IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jbrese/v150y2022icp690-698.html

The impact of corporate social responsibility strategy on the management and governance axis for sustainable growth

Author

Listed:
  • Lopez, Belen
  • Rangel, Celia
  • Fernández, Manuel

Abstract

The aim of this work is to show whether a continuous strategy in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) over time brings efficiency and profitability to the company’s operations. The methodology used in this paper is based on two sets of variables: the scoring for 27 listed companies present in the Spanish MERCO Corporate Responsibility and Governance Ranking (MERCO CR&G Ranking), and their share price in the Spanish open stock market for said companies from 2011 to 2019. These variables are compared with regressive, autoregressive and moving average econometrical methods over time. Results reveal that: (i) there is a directly proportional relationship between CSR, measured by the MERCO CR&G Ranking, and the share price; (ii) such relationship loses relevance when considering the economic context; (iii) the great progress of CSR in terms of management, transparency, measurement, environment and governance translates into a crucial contribution to the efficiency and sustainable growth of the company.

Suggested Citation

  • Lopez, Belen & Rangel, Celia & Fernández, Manuel, 2022. "The impact of corporate social responsibility strategy on the management and governance axis for sustainable growth," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 150(C), pages 690-698.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:150:y:2022:i:c:p:690-698
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2022.06.025
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0148296322005628
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jbusres.2022.06.025?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

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kyungtag Lee & Hyunchul Lee, 2019. "How Does CSR Activity Affect Sustainable Growth and Value of Corporations? Evidence from Korea," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(2), pages 1-11, January.
    2. Stefan Zeisel, 2020. "Is sustainability a moving target? A methodology for measuring CSR dynamics," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(1), pages 283-296, January.
    3. Manuel Branco & Lúcia Rodrigues, 2006. "Corporate Social Responsibility and Resource-Based Perspectives," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 69(2), pages 111-132, December.
    4. Monfort, Abel & Villagra, Nuria & Sánchez, Joaquín, 2021. "Economic impact of corporate foundations: An event analysis approach," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 159-170.
    5. Mohammed Benlemlih & Mohammad Bitar, 2018. "Corporate Social Responsibility and Investment Efficiency," Post-Print halshs-01321227, HAL.
    6. Rosa M. Muñoz & M. Valle Fernández & Yolanda Salinero, 2020. "Sustainability, Corporate Social Responsibility, and Performance in the Spanish Wine Sector," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(1), pages 1-9, December.
    7. Amr ElAlfy & Nicholas Palaschuk & Dina El-Bassiouny & Jeffrey Wilson & Olaf Weber, 2020. "Scoping the Evolution of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Research in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Era," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(14), pages 1-21, July.
    8. Duygu Turker, 2009. "Measuring Corporate Social Responsibility: A Scale Development Study," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 85(4), pages 411-427, April.
    9. Škare, Marinko & Golja, Tea, 2014. "The impact of government CSR supporting policies on economic growth," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 36(3), pages 562-577.
    10. Bhandari, Avishek & Javakhadze, David, 2017. "Corporate social responsibility and capital allocation efficiency," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 354-377.
    11. Felipe Hernández-Perlines & Antonio Ariza-Montes & Luis Araya-Castillo, 2020. "Sustainable Growth in the Agro-Food Cooperatives of Castilla-La Mancha (Spain)," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(12), pages 1-19, June.
    12. Jouni Korhonen, 2003. "Should we measure corporate social responsibility?," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 10(1), pages 25-39, March.
    13. Chiara Mio & Silvia Panfilo & Benedetta Blundo, 2020. "Sustainable development goals and the strategic role of business: A systematic literature review," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(8), pages 3220-3245, December.
    14. Kolk, Ans, 2016. "The social responsibility of international business: From ethics and the environment to CSR and sustainable development," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 51(1), pages 23-34.
    15. Sang Jun Cho & Chune Young Chung & Jason Young, 2019. "Study on the Relationship between CSR and Financial Performance," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(2), pages 1-26, January.
    16. Itziar Castelló & Michael Etter & Finn Årup Nielsen, 2016. "Strategies of Legitimacy Through Social Media: The Networked Strategy," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(3), pages 402-432, May.
    17. Aseem Kaul & Jiao Luo, 2018. "An economic case for CSR: The comparative efficiency of for‐profit firms in meeting consumer demand for social goods," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(6), pages 1650-1677, June.
    18. Ronald L. Wasserstein & Nicole A. Lazar, 2016. "The ASA's Statement on p -Values: Context, Process, and Purpose," The American Statistician, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 70(2), pages 129-133, May.
    19. Park, Jongchul & Lee, Hanjoon & Kim, Chankon, 2014. "Corporate social responsibilities, consumer trust and corporate reputation: South Korean consumers' perspectives," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 67(3), pages 295-302.
    20. Herzig, Christian & Moon, Jeremy, 2013. "Discourses on corporate social ir/responsibility in the financial sector," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 66(10), pages 1870-1880.
    21. Mohammed Benlemlih & Mohammad Bitar, 2018. "Corporate Social Responsibility and Investment Efficiency," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 148(3), pages 647-671, March.
    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. Jing Wu & Chee Yoong Liew, 2024. "Revisiting the nexus between corporate social responsibility and corporate value: Evidence from China," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 31(3), pages 2066-2085, May.
    2. Huang, Hongyun & Mbanyele, William & Wang, Fengrong & Zhang, Chenxi & Zhao, Xin, 2023. "Nudging corporate environmental responsibility through green finance? Quasi-natural experimental evidence from China," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).
    3. Constanza Bianchi & Katharina Maria Hofer & M. Abu Saleh, 2026. "Corporate Social Responsibility and Generation Z Purchase Intentions: A Cross‐National Study," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 33(2), pages 2092-2107, March.
    4. Kazi Musa & Norli Ali & Jamaliah Said & Farha Ghapar & Oleg Mariev & Norhayati Mohamed & Hirnissa Mohd Tahir, 2023. "Does the Effectiveness of Budget Deficit Vary between Welfare and Non-Welfare Countries?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(5), pages 1-22, February.
    5. Erli Dan & Jianfei Shen & Yiwei Guo, 2023. "Corporate Sustainable Growth, Carbon Performance, and Voluntary Carbon Information Disclosure: New Panel Data Evidence for Chinese Listed Companies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(5), pages 1-27, March.
    6. Constanza Bianchi & Katharina Maria Hofer & M Abu Saleh, 2024. "Purchase intention of brands with corporate social responsibility among generations Y and Z consumers in Chile," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 31(6), pages 6246-6259, November.
    7. Lijuan Wu & Shanyue Jin, 2022. "Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability: From a Corporate Governance Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(22), pages 1-15, November.
    8. Schnabl, Lukas & Schmitz, Anna-Karina & Waltermann, Emily & Göring-Lensing-Hebben, Katharina, 2026. "Responsibility beyond the point of sale: Leveraging product stewardship to mitigate Scope 3 emissions," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 208(C).
    9. Asunción Agulló-Torres & Francisco-José Del Campo-Gomis & David-Bernardo López-Lluch & Irene Arias-Navarro, 2026. "Evaluation of the environmental commitment of all large and medium-sized Spanish wineries based on objective information from their websites," Agricultural Economics, Czech Academy of Agricultural Sciences, vol. 72(3), pages 190-206.
    10. Hui Zhang & Shaoheng Li & Wenan Hu & Zhixin Zhang, 2024. "Conformity or differentiation: How corporate social responsibility affects employee behaviour in China," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 31(6), pages 5174-5188, November.
    11. Samuel Leroy Cabrera-Luján & David Josías Sánchez-Lima & Segundo Alberto Guevara-Flores & Dany Yudet Millones-Liza & Elizabeth Emperatriz García-Salirrosas & Miluska Villar-Guevara, 2023. "Impact of Corporate Social Responsibility, Business Ethics and Corporate Reputation on the Retention of Users of Third-Sector Institutions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(3), pages 1-18, January.
    12. Xiaoli Hao & Qingyu Sun & Ke Li & Yan Xue & Haitao Wu, 2025. "Can CSR effectively promote corporate green innovation efficiency?," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 27(7), pages 17525-17555, July.
    13. Lestari, Rita Puji & Saputra, Asep Rokhyadi Permana, 2025. "When leadership fails but CSR works: insights into sustainable business innovation in the hospitality industry," CACTUS – Journal of Tourism Business, Management and Economics, ASE Publishing House, vol. 7(2), December.

    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. Belén López, 2022. "How Higher Education Promotes the Integration of Sustainable Development Goals—An Experience in the Postgraduate Curricula," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(4), pages 1-13, February.
    2. Zhenye Lu & Yizhi Wang & Yongjia Lin, 2026. "Information Bridges or Monitoring Anchors? How Board Networks Shape ESG Practices' Financing Role in China," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 66(2), pages 1554-1570, June.
    3. Aseer AL‐Akheli & HongTao Tan & Saddam A. Hazaea & Barakat ELfarra & Ammar Al‐Zubairi, 2025. "Mapping the Literature Trends of Corporate Social Responsibility and Cost of Capital: A Systematic Literature Review," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 32(3), pages 3383-3407, May.
    4. Uyar, Ali & Lodh, Suman & Nandy, Monomita & Kuzey, Cemil & Karaman, Abdullah S., 2023. "Tradeoff between corporate investment and CSR: The moderating effect of financial slack, workforce slack, and board gender diversity," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    5. Azmi, Wajahat & Hassan, M. Kabir & Houston, Reza & Karim, Mohammad Sydul, 2021. "ESG activities and banking performance: International evidence from emerging economies," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    6. Zhou, Yuanqi & Zhang, Ya & Shuai, Zhenghua & Lin, Yu-en, 2026. "Share pledging by controlling shareholders and firm investment efficiency: Evidence from China," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    7. Anagnostopoulou, Seraina C. & Tsekrekos, Andrianos E. & Voulgaris, Georgios, 2021. "Accounting conservatism and corporate social responsibility," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 53(4).
    8. Xiaopeng Wang & Xueyao Shen & Yongliang Yang, 2020. "Does Environmental Information Disclosure Make Firms’ Investments More Efficient? Evidence from Measure 2007 of Chinese A-Listed Companies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(5), pages 1-16, March.
    9. Yadong Wang & Khaldoon Albitar & Imad Chbib, 2025. "A Novel Metric for Corporate Environmental Responsibility and Its Impact on Investment Inefficiency," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(3), pages 3003-3030, July.
    10. Junjie Yin & Zhenxing Huang & Jiapeng Liu & WeiWei Li, 2026. "Does the green human capital of top management teams affect corporate environmental protection investment decisions?," Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 13(1), pages 1-23, December.
    11. Maria Giuseppina Bruna & Béchir Ben Lahouel & Brahim Gaies, 2022. "Dans les brumes de l'endogénéité. Une étude critique des relations entre performance sociétale et performance économique," Post-Print hal-04070564, HAL.
    12. Ashrafee Hossain & Samir Saadi & Abu S. Amin, 2023. "Does CEO Risk-Aversion Affect Carbon Emission?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 182(4), pages 1171-1198, February.
    13. Kun Lu & Xiangke Sun & Yadong Wang & Khaldoon Albitar, 2025. "ESG as a Safeguard: Reducing Executive Opportunistic Behavior in China's A‐Share Market," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 32(4), pages 4389-4402, July.
    14. Pochara Arayakarnkul & Pattanaporn Chatjuthamard & Sirimon Treepongkaruna, 2022. "Board gender diversity, corporate social commitment and sustainability," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 29(5), pages 1706-1721, September.
    15. Mochales, Gerardo & Blanch, Javier, 2022. "Unlocking the potential of CSR: An explanatory model to determine the strategic character of CSR activities," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 140(C), pages 310-323.
    16. Wei Jiang & Xin Wang & Liping Liang & Mingming Leng & Xin Fang, 2025. "ESG Ratings as a Strategic Imperative: Unraveling Their Influence on Corporate Financial Performance in China," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 16(2), pages 9313-9337, June.
    17. Xuelin Bu & Limin Chen, 2023. "From efficiency to legitimacy: the changing logic of internal CSR in emerging multinationals during internationalization," Asian Business & Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 22(4), pages 1418-1453, September.
    18. Fang He & Xin Miao & Christina W.Y. Wong & Yanhong Tang, 2020. "Corporate Social Responsibility and Operating Performance: The Role of Local Character in Emerging Economies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(12), pages 1-25, June.
    19. Zhe Li & Ping Wang, 2023. "Cross‐border mergers and acquisitions and corporate social responsibility: Evidence from Chinese listed firms," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(1-2), pages 335-376, January.
    20. Duggal, Naina & He, Lerong & Shaw, Tara Shankar, 2025. "Mandatory corporate social responsibility spending, family control, and the cost of debt," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 57(4).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    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:eee:jbrese:v:150:y:2022:i:c:p:690-698. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jbusres .

    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.