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Moderating effect of firm size on the influence of corporate social responsibility in the economic performance of micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises

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  • Sánchez-Infante Hernández, Juan Pablo
  • Yañez-Araque, Benito
  • Moreno-García, Juan

Abstract

Corporate social responsibility (hereafter, CSR) continues to be generally relevant, with growing interest from academic researchers, businesspeople, public administrations and society as a whole. Numerous works have studied the influence of CSR on economic performance (hereafter, EP) in large businesses, but very few studies have focused on micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs). This study analyzes the moderating effect of firm size on the influence of CSR actions on the economic performance of MSMEs. This work has two purposes: first, to empirically test the “social impact” hypothesis of stakeholder theory, which assumes that CRS positively impacts EP; second, to analyze the moderating effect of the MSME size on this hypothesis. The results obtained using the PLS-SEM technique based on a sample of 278 Spanish firms confirm that MSMEs that carry out CSR activities in their economic, social and environmental aspects improve their economic performance, and this relationship is moderated by the size of these organizations; the larger the size is, the stronger the relationship is.

Suggested Citation

  • Sánchez-Infante Hernández, Juan Pablo & Yañez-Araque, Benito & Moreno-García, Juan, 2020. "Moderating effect of firm size on the influence of corporate social responsibility in the economic performance of micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 151(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:tefoso:v:151:y:2020:i:c:s0040162519310777
    DOI: 10.1016/j.techfore.2019.119774
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