Strategic CSR for innovation in SMEs: Does diversity matter?

Rachel Bocquet, Christian Le Bas (), Caroline Mothe () and Nicolas Poussing ()
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Christian Le Bas: ESDES - ESDES, Lyon Business School - UCLy - UCLy - UCLy (Lyon Catholic University)
Caroline Mothe: IREGE - Institut de Recherche en Gestion et en Economie - USMB [Université de Savoie] [Université de Chambéry] - Université Savoie Mont Blanc
Nicolas Poussing: LISER - Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research

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Abstract: Both corporate social responsibility and diversity influence firms' innovation, yet their relationship and links to innovation remain uncertain, especially among small to medium-sized enterprises. Relying on strategic and institutional CSR perspectives and a value-in-diversity approach, this study examines the mediating roles of gender and nationality diversity on the CSR–innovation link at the organizational level. With a sample of 1,348 SMEs from Luxembourg, the results show that strategic CSR can promote both types of diversity, but only nationality diversity triggers technological innovation. Nationality diversity emerges as a partial mediator of the relationship between CSR and SMEs' technological innovation. Thus, strategic CSR, through the genuine pursuit of such diversity, can help SMEs attain positive returns on their product or process innovation. These results have important theoretical and managerial implications.

Keywords: diversity; gender; innovation; nationality; strategic CSR; responsive CSR (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-bec, nep-cse, nep-ent and nep-sbm
Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.science/hal-02380559v1
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (27)

Published in Long Range Planning, 2019, 52 (6), pp.101913. ⟨10.1016/j.lrp.2019.101913⟩

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:hal-02380559

DOI: 10.1016/j.lrp.2019.101913

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