The Business Case for Corporate Social Responsibility: Recognizing Cognitive Constraints and Curvilinear Relationships

Speaker:

Michael Barnett
Strategy, Entrepreneurship, and International Business Group
Saïd Business School
University of Oxford

Coordinator:

Luciana Ferreira
Department of Business Society Management
Rotterdam School of Management (RSM)
Erasmus University Rotterdam

Type:

ERIM Research Seminar

Subprogramme:

Business-Society Management

Location:

T7-67

Date / Time:

December 02, 2009 (Wednesday) / 15:00-17:00 hours

Abstract:

In this seminar, I discuss and interweave two papers I have in progress on the business case for CSR -- one theoretical and one empirical – in hopes of advancing a more nuanced understanding of the complicated relationship between social and financial performance. The theoretical paper brings to the fore cognitive constraints that limit which corporate good deeds and misdeeds stakeholders notice and so helps identify boundary conditions on the effectiveness of market mechanisms in effecting social control of firms. The empirical paper measures financial returns to various levels of CSR and finds a curvilinear relationship wherein firms that do the most good achieve the highest returns. This curvilinear relationship helps explain prior mixed findings that have muddled together various levels of CSR and suggests the need for a more contingent perspective on when CSR may and may not pay. It also suggests that to truly distinguish oneself as a socially responsible firm, and catch limited stakeholder attention, you must be really good.

Mike Barnett serves as Professor of Strategy in the Strategy, Entrepreneurship, and International Business Group. He is also Research Director of the Oxford University Centre for Corporate Reputation. In addition, he is Fellow in Strategy at St. Anne’s College.
Prior to coming to Oxford, Mike was Associate Professor of Strategy and Exide Professor of Sustainable Enterprise in the Department of Management and Organization at the University of South Florida’s College of Business. He was also Research Fellow of the University of South Florida’s Kiran C. Patel Center for Global Solutions and served as Secretary of the Faculty Senate. Prior to entering academia, Mike’s primary management experience was as a commissioned officer in the US Air Force. He served as Squadron Section Commander and Executive Officer at McConnell AFB in Wichita, Kansas.
Mike holds a PhD and MPhil in Strategic Management from New York University’s Stern School of Business, an M.B.A. from Webster University, and a BS in Business Administration (Banking & Finance; Economics) from the University of Missouri.

Contact information:

Luciana Ferreira