What explains the spread of corporate social responsibility? The role of competitive pressure and institutional isomorphism in the diffusion of voluntary adoption

Seungmin Han and Kiyohiko Ito

Journal of Management & Organization, 2024, vol. 30, issue 3, 765-786

Abstract: This study provides a new perspective on the determinants of the spread of voluntary corporate social responsibility (CSR) adoption by incorporating the potential role of its adoption by industry competitors. We find supportive evidence that firms make CSR adoption decisions in response to competitive pressure as well as institutional mimetic pressures. Based on an event history analysis of longitudinal data from a sample of 711 Korean publicly traded firms over a 12-year period, our findings suggest that the CSR behavior of competitors is positively associated with a focal firm's earlier adoption of CSR, leading to the diffusion of CSR across firms. Specifically, this study shows that the pure rivalry-driven pressure from non-leader competitors has a stronger positive relationship with earlier CSR adoption. The results also indicate that a firm's CSR adoption decision is accelerated by competitive rivalry as well as social pressures arising from institutional mimetic isomorphism.

Date: 2024
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/ ... type/journal_article link to article abstract page (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cup:jomorg:v:30:y:2024:i:3:p:765-786_17

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Journal of Management & Organization from Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press, UPH, Shaftesbury Road, Cambridge CB2 8BS UK.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Kirk Stebbing ().