Purpose

While the literature has extolled the desirable outcomes of strategic corporate social responsibility, there is recognised paucity of research concerning its requisite antecedents. Applying the resource-based view (RBV), this paper aims to address the research question: What are the resources and capabilities associated with strategic CSR activities?

Design/methodology/approach

A qualitative content analysis of B-Corporation certified firms’ annual reports was undertaken to address the research question. Using the global reporting initiative guidelines, the contents of the B-Corporation certified banks were coded against the best-practice CSR benchmarks for economic, social and environmental sustainability reporting. The data were then further scrutinised to detect the resources and capabilities related to the firms’ strategic CSR activities.

Findings

Analysis of the data detected eight resources (i.e. investor funds, customer deposits, knowledge management processes, strategic partnerships, organisational culture, management information systems, market differentiation and supply-chain influence) and nine capabilities underpinning best-practice strategic CSR activities in the finance industry setting. In addition to these, the data indicated: the importance of managing the interdependencies that exist between the resource; the critical nature of knowledge management processes; the importance of supply-chain relationships; and the appropriateness of the RBV in strategic CSR research.

Research limitations/implications

First, the data gathered for this study were from the sample organisations’ annual reports only. Second, this study is based on a small sample size. Third, the qualitative approach supported the generation of results not readily generalisable. Future research should: seek to gather secondary data from a range of organisation publications; collect and analysis primary data; adopt longitudinal research methodologies to explore interactions between combinations of resources and capabilities; adopt quantitative research designs into establish the nature of any causal relationships; could replicate the method adopted in this study into a range of other industry settings.

Practical implications

The findings of this study also suggest three practical implications. First, the interdependent nature of the resources deployed by the sample organisations suggests that the effective management of any one of the sustainability criteria necessitates the effective management of the other two. Second, there appears an opportunity for organisations seeking to improve their sustainability performance to develop a dedicated sustainability information system. Third, the findings in this study demonstrated an emphasis on social sustainability outcomes, which suggests that social sustainability measures are of greater relevance (or a closer “fit”) with what society expects from credit providers in the finance industry.

Originality/value

This paper advances the empirical and theoretical development of the strategic CSR concept by applying the RBV as a lens. This paper contributes a model of the relationship between antecedent resources and capabilities and strategic CSR, and provides guidance on the future application of the RBV in this regard.

中文翻译：

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探索战略性企业社会责任的前因资源和能力

目的

虽然文献颂扬了战略性企业社会责任的理想结果，但人们公认缺乏对其必要前提的研究。应用基于资源的观点 (RBV)，本文旨在解决研究问题：与战略 CSR 活动相关的资源和能力是什么？

设计/方法/方法

对 B-Corporation 认证公司的年度报告进行了定性内容分析，以解决研究问题。使用全球报告倡议指南，B-Corporation 认证银行的内容根据经济、社会和环境可持续性报告的最佳实践企业社会责任基准进行编码。然后进一步审查数据以检测与公司战略 CSR 活动相关的资源和能力。

发现

数据分析发现了八项资源（即投资者资金、客户存款、知识管理流程、战略合作伙伴关系、组织文化、管理信息系统、市场差异化和供应链影响力）和支持金融业最佳实践战略 CSR 活动的九项能力行业设置。除此之外，数据表明：管理资源之间存在的相互依赖关系的重要性；知识管理过程的关键性质；供应链关系的重要性；以及 RBV 在战略 CSR 研究中的适当性。

研究限制/影响

首先，本研究收集的数据仅来自样本组织的年度报告。其次，本研究基于小样本量。第三，定性方法支持生成不易推广的结果。未来的研究应该： 从一系列组织出版物中收集二手数据；收集和分析原始数据；采用纵向研究方法，探索资源和能力组合之间的相互作用；采用定量研究设计来确定任何因果关系的性质；可以将本研究中采用的方法复制到一系列其他行业环境中。

实际影响

这项研究的结果还提出了三个实际意义。首先，样本组织所部署资源的相互依存性表明，任何一项可持续性标准的有效管理都需要其他两项的有效管理。其次，寻求提高可持续发展绩效的组织似乎有机会开发专门的可持续发展信息系统。第三，本研究的结果表明对社会可持续性成果的重视，这表明社会可持续性措施与社会对金融业信贷提供者的期望具有更大的相关性（或更紧密地“契合”）。

原创性/价值

本文以 RBV 为视角，推进了战略 CSR 概念的实证和理论发展。本文构建了先验资源和能力与战略CSR之间的关系模型，并为未来RBV在这方面的应用提供了指导。