IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v13y2021i7p3635-d523776.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Examining the Relationship between Social Inefficiency and Financial Performance. Evidence from Wisconsin Dairy Farms

Author

Listed:
  • Theodoros Skevas

    (Division of Applied Social Sciences, University of Missouri, 124 Mumford Hall, Columbia, MO 65211, USA)

  • Ioannis Skevas

    (Department of Food Business & Development, University College Cork, O’Rahilly Building, College Rd, T12 K8AF Cork, Ireland)

  • Victor E. Cabrera

    (Department of Animal and Dairy Sciences, University of Wisconsin, 1675 Observatory Dr., 434 Animal Sciences Building Madison, Madison, WI 53706, USA)

Abstract

Although social sustainability is an important component of sustainable agricultural production, little research has been conducted to assess social sustainability performance at the farm level. This study measures farmers’ social sustainability performance using (in)efficiency measures derived from a non-parametric dynamic directional distance function approach. It further examines the relationship between social (in)efficiency and financial performance measured by profitability, which is crucial to understand the financial impact of engaging in socially responsible activities. The empirical application focuses on a sample of Wisconsin dairy farms over the period 2007–2017. Results show that sample farms could have (decreased/)increased their social (in)efficiency by an average of 14%. Social (in)efficiency was found to be (negatively/)positively related to farm profitability, implying that social objectives can be achieved in tandem with economic goals.

Suggested Citation

  • Theodoros Skevas & Ioannis Skevas & Victor E. Cabrera, 2021. "Examining the Relationship between Social Inefficiency and Financial Performance. Evidence from Wisconsin Dairy Farms," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(7), pages 1-14, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:7:p:3635-:d:523776
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/7/3635/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/7/3635/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Magdalena Kapelko, 2020. "Corporate Social Responsibility and Firms’ Dynamic Productivity Change," International Series in Operations Research & Management Science, in: Juan Aparicio & C. A. Knox Lovell & Jesus T. Pastor & Joe Zhu (ed.), Advances in Efficiency and Productivity II, pages 145-158, Springer.
    2. Serra, Teresa & Chambers, Robert G. & Oude Lansink, Alfons, 2014. "Measuring technical and environmental efficiency in a state-contingent technology," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 236(2), pages 706-717.
    3. Ioannis Ioannou & George Serafeim, 2012. "What drives corporate social performance? The role of nation-level institutions," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 43(9), pages 834-864, December.
    4. Marina García-Llorente & Cristiano M. Rossignoli & Francesco Di Iacovo & Roberta Moruzzo, 2016. "Social Farming in the Promotion of Social-Ecological Sustainability in Rural and Periurban Areas," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(12), pages 1-15, November.
    5. Laura Piedra-Muñoz & Emilio Galdeano-Gómez & Juan C. Pérez-Mesa, 2016. "Is Sustainability Compatible with Profitability? An Empirical Analysis on Family Farming Activity," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(9), pages 1-15, September.
    6. Amer Ait Sidhoum & Teresa Serra & Laure Latruffe, 2020. "Measuring sustainability efficiency at farm level: a data envelopment analysis approach [Economic and environmental efficiency of district heating plants]," European Review of Agricultural Economics, Oxford University Press and the European Agricultural and Applied Economics Publications Foundation, vol. 47(1), pages 200-225.
    7. Jeremy D. Foltz & Hsiu-Hui Chang, 2002. "The Adoption and Profitability of rbST on Connecticut Dairy Farms," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 84(4), pages 1021-1032.
    8. 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.
    9. Langton, Steve, 2015. "Debt and farm performance," 89th Annual Conference, April 13-15, 2015, Warwick University, Coventry, UK 204299, Agricultural Economics Society.
    10. Banker, Rajiv D. & Chang, Hsihui, 2006. "The super-efficiency procedure for outlier identification, not for ranking efficient units," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 175(2), pages 1311-1320, December.
    11. Engida, Tadesse Getacher & Rao, Xudong & Oude Lansink, Alfons G.J.M., 2020. "A dynamic by-production framework for analyzing inefficiency associated with corporate social responsibility," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 287(3), pages 1170-1179.
    12. Sickles,Robin C. & Zelenyuk,Valentin, 2019. "Measurement of Productivity and Efficiency," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781107036161.
    13. Dario Musolino & Alba Distaso & Claudio Marcianò, 2020. "The Role of Social Farming in the Socio-Economic Development of Highly Marginal Regions: An Investigation in Calabria," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(13), pages 1-20, June.
    14. Skevas, Theodoros & Lansink, Alfons Oude & Stefanou, Spiro E., 2012. "Measuring technical efficiency in the presence of pesticide spillovers and production uncertainty: The case of Dutch arable farms," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 223(2), pages 550-559.
    15. Milton Friedman, 2007. "The Social Responsibility of Business Is to Increase Its Profits," Springer Books, in: Walther Ch Zimmerli & Markus Holzinger & Klaus Richter (ed.), Corporate Ethics and Corporate Governance, pages 173-178, Springer.
    16. Eric Njuki & Boris E Bravo-Ureta & Víctor E Cabrera, 2020. "Climatic effects and total factor productivity: econometric evidence for Wisconsin dairy farms," European Review of Agricultural Economics, Oxford University Press and the European Agricultural and Applied Economics Publications Foundation, vol. 47(3), pages 1276-1301.
    17. Frederic Ang & Alfons Oude Lansink, 2018. "Decomposing dynamic profit inefficiency of Belgian dairy farms," European Review of Agricultural Economics, Oxford University Press and the European Agricultural and Applied Economics Publications Foundation, vol. 45(1), pages 81-99.
    18. Timo Busch & Gunnar Friede, 2018. "The Robustness of the Corporate Social and Financial Performance Relation: A Second‐Order Meta‐Analysis," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 25(4), pages 583-608, July.
    19. Ioannis Skevas & Alfons Oude Lansink, 2020. "Dynamic Inefficiency and Spatial Spillovers in Dutch Dairy Farming," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 71(3), pages 742-759, September.
    20. Skevas, Ioannis & Skevas, Theodoros, 2021. "A generalized true random-effects model with spatially autocorrelated persistent and transient inefficiency," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 293(3), pages 1131-1142.
    21. Dakpo, K Hervé & Lansink, Alfons Oude, 2019. "Dynamic pollution-adjusted inefficiency under the by-production of bad outputs," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 276(1), pages 202-211.
    22. Simar, Leopold & Wilson, Paul W., 2007. "Estimation and inference in two-stage, semi-parametric models of production processes," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 136(1), pages 31-64, January.
    23. Theodoros Skevas & Feng Wu & Zhengfei Guan, 2018. "Farm Capital Investment and Deviations from the Optimal Path," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 69(2), pages 561-577, June.
    24. Stijn Reinhard & C.A. Knox Lovell & Geert Thijssen, 1999. "Econometric Estimation of Technical and Environmental Efficiency: An Application to Dutch Dairy Farms," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 81(1), pages 44-60.
    25. Eric Njuki & Boris E Bravo-Ureta & Víctor E Cabrera, 2020. "Corrigendum: Climatic effects and total factor productivity: econometric evidence for Wisconsin dairy farms," European Review of Agricultural Economics, Oxford University Press and the European Agricultural and Applied Economics Publications Foundation, vol. 47(2), pages 848-848.
    26. Lin, Chin-Huang & Yang, Ho-Li & Liou, Dian-Yan, 2009. "The impact of corporate social responsibility on financial performance: Evidence from business in Taiwan," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 31(1), pages 56-63.
    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. Philippe Jeanneaux & Yann Desjeux & Geoffroy Enjolras & Laure Latruffe, 2022. "Farm valuation: A comparison of methods for French farms," Agribusiness, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 38(4), pages 786-809, October.
    2. Skevas, Theodoros & Martinez-Palomares, Jorge C., 2023. "Technology heterogeneity and sustainability efficiency: Empirical evidence from Peruvian coffee production," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 310(3), pages 1192-1200.
    3. Amer Ait Sidhoum, 2023. "Assessing the contribution of farmers’ working conditions to productive efficiency in the presence of uncertainty, a nonparametric approach," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 25(8), pages 8601-8622, August.

    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. Magdalena Kapelko & Alfons Oude Lansink, 2022. "Measuring firms' dynamic inefficiency accounting for corporate social responsibility in the U.S. food and beverage manufacturing industry," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 44(4), pages 1702-1721, December.
    2. Skevas, Theodoros & Martinez-Palomares, Jorge C., 2023. "Technology heterogeneity and sustainability efficiency: Empirical evidence from Peruvian coffee production," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 310(3), pages 1192-1200.
    3. Amer Ait Sidhoum & Philipp Mennig & Johannes Sauer, 2023. "Do agri-environment measures help improve environmental and economic efficiency? Evidence from Bavarian dairy farmers," European Review of Agricultural Economics, Oxford University Press and the European Agricultural and Applied Economics Publications Foundation, vol. 50(3), pages 918-953.
    4. Engida, Tadesse Getacher & Rao, Xudong & Oude Lansink, Alfons G.J.M., 2020. "A dynamic by-production framework for analyzing inefficiency associated with corporate social responsibility," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 287(3), pages 1170-1179.
    5. Alfons Oude Lansink & Alan Wall, 2014. "Frontier models for evaluating environmental efficiency: an overview," Economics and Business Letters, Oviedo University Press, vol. 3(1), pages 43-50.
    6. Aparicio, Juan & Kapelko, Magdalena & Ortiz, Lidia, 2023. "Enhancing the measurement of firm inefficiency accounting for corporate social responsibility: A dynamic data envelopment analysis fuzzy approach," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 306(2), pages 986-997.
    7. Serra, Teresa & Chambers, Robert G. & Oude Lansink, Alfons, 2014. "Measuring technical and environmental efficiency in a state-contingent technology," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 236(2), pages 706-717.
    8. 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.
    9. Skevas, Ioannis & Skevas, Theodoros, 2021. "A generalized true random-effects model with spatially autocorrelated persistent and transient inefficiency," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 293(3), pages 1131-1142.
    10. Magambo, Isaiah Hubert & Dikgang, Johane & Gelo, Dambala & Tregenna, Fiona, 2021. "Dynamic Technical and Environmental Efficiency Performance of Large Gold Mines in Developing Countries," EconStor Preprints 235859, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    11. Robert G. Chambers & Teresa Serra, 2018. "The social dimension of firm performance: a data envelopment approach," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 54(1), pages 189-206, February.
    12. Halkos, George & Petrou, Kleoniki Natalia, 2018. "A critical review of the main methods to treat undesirable outputs in DEA," MPRA Paper 90374, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    13. Ioannis Skevas & Alfons Oude Lansink & Theodoros Skevas, 2023. "Analysing inefficiency in a non‐parametric spatial‐dynamic by‐production framework: A k‐nearest neighbour proposal," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 74(2), pages 591-607, June.
    14. Amer Ait Sidhoum, 2023. "Assessing the contribution of farmers’ working conditions to productive efficiency in the presence of uncertainty, a nonparametric approach," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 25(8), pages 8601-8622, August.
    15. Halkos, George & Petrou, Kleoniki Natalia, 2019. "Treating undesirable outputs in DEA: A critical review," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 97-104.
    16. Serra, Teresa & Oude Lansink, Alfons, 2014. "Measuring the impacts of production risk on technical efficiency: A state-contingent conditional order-m approach," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 239(1), pages 237-242.
    17. Zhu, Liyun & Schneider, Kevin & Oude Lansink, Alfons, 2023. "Economic, environmental, and social inefficiency assessment of Dutch dairy farms based on the dynamic by-production model," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 311(3), pages 1134-1145.
    18. Amer Ait Sidhoum, 2023. "Measuring farm productivity under production uncertainty," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 67(4), pages 672-687, October.
    19. Scarlett Wang & Frederic Ang & Alfons Oude Lansink, 2023. "Mitigating greenhouse gas emissions on Dutch dairy farms. An efficiency analysis incorporating the circularity principle," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 54(6), pages 819-837, November.
    20. Frederic Ang & Simon M. Mortimer & Francisco J. Areal & Richard Tiffin, 2018. "On the Opportunity Cost of Crop Diversification," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 69(3), pages 794-814, 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:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:7:p:3635-:d:523776. 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: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.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.