Corporate Social Responsibility and Corporate Longevity: The Mediating Role of Social Capital and Moral Legitimacy in Korea

Se-Yeon Ahn () and Dong-Jun Park
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Se-Yeon Ahn: Seoul National University
Dong-Jun Park: Seoul National University

Journal of Business Ethics, 2018, vol. 150, issue 1, No 8, 117-134

Abstract: Abstract How does a company achieve long-term survival? This study starts with the question of why, among companies on the verge of bankruptcy, some survive and some break up. This study argues that the long-term survival of a company is determined by not only its economic performance but also its social performance. It clarifies that sustainable corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices facilitate long-term survival. Thus, this study analyzed 259 CSR actions performed by eight representative long-lived companies in Korea and how the various CSR actions helped these companies overcome crises and survive. The common CSR actions practiced by all the long-lived companies had a positive influence on forming social capital with primary stakeholders and securing legitimacy from secondary stakeholders, which in turn had a significant influence on maintaining survival. This study provides significant implications for the value of CSR practices that have been controversial, by presenting a model of how CSR actions facilitate corporate longevity.

Keywords: Corporate longevity; Social capital; Moral legitimacy; Corporate social responsibility (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (19)

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DOI: 10.1007/s10551-016-3161-3

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