable corporations," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 4(3), pages 154-165, July.
    16. Abagail McWilliams & Donald S. Siegel & Patrick M. Wright, 2006. "Corporate Social Responsibility: Strategic Implications," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(1), pages 1-18, January.
    17. Prayag Lal Yadav & Seung Hun Han & Hohyun Kim, 2017. "Sustaining Competitive Advantage Through Corporate Environmental Performance," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(3), pages 345-357, March.
    18. Karl Widerquist, 2018. "The Bottom Line," Exploring the Basic Income Guarantee, in: A Critical Analysis of Basic Income Experiments for Researchers, Policymakers, and Citizens, chapter 0, pages 93-98, Palgrave Macmillan.
    19. Markus Kitzmueller & Jay Shimshack, 2012. "Economic Perspectives on Corporate Social Responsibility," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 50(1), pages 51-84, March.
    20. Wendy L. Tate & Lydia Bals, 2018. "Achieving Shared Triple Bottom Line (TBL) Value Creation: Toward a Social Resource-Based View (SRBV) of the Firm," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 152(3), pages 803-826, October.
    21. Margaret A. Peteraf & Jay B. Barney, 2003. "Unraveling the resource-based tangle," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 24(4), pages 309-323.
    22. Alan Gregory & Julie Whittaker & Xiaojuan Yan, 2016. "Corporate Social Performance, Competitive Advantage, Earnings Persistence and Firm Value," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(1-2), pages 3-30, January.
    23. Jae-Joon Han & Hyun Jeong Kim & Jeongmin Yu, 2016. "Empirical study on relationship between corporate social responsibility and financial performance in Korea," Asian Journal of Sustainability and Social Responsibility, Springer, vol. 1(1), pages 61-76, December.
    24. Nuttaneeya Torugsa & Wayne O’Donohue & Rob Hecker, 2013. "Proactive CSR: An Empirical Analysis of the Role of its Economic, Social and Environmental Dimensions on the Association between Capabilities and Performance," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 115(2), pages 383-402, June.
    25. 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.
    26. Pratima Bansal, 2005. "Evolving sustainably: a longitudinal study of corporate sustainable development," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(3), pages 197-218, March.
    27. Nuttaneeya Torugsa & Wayne O’Donohue & Rob Hecker, 2012. "Capabilities, Proactive CSR and Financial Performance in SMEs: Empirical Evidence from an Australian Manufacturing Industry Sector," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 109(4), pages 483-500, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Mohammad Zahirul Khaiyum & Sudipa Sarker & Golam Kabir, 2023. "Evaluation of Carbon Emission Factors in the Cement Industry: An Emerging Economy Context," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(21), pages 1-15, October.
    2. Hans Jaich, 2022. "Linking environmental management and employees' organizational identification: The mediating role of environmental attitude," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 29(2), pages 305-315, March.
    3. Najahul Kamilah Aminy Sukri & Siti Nur ‘Atikah Zulkiffli & Nik Hazimah Nik Mat & Khatijah Omar & Mukhammad Kholid Mawardi & Nur Farah Zafira Zaidi, 2023. "An Analysis of Eco-Innovation Capabilities among Small and Medium Enterprises in Malaysia," Administrative Sciences, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-24, April.
    4. Anna Chwiłkowska-Kubala & Szymon Cyfert & Kamila Malewska & Katarzyna Mierzejewska & Witold Szumowski, 2021. "The Relationships among Social, Environmental, Economic CSR Practices and Digitalization in Polish Energy Companies," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(22), pages 1-20, November.
    5. Kenichi Yoshida & Kenichi Kurita & Shunsuke Managi, 2023. "Stakeholder engagement as a sustainable development strategy: Managerial entrenchment for cross‐shareholdings," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 30(1), pages 402-418, January.
    6. Javier Martínez‐Falcó & Bartolomé Marco‐Lajara & Patrocinio Zaragoza‐Sáez & Luis A. Millán‐Tudela, 2023. "Analyzing the effect of Corporate Social Responsibility on Green Innovation Performance in the Spanish wine industry: A structural equation modeling analysis," Agribusiness, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 39(4), pages 985-1006, October.
    7. Jian Liang & Ameeta Jain & Hao Wu, 2021. "Does Corporate Social Responsibility Vary by Real Estate Asset Types? Evidence from Real Estate Investment Trusts," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(22), pages 1-18, November.

    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. Edilson Bacinello & Gérson Tontini & Anete Alberton, 2020. "Influence of maturity on corporate social responsibility and sustainable innovation in business performance," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(2), pages 749-759, March.
    2. Saeid Homayoun & Bita Mashayekhi & Amin Jahangard & Milad Samavat & Zabihollah Rezaee, 2023. "The Controversial Link between CSR and Financial Performance: The Mediating Role of Green Innovation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(13), pages 1-15, July.
    3. Haroon ur Rashid Khan & Murad Ali & Hossein G. T. Olya & Muhamamd Zulqarnain & Zubair Rashid Khan, 2018. "Transformational leadership, corporate social responsibility, organizational innovation, and organizational performance: Symmetrical and asymmetrical analytical approaches," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 25(6), pages 1270-1283, November.
    4. Piotr Ratajczak, 2021. "The mediating role of natural and social resources in the corporate social responsibility—corporate financial performance relationship," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 42(1), pages 100-119, January.
    5. Upadhaya, Bedanand & Munir, Rahat & Blount, Yvette & Su, Sophia, 2018. "Does organizational culture mediate the CSR – strategy relationship? Evidence from a developing country, Nepal," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 108-122.
    6. Francesco Perrini & Angeloantonio Russo & Antonio Tencati & Clodia Vurro, 2011. "Deconstructing the Relationship Between Corporate Social and Financial Performance," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 102(1), pages 59-76, March.
    7. Anat Anaqie Zahidy & Shahryar Sorooshian & Zahidy Abd Hamid, 2019. "Critical Success Factors for Corporate Social Responsibility Adoption in the Construction Industry in Malaysia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(22), pages 1-24, November.
    8. Luis Enrique Valdez-Juárez & Dolores Gallardo-Vázquez & Elva Alicia Ramos-Escobar, 2019. "Organizational Learning and Corporate Social Responsibility Drivers of Performance in SMEs in Northwestern Mexico," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(20), pages 1-23, October.
    9. Antonio Martos‐Pedrero & David Jiménez‐Castillo & Vera Ferrón‐Vílchez & Francisco Joaquín Cortés‐García, 2023. "Corporate social responsibility and export performance under stakeholder view: The mediation of innovation and the moderation of the legal form," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 30(1), pages 248-266, January.
    10. Bongani Munkuli & Renee Horne, 2018. "Financial Markets Value Reputation for Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) – A Study of the South African Mining Sector," Africagrowth Agenda, Africagrowth Institute, vol. 15(2), pages 17-22.
    11. Achi, Awele & Adeola, Ogechi & Achi, Francis Chukwuedo, 2022. "CSR and green process innovation as antecedents of micro, small, and medium enterprise performance: Moderating role of perceived environmental volatility," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 139(C), pages 771-781.
    12. Rachel Bocquet & Christian Le Bas & Caroline Danièle Mothe & Nicolas Poussing, 2019. "Strategic CSR for innovation in SMEs: Does diversity matter?," Post-Print hal-02380559, HAL.
    13. Ko, Kuan-Cheng & Nie, Jun & Ran, Rong & Gu, Yuan, 2020. "Corporate social responsibility, social identity, and innovation performance in China," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    14. Mario A. Morales-Parragué & Rodrigo A. Varela-Laso & Luis Araya-Castillo & Fidel Molina-Luque, 2023. "Corporate Social Responsibility: Where Does It Come from, and Where Does It Go? Evolution of the Conceptual Structure from 1975 to 2021," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-23, March.
    15. Sher Zaman Khan & Qing Yang & Abdul Waheed, 2019. "Investment in intangible resources and capabilities spurs sustainable competitive advantage and firm performance," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 26(2), pages 285-295, March.
    16. Yuan Yuan & Louise Yi Lu & Gaoliang Tian & Yangxin Yu, 2020. "Business Strategy and Corporate Social Responsibility," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 162(2), pages 359-377, March.
    17. Xin Pan & Paresha Sinha & Xuanjin Chen, 2021. "Corporate social responsibility and eco‐innovation: The triple bottom line perspective," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 28(1), pages 214-228, January.
    18. Jean-Marie Courrent & Sonia Chassé & Waleed Omri, 2018. "Do Entrepreneurial SMEs Perform Better Because They are More Responsible?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 153(2), pages 317-336, December.
    19. Michael Kopel, 2021. "CSR leadership, spillovers, and first-mover advantage," Decisions in Economics and Finance, Springer;Associazione per la Matematica, vol. 44(2), pages 489-505, December.
    20. 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.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:wly:corsem:v:28:y:2021:i:2:p:776-785. 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: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://doi.org/10.1002/(ISSN)1535-3966 .

    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.