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Exploring Australian financial leaders' views of corporate social responsibility

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 February 2015

Margaret Lindorff  and
James Peck
Margaret Lindorff
Affiliation:
Department of Management, Monash University, Melbourne VIC, Australia
James Peck
Affiliation:
Department of Management, Monash University, Melbourne VIC, Australia
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Abstract

This paper reports an exploratory and qualitative study of the corporate social responsibility (CSR) beliefs of leaders of large Australian financial institutions. The findings are presented in four sections. The first discusses whether leaders have a mental model of the firm that is most closely aligned with the traditional shareholder or the stakeholder view of the firm. It then examines how they frame the organization's responsibilities, particularly as they relate to balancing the needs of shareholders and other stakeholders. The third section identifies how they view CSR and the fulfilment of potential economic, legal, ethical and philanthropic responsibilities of organizations. The final section examines the driving factors that lead to their promotion of corporate social responsibility. We find that although many leaders support the wealth creation model's central premise that the organization's primary responsibility is to maximise its value in order to meet its fiduciary obligations to its shareholders, they also believe that CSR activities benefit the organization financially and in building corporate sustainability, employee engagement and performance, and social capital. CSR activities are also believed to increase the legitimacy of the organization, although philanthropy is not supported unless there is a business case. This has implications for those seeking support from organizations for community causes. We also find the view of employees as primary stakeholders is strong and widespread; an implication of this is that employee influence is a strong lever for positive change towards CSR behaviour in a firm.

Keywords

Corporate social responsibilitystakeholder theoryshareholder theoryAustralia
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Management & Organization , Volume 16 , Issue 1 , March 2010 , pp. 48 - 65
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press and Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management 2010

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