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Motives for Corporate Social Responsibility

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  • Johan Graafland
  • Corrie Mazereeuw-Van der Duijn Schouten

Abstract

In this article we analyze the motives of executives to take responsibility for the labor, environmental and social aspects of their business. We distinguish three motives: one extrinsic (financial) and two intrinsic (ethical and altruistic) motives and empirically investigate the influences of these motives on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) by means of a sample of 473 executives. The estimation results show that for social aspects of CSR, executives are significantly more driven by intrinsic motives than by the extrinsic motive. But also for environmental aspects of CSR intrinsic motives provide stronger stimulus than the extrinsic motive. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media New York 2012

Suggested Citation

  • Johan Graafland & Corrie Mazereeuw-Van der Duijn Schouten, 2012. "Motives for Corporate Social Responsibility," De Economist, Springer, vol. 160(4), pages 377-396, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:decono:v:160:y:2012:i:4:p:377-396
    DOI: 10.1007/s10645-012-9198-5
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Altruism; Corporate social responsibility; Extrinsic motive; Intrinsic motive; M14; Z12;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • M14 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration - - - Corporate Culture; Diversity; Social Responsibility
    • Z12 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Religion

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