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The (In)credible Bulk: The Role of CSR Standards in Enhancing the Credibility of Corporate CSR Claims

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The Dynamics of Corporate Social Responsibility

Part of the book series: CSR, Sustainability, Ethics & Governance ((CSEG))

Abstract

With stakeholders sceptical about corporate CSR communications, firms are urged to develop strategies to enhance the credibility of their CSR claims. Using CSR standards may be a viable strategy to do so. Adopting a signalling theory perspective, this chapter identifies several problems associated with signalling CSR and suggests that CSR standards may offer a way to address these problems effectively. It provides an overview of CSR standards literature and presents original empirical data from a survey among Dutch CSR managers to shed light on the use of different types of CSR standards for enhancing the credibility of corporate CSR claims. It finds that adhering to (multiple) CSR standards comprises an important strategy for firms to enhance the credibility of CSR claims and that firms use other strategies for this objective as well. In addition to presenting empirical research findings, the chapter identifies several theoretical and empirical avenues for further research.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    It should be noted that some standards, such as the UNGC, require adopters to issue a ‘communication on progress’ to increase transparency on the action taken by firms to live up to the standard and demonstrate the resulting performance .

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. NHTV University of Applied Sciences, Breda, The Netherlands

    Lars Moratis

  2. Antwerp Management School, Antwerp, Belgium

    Lars Moratis

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  1. Lars Moratis
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Correspondence to Lars Moratis .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dept of Management Theory, Warsaw School of Economics, Warsaw, Poland

    Maria Aluchna

  2. London Metropolitan University, London Guildhall Faculty Business & Law, London, United Kingdom

    Samuel O. Idowu

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Moratis, L. (2017). The (In)credible Bulk: The Role of CSR Standards in Enhancing the Credibility of Corporate CSR Claims. In: Aluchna, M., Idowu, S. (eds) The Dynamics of Corporate Social Responsibility. CSR, Sustainability, Ethics & Governance. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-39089-5_13

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