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Strategic alignment of intangible assets: The role of corporate social responsibility

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Abstract

Intangible assets are becoming increasingly important to firms. However, the question of how firms can realize the full potential of intangible assets remains. We propose that corporate social responsibility (CSR) can help a company create value from intangible assets for two reasons. First, firms invest in CSR to increase employee loyalty, which in turn help retain knowledge workers. Second, firms engage in CSR activities to increase employees’ organizational identification, and to promote collaboration across units, which is crucial for the integration and alignment of intangible assets with other intangible assets and tangible assets. Moreover, we propose that institutional development may weaken the positive relationship between intangible assets and engagement in CSR, whereas product diversification may strengthen the relationship. Data analyses based on a sample of 4788 Chinese entrepreneurial firms provides support toward our main arguments. This study highlights a novel idea that firms may use CSR practices to realize the potential of their intangible assets. This study has important managerial implications as well.

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Acknowledgements

We sincerely thank Garry Bruton, Robert Wright, and Dai Jianzhong. We especially thank APJM SI editor Sunny Li Sun, Mike W. Peng, Weilei (Stone) Shi, Yuli Zhang, David Ahlstrom, and anonymous reviewers for their excellent guidance. We also thank participants at the APJM SI conference at Nankai University. Finally, we are grateful for support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China [Grant Numbers: 71572198, 71702058, and 71810107002], Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China [Grant number: 17YJC630037], and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities [Grant Number: 18wkzd02].

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  1. Department of Business Administration, Hong Kong Shue Yan University, North Point, Hong Kong

    Na Shen

  2. Department of Management and Centre for Entrepreneurship, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Sha Tin, Hong Kong

    Kevin Au

  3. Business School, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, China

    Weiwen Li

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  1. Na Shen
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Shen, N., Au, K. & Li, W. Strategic alignment of intangible assets: The role of corporate social responsibility. Asia Pac J Manag 37, 1119–1139 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10490-019-09681-1

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