Bürgerschaftliches Engagement der Unternehmen im öffentlichen Raum / Corporate Citizenship and Civic Engagement of Companies in the Public Sphere

The article analyzes the civic engagement of companies from an economic and institutional perspective. Theoretical findings are supported by the main results of acomprehensive and representative questionnaire of companies. The authors show, why and how companies voluntarily act socially responsible although potential disadvantages within a competitive setting might arise (free rider problem). Why companies should be engaged in corporate citizenship, is theoretically explained by and derived from the evolution of values, the experience of risky situations and the repeated experience of cooperation. Furthermore, the type of company (run by owners or managers)and the company′s culture considerably influence corporate citizenship. The existing types of civic engagement are depicted by their categorization based on the theory of public goods. In addition, for the first time civic engagement has been added systematically to institutional economic analysis. Empirical research shows that in 2011 companies spent more than 11 billion euros on civic engagement. They take responsibility although other players might benefit from this without doing anything themselves (positive externalities). The theoretical and empirical results illustrate that companies exist merely to solve problems with the aim of social value creation, that they should contribute to corporate citizenship and that they actually act responsible to a large extent.