Corporate charitable contributions: A corporate social performance or legitimacy strategy?

    Authors

    J. C. Chen; D. M. Patten;R. W. Roberts

    Comments

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    Abbreviated Journal Title

    J. Bus. Ethics

    Keywords

    corporate charitable contribution; corporate social performance; legitimization; social reporting; ENVIRONMENTAL DISCLOSURES; FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE; STAKEHOLDER; MANAGEMENT; PHILANTHROPY; RESPONSIBILITY; VALUES; MODEL; LINK; CEOS; Business; Ethics

    Abstract

    This study examines the relation between firms' corporate philanthropic giving and their performance in three other social domains - employee relations, environmental issues, and product safety. Based on a sample of 384 U.S. companies and using data pooled from 1998 through 2000, we find that worse performers in the other social areas are both more likely to make charitable contributions and that the extent of their giving is larger than for better performers. Analyses of each separate area of social performance, however, indicate that the relation between giving and negative social performance (cited concerns) only holds for the environmental issues and product safety areas. We find no significant association between corporate philanthropy and employee relations concerns. In general, these findings suggest that corporate philanthropy may be more a tool of legitimization than a measure of corporate social responsibility.

    Journal Title

    Journal of Business Ethics

    Volume

    82

    Issue/Number

    1

    Publication Date

    1-1-2008

    Document Type

    Article

    Language

    English

    First Page

    131

    Last Page

    144

    WOS Identifier

    WOS:000258315900009

    ISSN

    0167-4544

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