IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/soecon/v83y2016i2p380-398.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A Portion of Profits to Charity: Corporate Social Responsibility and Firm Profitability

Author

Listed:
  • Paul Pecorino

Abstract

I develop a model in which a firm can choose to donate a portion of its profits to the provision of a public good. Consumers value this public good and are willing to pay a price premium to a firm which makes such a donation. When this price premium is sufficiently large, the firm can raise its net profits by pledging a portion of those profits to provision of the public good. This is more likely when the consumer's marginal valuation of contributions to the public good is high and when the firm (in the absence of donations) has a high ratio of fixed costs to operating profits. I also identify circumstances under which corporate social responsibility makes consumers worse off.

Suggested Citation

  • Paul Pecorino, 2016. "A Portion of Profits to Charity: Corporate Social Responsibility and Firm Profitability," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 83(2), pages 380-398, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:soecon:v:83:y:2016:i:2:p:380-398
    DOI: 10.1002/soej.12158
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/soej.12158
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/soej.12158?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. Baron, David P., 2006. "Managerial Contracting and Corporate Social Responsibility," Research Papers 1945, Stanford University, Graduate School of Business.
    2. Chris Arnot & Peter C. Boxall & Sean B. Cash, 2006. "Do Ethical Consumers Care About Price? A Revealed Preference Analysis of Fair Trade Coffee Purchases," Canadian Journal of Agricultural Economics/Revue canadienne d'agroeconomie, Canadian Agricultural Economics Society/Societe canadienne d'agroeconomie, vol. 54(4), pages 555-565, December.
    3. Besley, Timothy & Ghatak, Maitreesh, 2007. "Retailing public goods: The economics of corporate social responsibility," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(9), pages 1645-1663, September.
    4. Roland Bénabou & Jean Tirole, 2010. "Individual and Corporate Social Responsibility," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 77(305), pages 1-19, January.
    5. Gordon Roger H., 2003. "Do Publicly Traded Corporations Act in the Public Interest?," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 3(1), pages 1-20, June.
    6. Paul Pecorino, 2013. "Monopolistic Competition and Public Good Provision with By‐product Firms," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(4), pages 875-893, December.
    7. repec:wly:soecon:v:83:1:y:2016:p:236-252 is not listed on IDEAS
    8. David P. Baron, 2001. "Private Politics, Corporate Social Responsibility, and Integrated Strategy," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 10(1), pages 7-45, March.
    9. Andreas Lange & John A. List & Michael K. Price, 2007. "Using Lotteries To Finance Public Goods: Theory And Experimental Evidence," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 48(3), pages 901-927, August.
    10. Matthew J. Kotchen, 2006. "Green Markets and Private Provision of Public Goods," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 114(4), pages 816-845, August.
    11. Ghosh, Suman & Shankar, Kameshwari, 2013. "Red, white and pink: Linking public good contributions to private good sales," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 96-108.
    12. Donald S. Siegel & Donald F. Vitaliano, 2007. "An Empirical Analysis of the Strategic Use of Corporate Social Responsibility," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 16(3), pages 773-792, September.
    13. Patricia Crifo & Vanina D. Forget, 2015. "The Economics Of Corporate Social Responsibility: A Firm-Level Perspective Survey," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(1), pages 112-130, February.
    14. Landry, Craig E. & Price, Michael K., 2007. "Earmarking lottery proceeds for public goods: Empirical evidence from U.S. lotto expenditures," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 95(3), pages 451-455, June.
    15. Jan Schmitz & Jan Schrader, 2015. "Corporate Social Responsibility: A Microeconomic Review Of The Literature," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(1), pages 27-45, February.
    16. Teisl, Mario F. & Roe, Brian & Hicks, Robert L., 2002. "Can Eco-Labels Tune a Market? Evidence from Dolphin-Safe Labeling," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 43(3), pages 339-359, May.
    17. John Morgan, 2000. "Financing Public Goods by Means of Lotteries," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 67(4), pages 761-784.
    18. Basu, Arnab K. & Hicks, Robert L., 2008. "Label Performance and the Willingness to Pay for Fair Trade Coffee: A Cross-National Perspective," Discussion Papers 44336, University of Bonn, Center for Development Research (ZEF).
    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. Mark Bagnoli & Susan G. Watts, 2003. "Selling to Socially Responsible Consumers: Competition and The Private Provision of Public Goods," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 12(3), pages 419-445, September.
    21. repec:feb:natura:0061 is not listed on IDEAS
    22. John Posnett & Todd Sandler, 1986. "Joint Supply and the Finance of Charitable Activity," Public Finance Review, , vol. 14(2), pages 209-222, April.
    23. Daniel W. Elfenbein & Ray Fisman & Brian Mcmanus, 2012. "Charity as a Substitute for Reputation: Evidence from an Online Marketplace," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 79(4), pages 1441-1468.
    24. Daniel W. Elfenbein & Brian McManus, 2010. "A Greater Price for a Greater Good? Evidence That Consumers Pay More for Charity-Linked Products," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 2(2), pages 28-60, May.
    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. Kameshwari Shankar & Suman Ghosh, 2022. "Price discrimination through cause‐related marketing," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(4), pages 787-817, 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. Paul Pecorino, 2013. "Monopolistic Competition and Public Good Provision with By‐product Firms," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(4), pages 875-893, December.
    2. Paul Pecorino, 2015. "Olson’s Logic of Collective Action at fifty," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 162(3), pages 243-262, March.
    3. Kameshwari Shankar & Suman Ghosh, 2022. "Price discrimination through cause‐related marketing," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(4), pages 787-817, November.
    4. Steve Martin, 2019. "Moral management in competitive markets," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(3), pages 541-560, June.
    5. Mark Bagnoli & Susan G. Watts, 2020. "On the corporate use of green bonds," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(1), pages 187-209, January.
    6. 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.
    7. Pecorino, Paul, 2010. "By-product lobbying with rival public goods," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 26(1), pages 114-124, March.
    8. Rui Albuquerque & Yrjö Koskinen & Chendi Zhang, 2019. "Corporate Social Responsibility and Firm Risk: Theory and Empirical Evidence," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 65(10), pages 4451-4469, October.
    9. Feicht, Robert & Grimm, Veronika & Seebauer, Michael, 2016. "An experimental study of corporate social responsibility through charitable giving in Bertrand markets," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 124(C), pages 88-101.
    10. Banerjee, Shantanu & Homroy, Swarnodeep & Slechten, Aurélie, 2022. "Stakeholder preference and strategic corporate social responsibility," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    11. Michele Fioretti, 2022. "Caring or Pretending to Care? Social Impact, Firms' Objectives, and Welfare (former title: Social Responsibility and Firm's Objectives)," SciencePo Working papers hal-03393065, HAL.
    12. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/7fsnj6af7v9ncrf76qn5p5on9e is not listed on IDEAS
    13. Schinkel, Maarten Pieter & Treuren, Leonard, 2024. "Corporate social responsibility by joint agreement," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 123(C).
    14. Witold J. Henisz & Sinziana Dorobantu & Lite J. Nartey, 2014. "Spinning gold: The financial returns to stakeholder engagement," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(12), pages 1727-1748, December.
    15. Newman, Carol & Rand, John & Tarp, Finn & Trifkovic, Neda, 2018. "The transmission of socially responsible behaviour through international trade," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 250-267.
    16. Dina KASSAB, 2018. "Corporate Social Responsibility and Regulation: Taxing Ethical behaviour," Working Papers 2018.17, FAERE - French Association of Environmental and Resource Economists.
    17. Patricia Crifo & Vanina Forget, 2013. "La responsabilité sociale et environnementale des entreprises : mirage ou virage ?," Working Papers hal-00830642, HAL.
    18. repec:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/7fsnj6af7v9ncrf76qn5p5on9e is not listed on IDEAS
    19. repec:hal:wpspec:info:hdl:2441/7fsnj6af7v9ncrf76qn5p5on9e is not listed on IDEAS
    20. Samwick, Andrew A. & Wang, Sophie, 2024. "Corporate social responsibility and voting over public goods," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    21. Maarten Pieter Schinkel & Leonard Treuren, 2021. "Corporate Social Responsibility by Joint Agreement," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 21-063/VII, Tinbergen Institute.
    22. Patricia Crifo & Vanina D. Forget, 2015. "The Economics Of Corporate Social Responsibility: A Firm-Level Perspective Survey," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(1), pages 112-130, February.
    23. repec:spo:wpecon:info:hdl:2441/7fsnj6af7v9ncrf76qn5p5on9e is not listed on IDEAS
    24. Patricia Crifo & Vanina Forget, 2012. "The Economics of Corporate Social Responsibility: A Survey," Working Papers hal-00720640, HAL.

    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:soecon:v:83:y:2016:i:2:p:380-398. 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)2325-8012 .

    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.