Corporate social and financial performance: an investigation in the UK supermarket industry

Moore, G.

Abstract

The comparison of corporate social performance with corporate financial performance has been a popular field of study over the past 25 years. The results, while broadly conclusive of a positive relationship, are not entirely consistent. In addition, most of the previous studies have concentrated on large-scale cross-industry studies and often with a single variable for corporate social performance, in order to produce statistically significant results. This weakens the richness of understanding that might be obtained from a single industry study with multiple social variables, which would also allow investigation of inter-relationships between individual and sub-sets of social performance measures and between individual and sub-sets of social performance and financial performance measures. There have also been criticisms that the results lack a rigorous theoretical basis, and the paper demonstrates clearly how stakeholder theory must form the basis for this area of research. Following a review of the literature this paper presents the initial findings from a study of the U.K. Supermarket industry which suggest that contemporaneous social and financial performance are negatively related, while prior-period financial performance is positively related with subsequent social performance. Positive relationships between both age and size of the company with social performance are also found.

Citation

Moore, G. (2001). Corporate social and financial performance: an investigation in the UK supermarket industry. Journal of Business Ethics, 34(3/4), 299-315. https://doi.org/10.1023/a%3A1012537016969

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: Dec 1, 2001
• Deposit Date: May 12, 2010
• Journal: Journal of Business Ethics
• Print ISSN: 0167-4544
• Electronic ISSN: 1573-0697
• Publisher: Springer
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 34
• Issue: 3/4
• Pages: 299-315
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/a%3A1012537016969
• Keywords: Business-ethics, Corporate-financial-performance, Corporate-social-performance, Corporate-social-responsibility, U.K.-supermarkets.
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1600948