Connecting the dots: An integrative framework of CSR antecedents, heterogeneous CSR approaches, and sustainable and financial performance

Abstract

This study creates an integrative framework that connects CSR antecedents, CSR approaches, and the outcomes of CSR using the Oliver (1991) framework. We theorize that the sectoral, national, and intertemporal CSR antecedents pose an institutional CSR pressure that drives firms to adopt strategic CSR, CSR-as-insurance, and corporate greenwashing, subsequently determining their sustainable performance. We empirically verify this by segregating firms’ symbolic and substantive sustainable performance in 75 countries from 2003 to 2019. 50% of these firms approaches strategic CSR, 24% CSR-as-insurance, and 26% corporate greenwashing. The ways firms approach CSR are affected by the institutional CSR pressure they face, for which additional institutional CSR pressure instantaneously incentivizes more strategic CSR and corporate greenwashing. Strategic CSR firms outperform across a broad spectrum of sustainable and financial performance indicators. Therefore, we find that it is not whether, but rather how firms approach CSR that determines its benefits for society.

Keywords: Strategic CSR, CSR-as-insurance, corporate greenwashing, promised to realized sustainable performance, societal impact

JEL Classification: M14, Q56, G15