Abstract:
The strategy research on the relationship between Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) investments and economic performance has its mainstream theoretical approach in stakeholder theory.
This paper responds to some recent criticisms to this perspective by proposing a theoretical framework grounded on Social Identity Theory (SIT).
The objective is understanding which types of CSR investments create value to a firm by establishing a strong identity-relationship between the corporation and focal stakeholders.
We present empirical evidence consistent with the theory based on a scenario-based survey conducted with 996 participants’ valid responses.
We find that CSR that are geographically closer to the focal stakeholder and that are more proximate to the core business of the company have a more positive impact on standard measures of company employer and consumer brand value.