Purpose

This paper aims to examine the link between the corporate social responsibility (CSR) communication efforts of companies and their ability to obtain public procurement contracts.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors are exploiting a database with the number of public procurement contracts won by SBF 120 companies in France and a constructed CSR index over the period of 2007–2015. The authors provide estimates of the amount of public contracts won by those companies.

Findings

The results suggest a striking influence of CSR communication on the ability of firms to win contracts.

Research limitations/implications

This study focused on the case of the SBF 120 companies under the French regulatory system and European directives, which are different from the obligations in North American countries. Second, our constructed CSR index may be too simplistic in nature, and its application is limited only to the French context. Third, we do not have any evidence about the efficiency of well-ranked firms in our study. CSR reporting is still considered to be a form of communication, even if formal, that can contain information that does not especially reflect reality, as the scandals of several companies have shown in recent years (e.g. Volkswagen, Eiffage, Enron).

Practical implications

Companies should consider Business-to-Government (B-to-G) market when investing in CSR actions.

Originality/value

This is one of the first empirical studies measuring the impact of CSR on the ability of companies to win public contracts.

中文翻译：

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企业社会责任沟通与企业赢得公共采购合同的能力

目的

本文旨在研究公司的企业社会责任 (CSR) 沟通努力与其获得公共采购合同的能力之间的联系。

设计/方法/方法

作者正在利用一个数据库，其中包含法国 SBF 120 公司赢得的公共采购合同数量以及 2007-2015 年期间构建的 CSR 指数。作者提供了这些公司赢得的公共合同数量的估计。

发现

结果表明，企业社会责任沟通对公司赢得合同的能力有显着影响。

研究限制/影响

本研究重点关注法国监管体系和欧洲指令下的 SBF 120 公司的案例，这与北美国家的义务不同。其次，我们构建的企业社会责任指数在本质上可能过于简单化，其应用仅限于法国语境。第三，在我们的研究中，我们没有任何证据表明排名靠前的公司的效率。企业社会责任报告仍然被认为是一种沟通形式，即使是正式的，也可能包含不能特别反映现实的信息，正如近年来几家公司的丑闻所表明的那样（例如大众汽车、埃法奇、安然）。

实际影响

公司在投资 CSR 行动时应考虑企业对政府 (B-to-G) 市场。

原创性/价值

这是衡量企业社会责任对公司赢得公共合同能力影响的首批实证研究之一。