Corporate Social Financial Performance

The relationship between corporate social performance and corporate financial performance is a topic that “business and society” scholars have been debating for several decades. This entry will focus on the empirical evidence that point to complementarities and, thus, a positive correlation between corporate social and financial performance. However, different scholars have also portrayed social and financial performance as two contradictory or independent concepts. Before the arguments for each position are summarized, the definition and consequences of “social responsibility” and “social performance” must be specified a bit more clearly.

Corporate social performance can be defined as an organization's configuration of principles of social responsibility, processes of social responsiveness, and observable outcomes as they relate to the organization's societal relationships. In other words, a socially responsible organization evaluates ...