Abstract
While corporate social responsibility (CSR) is becoming a mainstream issue for many organizations, most of the research to date addresses CSR in large businesses rather than in small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), because it is too often considered a prerogative of large businesses only. The role of SMEs in an increasingly dynamic context is now being questioned, including what factors might affect their socially responsible behaviour. The goal of this paper is to make a comparison of SME and large firm CSR strategies. Furthermore, size of the firm is analyzed as a factor that influences specific choices in the CSR field, and studied by means of a sample of 3,680 Italian firms. Based on a multi-stakeholder framework, the analysis provides evidence that large firms are more likely to identify relevant stakeholders and meet their requirements through specific and formal CSR strategies.
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Acknowledgments
This research has been developed with the support of Unioncamere, which the authors gratefully acknowledge. We also thank Geoff Moore, Laura Spence, Clodia Vurro and two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments on earlier versions of this paper. Participants at the conference “Small and Medium Sized Enterprises and Corporate Social Responsibility: Identifying the Knowledge Gaps”, held in December 2005 at the Durham Business School, UK, are also gratefully acknowledged for their comments.
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Appendix 1
Appendix 1
Factor analysis
Factor analysis has been used to identifying groups of CSR strategies that characterize Italian firms. In the following table, factors identified and variables included in the analysis, and loadings for each variable are presented.
Factor | Definition | Variable | Definition | Loading | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Environmental management | Firms implement specific CSR strategies that focus on protecting and safeguarding their natural environment | Pollution reduction | Did you implement programmes for pollution reduction beyond legal requirements? | 0.69 |
Noise reduction | Did you implement programmes for noise reduction beyond legal requirements? | 0.68 | |||
Energy reduction | Did you implement programmes for energy reduction beyond legal requirements? | 0.65 | |||
Water reduction | Did you implement programmes for water reduction beyond legal requirements? | 0.64 | |||
Waste management | Did you implement programmes for waste management beyond legal requirements? | 0.61 | |||
Packaging recovery | Did you implement programmes for packaging recovery beyond legal requirements? | 0.50 | |||
Alternative energy | Did you implement programmes for developing alternative energy beyond legal requirements? | 0.50 | |||
EMAS (Eco−Management and Audit Scheme) and ISO14001 | Do you have EMAS and/or ISO14001 in your firm? | 0.46 | |||
2 | Employment | Employees are in central position within the firm; firms implement specific CSR strategies to improve employment and working conditions | Briefing with employeesCorporate internal | Do you have periodic briefings with your employees? | 0.69 |
communication | Do you facilitate internal communication (e.g. intranet, corporate magazine, newsletter, etc.)? | 0.69 | |||
Corporate activities for employees benefit | Do you organize corporate events (e.g. travels, tournaments, etc.)? | 0.64 | |||
Training activities | Do you implement training programmes for your employees? | 0.60 | |||
Integrative medical care | Do you provide your employees with integrative medical care? | 0.58 | |||
Flexible working time | Do your employees benefit from flexible work time? | 0.53 | |||
3 | Supply chain | Firms are likely to promote CSR culture outside the firm, since specific CSR policies (i.e. certifications such as self-certification, ISO 9001:2000, SA8000 and other certifications; product quality; waste recovery; ethical code) are required along the supply chain to suppliers and customers | Suppliers’ selection | Do you ask for specific certifications from your suppliers? | −0.85 |
Customers’ selection | Do you ask for specific certifications from your customers? | −0.83 | |||
4 | Local community | Firms promote their CSR strategies outside the firm and enhance their relation with local communities through specific instruments and activities | Corporate advertising | Did you communicate social messages within your advertising? | 0.67 |
Sponsorship | Did you carry out sponsorship activities? | 0.65 | |||
Cause-related marketing | Is your company involved in cause-related marketing? | 0.62 | |||
Giving | Did you make donations to the community? | 0.54 | |||
5 | Controlling and reporting | Firms are likely to implement social, environmental and sustainability reporting and disclosure through specific instruments | Ethical code | Do you have a public available ethical code? | 0.57 |
Social report | Do you have a social report? | 0.56 | |||
SA8000 | Do you have SA8000 certification? | 0.55 | |||
Environmental report | Do you have an environmental report? | 0.53 | |||
6 | Community volunteering | Firms support and motivation of employees toward specific socially responsible behaviours outside the firm | Volunteering | Do you encourage your employees toward volunteer activities? | 0.65 |
Subsidised financing | Do you provide your employees with subsidised finance? | 0.43 |
Each variable refers to the questions posed to the Italian firms to identify CSR strategies generally implemented. Variables have been measured as follows. A discrete variable was created for each CSR␣strategy and coded 1 if firms implement a specific strategy, 2 if firms are going to implement a␣specific strategy, 3 if firms do not implement, but are considering the opportunity to implement a specific strategy, 4 if firms do not implement a specific strategy, 5 if firms do not answer the question. Running the factor analysis, we first check for multicollinearity among variables. Looking at correlation matrix, the variable “Do you hire disadvantaged persons?” was eliminated since it correlated with no other variables. We also looked at the determinant of the correlation matrix that was 0.025, extremely greater than the necessary value of 0.00001. Therefore, we concluded that multicollinearity was not a problem for these data. We also controlled for the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) measure of sampling adequacy, which was 0.837, suggesting distinct and reliable factors, and Bartlett’s test of sphericity, which was strongly significant (p < 0.01), suggesting that there are relationships between the variables we include in the analysis. Then, looking at scree plot and eigenvalues, we decided to extract six factors, accounting for about 42% of the variance in our research model, but presenting better results than the 8 factors obtained considering those factors with eigenvalues above the rule of thumb of 1. To make clearer which variables relate to which factors, we decided to choose the direct oblimin method of oblique rotation, since there were good reasons to suppose that the underlying factors could be related in theoretical terms. For example, consider that it would be obvious that firms taking into due account environmental management are also more willing to publish an environmental report. While extracting the six factors, we checked for reproduced correlations, with the knowledge that there are 117 (33%) non-redundant residuals with absolute values greater than 0.05, a good result that illustrates the difference between observed and reproduced correlations in our analysis. Finally, in the above table we reported the loading factors above 0.4, ignoring the plus or minus sign, obtained in the structure matrix; the same results were obtained in the pattern matrix, providing evidence of the good results of this analysis.
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Perrini, F., Russo, A. & Tencati, A. CSR Strategies of SMEs and Large Firms. Evidence from Italy. J Bus Ethics 74, 285–300 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-006-9235-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-006-9235-x